IV | Mar-seal

26/9/22-27/9/22

Did you know that Marseille is actually pronounced as Mar-say, and not Mar-seal? I was today years old when I learnt of that! 

Bloody hell, Marseille was quite an interesting place that’s for sure. I’m glad I only booked one night there, put it that way! My journey from Lyon to Marseille was a shit show to begin with. Somehow I missed my early morning bus to get to Marseille even though I was 40 minutes early and supposedly at the correct platform and area as described on my ticket! Still not quite sure what happened there to be honest. That was my first decent travel cock-up since I left New Zealand, so I haven’t done too bad really. Luckily I got a refund through the chat line of FlixBus, which I wasn’t meant to receive but the lady said it was out of good will, which was nice! I was pissed because there were no more buses until stupid o’clock at night, so I had to take the next train instead in order to check-in to my hostel in time. That was frustrating because my original bus was €11, whereas the train was €50. Wasn’t a nice start to my day. 


The train journey was cool though. I could see how different the country was getting as I headed south. Suddenly instead of buildings everywhere, most of the journey was surrounded by beautiful land and mountains. Definitely more of my cup of tea! I had looked forward to heading to the south of France for a long time so it was cool to finally start seeing these things. 


Then the train started to cruise in to Marseille… 


Massive, dirty buildings filled with graffiti. Not even nice graffiti, the shit sort of tagging! Honestly, I thought I was well and truly in the ghetto when I arrived at the Saint Charles train station. The city was all pretty rough and full of dodgy bastards until I arrived at the harbour. That part was relatively nice, though the water besides the pathways were dirty, full of trash and kind of ruined it a bit. The alley ways were much wider and open than the previous places I had been to. They were mostly just cafes, bars and restaurants, you know - the usual. Most places would have waiters and waitresses waiting outside to try and get you to come in side. 


Yeah, can’t say I’ve been that impressed with Marseille so far. So I figured I’d walk around the coastal path. There was lots of cool stuff to see in the distance like really beautiful islands and mountains. But again, I couldn’t help but notice how dirty the areas of Marseille were. Granted, I enjoyed this part of Marseille more than when I entered. But still, I just couldn’t help but think this place could be so beautiful if people didn’t ruin it. 


Vertigo Hostel, it was definitely the roughest and shittest hostel I’d been to yet. Oddly enough the most expensive too. I had an early night for some much needed sleep to catch up on, I felt like I wouldn’t be missing out on much at night in Marseille so figured why not. 


I don’t really have much else to say about this place. I’ll put it this way, I wouldn’t have minded skipping this one. Actually, I won’t hesitate - Marseille is a dirty shit hole. As I’ve said in the past, can’t expect to love everywhere I go. In the end it’s all an experience. I don’t think I’d want to come back here, nor do I recommend this place to anyone. I definitely know what Ben and Katerina back in Lyon meant now. When I told my good mate Thomas (who’s french) from back in NZ that I was going to Marseille, he did repetitively say to try and not to get stabbed and that it was a dirty shit-hole. I took it as a bit of a joke at first, but I definitely got what he meant when I arrived at the train station, bugger me. Well Thomas, I made it out of Marseille and lived to tell the story my friend.


Next up is Nice! Looking forward to this one. Hopefully I don’t miss the fucking bus this time!

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