An uphill kind of day!

Today we only walked a mere 5.3 k's but most of them involved going uphill! Garde Hill to be precise. From all over Marsaille we had seen the iconic figure on top of Notre-Dame de la Garde, “La Bonne Mère”, she watches over sailors, fishermen and the entire city. We decided we should Visit Notre-Dame and enjoy the views from the top of the hill.

Garde Hill (154m) has always been an observation post. It was listed as a post house in the 15th century. There were several chapels here before the present Cathedral was built. Its Roman-Byzantine style (domes, multi-coloured stones, gold, mosaic) perfectly matches the major building projects taken on in Marseille under Napoleon III.

I'm hoping that this link will take you to an interactive site where you can view the fabulous interior of Notre-Dame & if you look up in the top right corner of the picture you can also see the view from the top of the hill.

http://www.notredamedelagarde.com/360/Visite360NDLG.html

Just in case it doesn't work I'll add some of our photos...

I love this little cherub holding his finger to his lips suggesting visitors 
should be quiet as they enter Notre-Dame.

There’s a large statue of the Virgin Mary on the bell tower. It was made by the sculptor Lequesne in bronze with gold leaf in the Christofle studios in Paris and put in place in September 1870.

The views from the terraces around Notre-Dame are spectacular...

Looking south over the Old Port.

Looking east toward Archipel du Frioul.

Looking north-east

Looking north-west, the white building is the Nouveau Stade Velodrome.

Just a few of the interior photos Andrew took...

I think I need to learn how to do mosaics!

We had lunch in the restaurant that is run by missionary workers. Most of them were African and wore beautiful colourful clothes and headgear. The food was lovely and you could even have wine with your meal! Quite a different experience.

Here's a view that gives a bit of an idea of how steep the climb is...

We can't quite believe that it's day 16 of our holiday!

Tomorrow we move on to Arles...I'm really looking forward to walking the Vincent Van Gough Trail and have my fingers crossed for a Starry, Starry Night.