Last day in Marseille, train strike and arrival in Sete

Thursday June 12 was another hot day in Marseille.  Alain did a morning run along the corniche by the sea (6.5 km).  We then moved our luggage over to the Hotel Peron, where we would be staying our last night in the city.  We headed down to the port and walked to an older neighbourhood known as Le Panier on the other side of the harbour to see an exhibit entitled "Visages: Picasso, Magritte, Warhol...".

En route, we took a picture of some of the hundreds of boats in the harbour.

Lots of beautiful boats

As we rounded the bend of the harbour, there is a square with a reflecting roof and a Metro Stop.  Great image!

Reflection in metal canopy

Le Panier is the oldest part of the city.  It had been a traditional first stop for successive waves of immigrants.  It is an area of steep stairways and narrow streets, but has now become the stomping grounds of young artists and students, with small shops, galleries and restaurants.

Eglise des Accoules

Boats in the harbour and forts on both sides of the water

Typical street in Le Panier

Small gallery en route

Enjoying an Apero

The exhibit was in the Centre de la Vieille Charite, a former hospice for the homeless, designed by Marseillais architect Pierre Puget and built between 1671-1749.  It is a three story arcaded building around a beautiful Baroque chapel.  Since 1986, the complex has contained two small museums (Musee d'Archeologie Mediterraneenne and Muse d'Arts African, Oceaniens et Amerindiens) and additional rooms for temporary art exhibits, including the Chapel.  The Visages exhibit was in a number of rooms in the cultural space and the Chapel.  It was complemented by a separate exhibit entitled: "Faces...the origins" in the Museum of of Mediterranean Archeology section of the complex.

Visages: Picasso, Magritte, Warhol...  contained 150 works (paintings, photographs and sculptures) by over 80 artists dealing with the representation of the human face from the early 20th century to today.

Posters for exhibit

Baroque Chapel and surrounding museums and cultural space

There was no photography allowed in the main part of the exhibit, only in the Chapel. I downloaded a few images from the exhibit from the Internet.  The exhibit was organized around a number of themes: Faces in Society, Intimate Faces, Faces of the Spirit. The final part of the exhibit were a display of sculptures in the Chapel.  While there were a few Picassos, Magrittes and Warhols, the exhibit's name was a bit of a misnomer.  There were wonderful works by Jean Helion, George Grosz, Nan Goldin, De Chirico, Alex Katz and Gerhard Richter as well as sculptures by Jean Arp and Giacometti.  We also enjoyed the works of Laetitia Molenar, whose work was a homage to Edward Hopper.  Photos by Brassai, Man Ray and others were included in the thematic groupings of the paintings.

Picasso, Femme au miroir, 1959

Jean Helion, L'homme a la face rouge 1943

Jean Paul Basquiat

Picasso

There was also a display of sculptures depicting faces during this period.  All the art was heavily influenced by the two World Wars and their impact on society.  It was a very interesting exhibit, with some outstanding pieces.

Sculptures in the beautiful chapel

The exhibit "Visages... the Origins" had 40 pieces from the ancient world depicting the human face.  There was also a video, placing the pictures from the modern exhibit alongside similar-looking pieces from the Mediterranean Archeology Museum.

Quote in the archway of the cultural space

After our visit to the Vieille Charite Centre, we stopped for a drink.  I had a lovely fruit drink and Alain had a coffee gourmand (coffee with a piece of apricot and pistachio tart).

Lovely cafe in Le Panier area where we stopped

We walked down from the hill and stopped for a coffee at Aroma, a small cafe with a roasting machine on site.  We enjoyed one of the best coffees of our trip.  Our plan was to have an earlier dinner in this area before our 30 minute walk back to the hotel.  The owner of the cafe was very nice and highly recommended a restaurant further down the street, that we had been thinking of going to.

View walking down the hill

Aroma cafe

View from Le Panier of the harbour

We went to a restaurant called Dayo, owned by two old friends.  We were the first guests, as it was only just after 7:00 pm.  We mentioned that the coffee shop owner had recommended the restaurant.

We started with a Pastis aperitif, had a beautiful fish (loupe), lots of vegetables and coffee.  After dinner, the owner brought over a bottle of a home made digestif (like a calvados) and we had a few shots.

Owner with one of our fish

Delicious loup with lots of olive oil

Alain with his Pastis

Vegetables- onion, potatoes, zucchini and fresh thyme

Salud!

After dinner we walked back beside the water passing many boats and Fort Nicolas, built by
Louis XIV in the 17th century.

Boats in the evening

Fort Nicolas 

We passed some windows with French flags-- getting ready for the World Cup.  Earlier in the day, we had seen some folks draped with large Brazilian flags.

World cup fever

We stopped at Les Catalans beach at dusk for a photo and views of the water.  Just wonderful!

Alain et moi at Les Catalans beach

Sunset at Les Catalans

View of the Mediterranean

We got back to the Hotel at about 9:45 p.m. and went to our room.  Hotel Perron had been one of the first in Marseilles to install baths and it was a beauty (short but deep).  Lovely seafood relief on the wall.

Hotel Peron- the bath

Then the nightmare began.  There had been a rain and taxi strike in France on Wednesday June 11.  We thought things were going to be OK for our trip to Sete on Friday June 13.  However, my cousin Karen wrote us that it looked like the strike was going to continue on Friday, which meant erratic train traffic.  She urged us to book online which we tried to do for the next three hours.  Nothing seemed to work.  We even chatted briefly with my cousin Anna, who had returned to Marseille.  She suggested we go to the train station early the next morning.

We went to bed at close to 2:00 a..m. and woke up early.  As the hotel was a family-run enterprise, it took a long while to pay, and get our receipt.  The woman who owned the hotel gave us a discount on the room and when the taxi came, gave him some money for our trip to the train station.  A very nice touch, as we were getting anxious about the time.  Luck was with us, as we were able to get to the front of a ticket line and get on the one sure train to Sete- the 8:18 a.m. train.  Once on the train (with just minutes to spare), we relaxed and it was a beautiful two hour trip through Provence-- Arles, Nimes, Montpelier and then Sete.

Arles from the train

My cousin Karen picked us up at the train station and we drove to their wonderful house on the Sete hill.  It has been in Daniel (Karen's husbands) family for years.

View of the Sete hill

We got to my cousins' place.  We love to be on the terrace with the view of their garden and the Mediterranean Sea from on high.  The weather is beautiful this year- blue sky and warm (31C).

Terrace, garden and view of the Mediterranean from my cousins' place

One part of the rooms off the terrace

The terrace

We had a coffee and then headed to the beach for a swim.  The beaches are only a five minute drive away.  Karen usually goes twice a day for a swim in the summertime.  There was hardly anyone there, as school is still on in France.  The water is warm and the salt keeps you buoyant.

Cousins

We then went back for a late lunch on the terrace.  Karen made a beautiful salad with fresh apricots for dessert.  This is heaven.

The salad and fougasse bread 

A toast - Alain, Daniel et Karen

We had a nap and then got ready for dinner.  A Swiss collector of Daniel's work  (Daniel is a well-known French artist) and another artist from Geneva were unexpectedly in town and were coming for dinner.  Karen made a gorgeous octopus salad for a starter and then we had fish with beans, a cheese course and fresh cherries for dessert.  Lots of wine, and mint tea at the end of the meal.  Alain and I could follow a bit of the conversation in French (though not all).  A lovely evening.

Karen serving the main course

Enjoying our meal

We slept well and awoke Saturday to another beautiful day.  We had coffee on the terrace and then I finished this post.  Alain went with Daniel to visit his storage area in town.  Our three days in Sete will be a wonderful way to chill out before we head to Paris on Monday for the last two weeks of our holidays.