We were docked some distance from the interesting part of the city, but for only €5 could take a bus to transport us there, passing some 200 metres down the road the free shuttle bus operated by the port authority. Our bus took us to a shopping centre, which the tour guide really talked up. 180 shops! Yes, but 120 of them were ones we have in English shopping centres.
There are three main places to go in Marseille if you're tourist:
1) The cathedral on the top of the hill. We didn't go there because that's all there is on the top of the hill and it was at the top of a a hill.
2) The old port. We did go here. It's big and full of boats. It was quite impressive, I thought. I could have done with a little less sun, though.
3) The district known as Le Panier, or "the basket". We went here. It's a hustling, bustling, energetic collection of narrow streets featuring individual shops, artisans and small eateries. None of it was open before 11am and only a twentieth was open before noon.
We visited a cathedral. It was closed,
We visited a parish church. All of it had been torn down in the French revolution except the tower, which survived. It has since been rebuilt. The tower wasn't original, it was a later add-on. All of it was closed.
Le Panier is quite a thrill. It gives the impression that it's a run-down slum, but it's not. It reminds me of Stokes Croft in Bristol, largely because it attracts vast amounts of grafitti.
On the whole, Marseille was well worth a visit, but that visit should probably have been in the evening.
The flush on our stateroom toilet has stopped working. It really needs to be working....