The South of France-East Half Part 24

_Doctors' Fees._--French doctors charge their countrymen generally 10 frs. for each visit. English doctors charge for each visit 5, 10, or 20 frs., according to what they suppose to be the means of their patients.

An extra charge is made for night work.

Tourists may find it convenient to take with them a little brandy, tea, arrowroot, Liebig's extract, Gregory's mixture, opium pills, and a little of whatever medicine they are in the habit of using. The ordinary wine at the hotels is neither so good nor so safe as formerly, and should always be watered.

[Headnote: Ma.r.s.eILLES.]

Ma.r.s.eILLES.

+Ma.r.s.eILLES+, pop. 319,000, 15 hrs. 25 min. from Paris, and 6 hrs.

37 min. from Lyons. From Cannes it is 4 hrs. 31 min., and from Nice 5 hrs. 27 min. 536 m. S. from Paris, 190 m. S. from Lyons, 120 m. W.

from Cannes, and 140 m. W. from Nice. On the departure side of the railway station is the +Terminus Hotel+ (dear). The hotel omnibuses await pa.s.sengers. Call out loudly the name of the hotel desired, to which the driver of its omnibus will respond.

A plentiful supply of +Cabs+ is both at the railway and the custom-house station of the Ba.s.sin de la Joliette. Each coachman is furnished with an official tariff, which, though constantly changing, may be stated to be--Between 6 A.M. and midnight, for a cab with one horse, the course, 1 fr.; the hour, 2 frs. With 2 horses, the course, 1 fr.; the hour, 2 frs. From midnight to 6 A.M. 75 c. extra. Portmanteaus not above 30 kilo., or 68? lbs., 25 c. each. The hotel omnibuses charge each pa.s.senger 1 fr.

_Hotels._--In the Rue Cannebiere, ascending from the Port, are very fine +Cafes+, and in the eastern continuation of it, the Rue Noailles, the best +Hotels+. The Hotel du Louvre et de la Paix; the Hotel Noailles; and the Hotel Ma.r.s.eilles; all near each other, and charging from 12 to 20 frs. per day.

Less luxurious and expensive are: the Pet.i.t Louvre, No. 16 R.

Cannebiere, over the office of Messageries Maritimes steamboats; between the Port and the Bourse, the Hotel de Geneve, a comfortable house; on the opposite side of the Rue Cannebiere and near the opera house, the Hotel Beauveau; near it, in the R. Vacon, the *Hotel des Colonies.

In and about the Cours Belsunce, where there are a large cab-stand and an important tramway terminus, are some good second-cla.s.s hotels, of which the best is the Hotel des Phoceens, 28 R. des Recolettes. Rooms, 2 frs.; Dinner, 3 frs. with wine. Next it, at No. 26, is the Hotel de l'Europe, a "maison meublee," in which good rooms, including service, cost 2 frs. Breakfast and dinner can be had in the neighbouring restaurants. Of them, one of the most comfortable is G. Restaurant des Gourmets, adjoining the hotel. Near it is the Restaurant Bouches du Rhone, a cheap house. The other second-cla.s.s houses in the Cours Belsunce which can be recommended are--the Californie; Deux Mondes; Hotel St. Marie; Negociants; Alger. The Hotel du Cours is good also, but it is only a "maison meublee." The continuation of the Cours Belsunce is called the Cours St. Louis, where a flower-market is held. Just off this Cours, in the Rue d'Aubagne, is a cheap, good, and clean house, the hotel and restaurant St. Louis; rooms from 1 to 3 frs.; dinner, a la carte. At No. 8 Place de Rome is a good and cheap house, the Hotel Forer, well situated, but it is one of those for which either a cab or the general omnibus must be taken at the station.

[Headnote: STEAMBOATS. CUSTOM-HOUSE.]

_Steamboats._--The steamers of the Messageries Maritimes, of Morelli et Cie., of Fraissinet et Cie., of the P. and O. Navigation Co., etc., arrive and depart from the Dock or Ba.s.sin Joliette. The custom-house is at the north end of the dock, and just outside the dock-gates are porters and a large cab-stand. The custom-house contains one waiting-room for the first and second cla.s.s, and another for the third.

Pa.s.sengers before they can have their baggage examined have to pay 6 sous at the end of the baggage-room for each box, for which they receive an acknowledgment. A tramway runs from No. 1 Quai Joliette to Longchamps, entering the Port and the Rue Cannebiere by the R. de la Republique. There are no hotels near the steamboat station.

Small boats' station at the head of the Port. Boats to and from the +Chateau d'If+, 8 frs. from 3 to 3 hrs. On feast days small steamers make the round of the islands, starting from nearly the same place, but do not land the pa.s.sengers, fare fr., time 1 hr. At this part of the quay the feluccas from Spain discharge their cargoes of oranges and other fruits. From the Hotel de Ville (1 in plan) on the port, the Bateaux Mouches cross over to the Place aux Huiles opposite, 1 sou. At the mouth of the port, from between La Consigne and the Fort St. Jean, other Bateaux Mouches cross over to the Ba.s.sin Carenage, by the side of Fort St. Nicholas, and just below the interesting old church of St.

Victor, 1 sou. From this a road leads up to Notre Dame.

The princ.i.p.al Temple Protestant is in the R. Vincent, No. 2. There is another in the R. Grignan, No. 15, near the General Post Office at No.

53. Poste-Restante, "guichet," on the ground-floor, opposite the entrance door. Telegraph office, No. 10 Rue Pave d'Amour. Anglican chapel, No. 100 Rue Sylvabelle, south from the Rue Grignan and parallel to it. The public library is in the Boulevard du Musee, in the ecole des Beaux Arts. Open daily except Sunday.

Best money-changers by the west side of the Bourse, 10 in plan.

The Opera is near the Port; the other theatres are around the Rue Noailles.

[Map: Ma.r.s.eilles]

[Headnote: SIGHTS. TRAMS.]

+Sights.+--Palais Longchamp, an artistic edifice, containing the Picture Gallery and the +Natural History Museum+; free. Closed on Mondays and every day between 12 and 2 (see p. 114). Near the Palais is the Zoological Garden, free on Sundays. Notre Dame de la Garde (p. 116). The shops and cafes in the Rues Cannebiere and Noailles. A drive on the Corniche road.

Of all the +Trams+ the most important starts from the left of the statue in the Cours Belsunce, and runs by the Chateau des Fleurs and the Prado to its Bonneveine terminus, a little beyond the racecourse. Just behind the Bonneveine terminus is the +Chateau Borely+, containing the Musee d'Archeologie, including a collection of Phoenician relics found in the neighbourhood, which support the hypothesis of the Phoenician origin of Ma.r.s.eilles. Open on Sundays and Thursdays. On the ground-floor are Roman mosaics, busts, altars, tombstones, jewellery, mummies; and in the end room is a stone with a Phoenician inscription, regulating the tariff of the prices to be paid to the priests for sacrifices in the temple of Baal. Upstairs are collections of antique gla.s.s, necklaces, fayence from Provence and Ma.r.s.eilles, bronzes, gold jewellery, lamps, vases, weapons, and an octagonal plan of Ma.r.s.eilles 18 ft. in diameter.

[Headnote: CORNICHE. BOUILLABAISSE.]

Return from the Bonneveine terminus by the tram for the Place de Rome, near 12 in plan. On its way it follows the Corniche road, considered the most beautiful drive about Ma.r.s.eilles, fare fr. The gardens and pleasure-grounds in the whole of this neighbourhood are due to the irrigation afforded by the ca.n.a.l. Of the bathing establishments on the Corniche road the best is the Roucas Blanc; and of the restaurants the best is the Hotel Roubion, a first-cla.s.s house, charging 15 frs. per day, and for vin ordinaire, lights, and service, 5 frs. additional. The house is situated on an eminence rising from the Corniche road, at the entrance into the Vallon de l'Oriol, commands a splendid sea view, has handsome dining-rooms, and is famed for its fish dinners and Bouillabaisse. Trams and omnibuses are constantly pa.s.sing it. This establishment, as well as most of the other restaurants along the Corniche road, has tanks in the rocks on the beach, in which is kept a supply of live fish to make the Provence dish called Bouillabaisse, a kind of fish soup, which, like most national dishes--plum-pudding, puchero, haggis, etc.--admits of considerable lat.i.tude in the preparation. The essentials are--whole rasca.s.ses and chapons (scorpion fishes), and rock lobsters stewed in a liquor mixed with a little of the best olive oil, and flavoured with tender savoury herbs. An extra good Bouillabaisse should include also crayfish, a few mussels, and some pieces of any first-cla.s.s fish, such as the ba.s.s.

[Headnote: PALAIS DE LONGCHAMP.]

Those having little time to devote to Ma.r.s.eilles should, after taking a short stroll about the Port and in the Rues Cannebiere and Noailles, enter the Joliette tram on its way up to the Palais de Longchamp, fare 2 sous. +The Palais de Longchamp+, which cost 165,000, consists of two rectangular wings, united by a semicircular colonnade of Ionic volute-fluted columns. In the centre, under a richly-sculptured ma.s.sive archway, an inscription records that the great undertaking of bringing the water of the Durance to Ma.r.s.eilles was begun on the 15th November 1839, and was accomplished on the 8th July 1847, in the reign of Louis Philippe I. Another records that the palace was commenced in the reign of Napoleon III., on the 7th April 1862, and finished on the 15th August 1869. From a group of colossal bulls under the colonnade gushes a copious stream of water, which in its descent makes a cascade of 90 ft.

in three stages. The wing to the right, standing with the face to the palace, contains the Natural History Museum; and the other, the picture and sculpture galleries.

All the pictures are labelled. On the first floor are some large pictures by French artists and a few statues. In the second small room left hand is a collection of sketches by famous painters. Among the best pictures in the large centre hall of the upper story are:--F. Bol, d.

1681, portrait of woman and of King of Poland; Bourdon, d. 1671, portrait of P. de Champaigne; Cesari, d. 1640, Noah inebriated; Fontenay, d. 1715, Fruit; Girodet, d. 1824, Fruit; Gongo, d. 1764, Sacrifice to Venus and Jupiter; Greuze, d. 1805, portrait; Holbein, d.

1554, portrait; Loo, d. 1745, portrait of lady; Maratta, d. 1713, Cardinal Cibo; Mignard, d. 1695, Ninon de Lenclos; Nattier, d. 1766, Mme. de Pompadour as Aurora; Peeters, d. 1652, marine scene; Pellegrino, d. 1525, Holy Family; Perugino, d. 1524, Holy Family; F. Porbus, d.

1584, portrait; Raphael, d. 1520, St. John; Rembrandt, d. 1669, A Prophetess (sibyl); Reni, d. 1642, The Protectors of Milan; Ribera, d.

1656, Juan de Porcida; Rigaud, d. 1745, Duc de Villars; Rubens, d. 1640, Wild-boar Hunt; Salvator Rosa, d. 1675, Hermit; Veronese, d. 1588, Venetian princess; Zurbaran, d. 1662, St. Francis. In the room to the right is the "+ecole Provencal+," containing, among other paintings--Barry, The Bosphorus; Duparc, d. 1778, The Milkmaid, and portraits of old man, woman, and girl knitting; Papety, d. 1849, "La Vierge Consolatrice"; P. Puget, Madonna. In the left room are, among others, J. F. Millet, b. 1815, Woman feeding Child.

The most important parts of the Museum of Natural History are the conchological division and the collection of ammonites.

From the Palace gardens is a good view of Ma.r.s.eilles. Behind the palace, on the top of the hill, is the great reservoir 242 ft. above the sea, supplied with water from the main channel by a branch ca.n.a.l. (See under Roquefavour, p. 77.) At this part of the hill is one of the entrances to the Zoological Gardens; free on Sundays, when they are crowded with people. Near the entrance is the +Observatory+, one of the most important in France.

[Headnote: HoTEL DE VILLE. LA CONSIGNE.]

The port of Ma.r.s.eilles has in all an area of 422 acres, and is protected on the E. by Cape Croisette, and on the W. by Cape Couronne. Its approaches are lighted by 6 lighthouses, of which the most distant is on the Planier rock, 130 ft. above the sea, and 8 m. S.W. from Ma.r.s.eilles.

The large steam vessels lie in the dock La Joliette, covering 55 acres, and finished in 1853; while the old-fas.h.i.+oned trading-vessels, with their lateen sails, crowd together in the harbour called emphatically the "Port," containing 75 acres. From the end of the "Port" extends eastwards the handsome and greatly-frequented street La Cannebiere, so called from the rope-walks, whose site it now occupies. At nearly the middle of the N. side of the "Port" is the +Hotel de Ville+ (1 in plan), built in the 17th cent., and adorned with sculpture by Puget, born at Ma.r.s.eilles; while at the western extremity of the same side, next Fort St. Jean, is a low building called La Consigne, or Health Office. Over the chimney-piece in the council-room of the Consigne is a beautiful relief in white marble by Puget, representing the plague at Milan. To the right is a picture by Gerard, representing Bishop Belsunce administering the sacrament to the plague-stricken inhabitants of Ma.r.s.eilles in 1720. To the left, St. Roch before the Virgin, by David.

Fronting the windows, "The frigate Justice returning from Constantinople with the plague on board," "l'an 4 de la Republique." Opposite the fireplace, "The cholera on board the Melpomene," by Horace Vernet. Next it, by Guerin, "The Chevalier Rose a.s.sisting to bury those who had died of the plague." Between them is a Crucifixion by Auber. Between the two windows is a portrait of Bishop Belsunce. (Fee, fr.) Near the Consigne is the pier of the ferry-boats. Above the Hotel de Ville is the town infirmary, and beyond it, on a terrace 30 ft. above the quay of Joliette, [Headnote: CATHEDRAL. ARC DE TRIOMPHE.] the +Cathedral+, a Byzantine basilica, 460 ft. from S. to N., and 165 ft. from E. to W.

at the transept; built of gray Florentine stone alternating with a whitish sandstone from the neighbourhood of Arles. The nave is 52 ft.

wide, and the roof 82 ft. high. The great dome is 196 ft. high. Behind the cathedral are the Episcopal palace (5 in plan), the Seminary (4), and the Hospice de la Charite (7). Eastwards, in the Place d'Aix, is the +Arc de Triomphe+, an imitation of the arch of t.i.tus at Rome, commenced on the 4th November 1825, to commemorate the prowess of the Duc d'Angouleme in the Spanish campaign of 1823. It is 58 ft. high and 58 ft. wide, has on the south side statuary by Ramey emblematic of the battles of Fleurus and Heliopolis, and on the north side similar statuary by David, representing the battles of Marengo and Austerlitz.

Over the arch is the inscription-- "_A la Republique_." From the arch a steep street, the R. d'Aix, descends to the Cours Belsunce, with at the N. end a statue of Bishop Belsunce, "pour perpetuer le souvenir de sa charite et de son devouement durant la peste; qui desola Ma.r.s.eille" in 1720. By the side of it are the terminus of the Bonneveine tram (p. 113) and the Alcazar Lyrique, a kind of superior cafe chantant.

[Headnote: BOURSE.]

The continuation southwards of the Cours is the Rue de Rome, and farther S. the s.p.a.cious Promenade du Prado. At the S. end of the Cours are, to the right the R. Cannebiere, and to the left the R. Noailles, the two best streets in Ma.r.s.eilles. At the W. or Port end of the former is the +Bourse+ (marked 10 in the plan), a parallelogramic building, 154 feet broad by 223 long, erected between 1858 and 1860. The princ.i.p.al hall, 60 feet by 94, is ornamented with mural paintings. In the vestibule are allegorical statues of Ma.r.s.eilles and France, and a bas-relief representing Ma.r.s.eilles receiving productions from all parts of the world. On the opposite side of the street, by the R. de Paradis, are the Opera-house, the Palais de Justice, and the Prefecture (12 in plan). The Palais de Justice, built in 1862 in the Greek style, has on the pediment and peristyle bas-reliefs by Guillaume, representing Justice, Force, Prudence, etc. The outer hall, the "Salle des Pas-Perdus," is surrounded by 16 columns of red marble. The Prefecture is a splendid edifice in the Renaissance style, 300 ft. long by 260 ft. wide, adorned with statues and bas-reliefs, and furnished with a grand staircase, escalier d'honneur, communicating with handsome reception-room ornamented with mural paintings.

From the Bourse a pleasant road leads up to the church of +Notre Dame de la Garde+, one of the princ.i.p.al sights, and the most prominent object in Ma.r.s.eilles. From the Rue Paradis turn to the right by the Cours Pierre-Puget, traverse the pretty promenade, the Jardin de Colline, and then ascend the narrow road, the Montee des Oblats. On descending be careful to take the path to the left of the stone altar under a canopy on 4 columns. A small omnibus drives up the length of the Plateau de la Croix, whence a series of 178 steps has to be ascended to attain to the terrace on which the church stands, 535 ft. above the sea. The church is shut between 12 and 2, but the tower, ascended by 154 steps, can always be visited. Fee, fr. It is 148 ft. high, crowned with a gilded image of Mary 30 ft. high, ascended by steps in the interior to the head. The view, which is just as good from the terrace, commands the whole of Ma.r.s.eilles. To the N.E. the culminating peak is Le Taoume, 2166 ft.; to the S.E. is the Montagne de Carpiagne, 1873 ft.; and S. from it Mont Puget, 1798 ft. In front of Ma.r.s.eilles are the islands Ratonneau and Pomegue, connected by a breakwater. Between them and the mainland is the little island of If (p. 118). Off Cape Croisette are the islands of Mare and Peirot. The road down the little ravine (the Valon de l'Oriol) leads to the Corniche.

NOTRE DAME DE LA GARDE.

Notre Dame, an edifice in the Roman-Byzantine style, consists of an upper and a lower church. The dome over the apse is 48 ft. high. The interior of the church is lined with Carrara marble, but the pilasters and columns are of marble from Africa and the Alps. Over the high altar in the low church is the miracle-working image of Notre Dame. It is about 6 ft. high, stands on a pedestal of olive wood, is hollow, and made of a kind of stucco (carton-pierre) silvered over, excepting the face and hands of both it and the child. It weighs 1 cwt. 1 qr. and 14 lbs. On the high altar in the high church is a replica, nearly all of silver. The walls are covered with expressions of grat.i.tude to it, and with pictures ill.u.s.trating the manner in which its miraculous interposition was displayed.

[Headnote: LYCeE.]

From the streets Cannebiere and Noailles other handsome streets ramify, such as the Rue de Rome and the Cours Liautaud. Just where the Cours Liautaud leaves the Rue Noailles is the +Lycee+ or head grammar-school, and in the neighbourhood (marked 11) La Bibliotheque et l'ecole des Beaux Arts, forming together a palatial edifice off the Boulevard du Musee, 177 ft. long by 164 ft. wide. On the ground-floor are the cla.s.s-rooms, and on the first story, the library, the collection of medals, and the reading-room, 131 ft. long by 19 wide. Among the medals are 2600 belonging to Provence. The library contains 95,000 vols. and 1300 ma.n.u.scripts.

[Headnote: SAINT VICTOR.]

At the mouth of the Port, on an eminence above Fort St. Nicolas and the Ba.s.sin de Carenage (graving dock), is the oldest church in Ma.r.s.eilles, +Saint Victor+, all that remains of one of the most famous monasteries in Christendom, founded in 420 by St. Ca.s.sien, ordained deacon of the church in Constantinople by Chrysostom. The exterior of St. Victor resembles a badly-built small fort surrounded by 7 unequal and uncouth square towers, the two largest at the N. side having been added by Pope Urban V., a former abbot of the monastery. Over the entrance door under these towers is a rude representation of St. George and the dragon. The upper church dates only from the beginning of the 13th cent. Near the sacristy in the S. side a stair of 32 steps leads down to the original church, a large and s.p.a.cious crypt. Of this crypt the most ancient part is the small chapel shut off from the rest, with several tombs hewn in the rock. Among those buried here were St. Victor, and, according to the tradition of the place, Lazarus also, who is said to have died at Ma.r.s.eilles. The ancient appearance of this chapel is marred by a modern altar with a stone reredos, sculptured, it is said, by Puget. The shaft of one of the columns has a sculptured rope coiled round it. Pieces of ornamental sculpture are seen at different parts of the crypt, and remnants of a fresco painting. This also is the sanctuary of a miraculous wooden image of Mary and Child, said to have been carved by Luke. It is of a dark colour, is 3 ft. high, and is called Notre Dame de Confession, whose intercession is sought by crowds of votaries from the 2d till the 9th of February. The best of the sarcophagi have been removed to the museum in the Chateau Borely (p. 113). At the foot of the eminence on which the church stands are Fort St. Nicolas and the Ba.s.sin de Carenage, whence a sou ferry steamboat crosses every four minutes to the other side. Among the modern churches perhaps the best is Saint Vincent de Paul, built in the style of the 13th cent.

[Headnote: ISLAND OF IF.]

_Excursions._--The princ.i.p.al excursion from Ma.r.s.eilles is to the +Island of If+, with its old chateau built by Francis I., long used as a state prison. Boats for the excursion lie at the Cannebiere end of the Port.

They charge from 5 to 9 frs.; but it is necessary to arrange the price before starting. The landing-place is at some low shelving rocks, whence a stair ascends to the terrace, on which are, to the right the entrance to the Chateau, and a little to the left a restaurant. A man conducts visitors over the castle, of which the most interesting parts are the cell of Monte Christo, and the place where he was thrown over into the sea.

Ma.r.s.eilles to Martigues, 24 m. N.W. by rail (see map on p. 66). At Martigues station omnibus for Port Bouc, 3 m. W.; fare, fr. From Port Bouc rail to Miramas, or steamboat by the ca.n.a.l to Arles (see p. 76).