Blown All the Way to Marseille

The winds continued to blow strong so we set our sails for Cassis. One of my favorite towns with its quaint fishing village atmosphere. Space is always tight here, and this time our luck ran out. There was no room for us to spend the night so we continued on to Marseille, which is only a few hours further up the coast. We stayed across from Marseille on the island of Ratonmeau. There are actually two islands right next to each other. The French have connected the islands together and created a resort port. This time of year it is pretty quiet, but a great place to spend the night. It used to be a large prison and then a fort/military instillation. The stonewalls and buildings are still there, but abandoned to time and weather. They are at various stages of decay but very interesting to see the history that once walked along the abandoned corridors. While we walked around the ruins, Bruce found a terracotta tile that had a manufacturers stamp of Marseille imprinted on the backside. There is a lot of rubble outside the walls of the abandoned buildings that had been dumped down a steep embankment. We thought the tile was interesting so decided to dig around and see if we could find some more. They might make fun coasters. Sure enough, with a little digging among the discarded rubble, we found enough whole ones for a set of coasters. But the biggest discovery was when Bruce found a peninsula of the island bearing his family name, LeCheminant. There was even a rock house built on the site. We just didn’t know where to report for clear title to the family estate.

Right across from this island is the famous Ile d’If, which has a beautiful medieval prison, built with high rock walls and rounded turrets. Protestants and other declared heretics were kept there until they served time as galley slaves. In the 19th century Napoleon III kept political prisoners there. But the most famous prisoner there was one that never existed. Alexander Dumas fictional character The Count of Monte Cristo was there for 18 years. The story is actually a fictionalized account of a real prisoner who was kept on an island near Cannes. But of course that little detail does not stop the tour guides showing you an actual cell where the Count could have been quartered.