SewSewNerdy: Another day by the sea

This was our first full day in Marseille, and my only day to see the city, so we walked quite a bit around the port area.
Wayne seems to be fighting a cold, so I let him sleep in and we headed out around 11. We were still
able to see quite a bit.

Our first stop was an abbey (St. Victoire) near the apartment, at least some of which was built in the 6th century. Since it is Sunday, services were being held and Sunday school was being taught in the basement--the 6th century crypt.

Since we started out late, our first meal of the day was lunch, though Wayne wasn't hungry. We found a restaurant in a square not far from the port, but not on the strip filled with tourist restaurants.
The bread was, of course, excellent--crunchy on the outside and smooth on the inside. The coffee, too, was great--no brewed pots sitting on a hotplate here. I got the plat-midi (lunch plate) with Quiche Provencale (the Armenian was tempting) and a salad of baby greens with balsamic reduction. Everything was so fresh--I've never tasted such sweet baby greens--even the radicchio was sweet.

A fresh and tasty lunch

So far the weather has been great--mid-60s during the day and cooler in the evening/morning.

L'express, cafe au lait and bread

back side of the church

After lunch we walked around (tried to find the office) and visited a church (Marseille Cathedral). This is relatively, built in the mid/late 1800s, but part of the original church stands next to it--built in the 1100's.

Nice hinges--do you think
Restoration Hardware carries these?

the entry way

some VERY old rebar

Before heading back to the apartment, we stopped for an afternoon snack: coffee, sparkling water and the best vanilla and chocolate ice cream we've ever tasted.

We hung out in the apartment for a few hours, did some laundry, Wayne played his guitar, then we headed back out for dinner. We wanted to try Pizza Donatella, but it appears to not open until 8, and by 7:30 we were fading, so we ended up at Restaurant Mario. There seems to be quite a few places with wood burning ovens, so were not disappointed. The seafood salad was much larger than we expected, but we managed to eat it all. I didn't take a photo of the pizza, but it was really good, too: ementhal cheese with bell peppers.