Les Letres de Marseille

After our morning walk and lunch on our second day in Marseille (Wednesday, February 13th), Jeff was feeling a major jet lag slump. I was a little tired, but it seemed like a waste of time to sit in our apartment at high noon in a new city! With promises to do as little walking as possible, I coerced my lethargic husband into an excursion to find the Hollywood-style sign up in the hills, les letres de Marseille.


Jeff is a wizard with bus schedules, and got us there in nearly half the 45 minutes estimated by Google. The trick was to figure out which bus stop to get off on. Our excursion went in this order: a walk, a tram, a walk, a bus, and finally a hike to the Marseille sign. While we were riding the bus, we narrowed our destination down to three potential stops and got off on the middle one. We started walking towards a likely looking gap in the street ahead, and miraculously we came out right above the Marseille sign. It was massive. I was expecting it to be big, but it exceeded my expectations vastly. We had to hike down the scrubby hillside a ways so we could have a chance to take it all in. But first, we stood and admired the VIEW: sparkling Mediterranean on one side and a wide array of buildings arching both directions along the shore, rising up in levels on the hills leading away from the water. It was quiet up on the hill, the city reduced to a scattering of silent specks from our vantage point.

The whole idea of Hollywood-style letters in Marseille seemed very touristy to me, but the sign was quite difficult to get to, and once we found it, the dirt paths around it were sort of junky with scattered rocky rubble and weeds. It was not a well-groomed easily accessible attraction. Maybe it is more tidy during the high tourist season, but I kind of got the feeling that Marseille doesn't feel the need to "try as hard" as Paris. In general, Marseille was dirtier with more graffiti, narrower roads, and a more laid back vibe than her glittery cousin Paris. I loved it! Marseille is the oldest city in France, dating back to ancient Greek times. It was never redesigned and rebuilt like Paris was in the mid 1800s. Marseille simply adapted its awesome centuries-old city plan to modernity as best it could. That adaptation gives Marseille a layered, unique look and feel that I found fascinating.

Back to les letres: It was 60 degrees and the view from the hillside was perfection. I stood and breathed in that sun-drenched air in deep cleansing lung-fulls. Can vitamin D be absorbed through the lungs as well as through the skin? It felt very possible on that magical hillside. We photographed the landmark thoroughly (and by we, I mean me--haha). We got kind of sweaty in the sun while we walked! What a novelty in February.

Then we hiked back up the steep hill and hopped back on the next bus and then succumbed to the crowded stuffy metro instead of walking farther to ride a second bus. Climbing out of the suffocating hole of the metro, we walked back to our apartment building, felt the burn while climbing up the three story spiral staircase, and retreated inside our studio home away from home to rest and prep for our next adventure.

The view from above the letters. Marseille sprawled on and on and on along the coastline. 

Jeff wend down low and took this picture while I stayed up high next to the M, for perspective. That was a very steep hill and I almost fell in the dust on my bum while inching my way down the dirt path.

 Sunshine and sea.

 Jeff's advanced spatial perception makes him excellent at taking blind selfies with our mini camera. He aimed perfectly and got nearly the entire sign in behind us!

 This was a date, after all.

 Jeff may be master of the blind selfie, but I am the master of balancing our camera on random objects and setting the timer. I found a handy rock and positioned it rather nicely for this picture.

Jeff suggested a jumping picture, so I got to show off my non-ability with hops--my tired legs had zero spring, and I twisted my ankle on a rock in the attempt. This is a ridiculously difficult type of picture to take using a camera timer, so maybe my feet were both off the ground for a nanosecond, but the camera did not click during that time. Hahaha, I find this picture equal parts embarrassing and amusing. 

That's Jeff on the far right.

I played with camera angles and made the sign look like it was nestled in a meadow of flowers. Reality: there was a narrow swath of weeds growing on the side of the path, and I crouched way down to get them in the foreground. The effect was lovely, and even if they were weeds, it was a joy to see spontaneous wild flowers growing in February. 

I've never been to Hollywood, but I still like Marseille better.