A while ago I posted about my nice and not so nice trip to Marseille in France here. It was a flash one day trip to an ok city, saved by a visit to Palais Longchamp, a park with one of the most stunning architecture I've seen for a long time.
The Palais Longchamp is in the city centre, less than 2km away from the old port. If you have a couple of hours to spare, it's quite a nice stroll along the Boulevard de la Libération or you can catch the tram if you don't fancy walking. After walking for about half an hour, you'll know you've arrived because you'll see a structure in front of you that is beyond breathtaking.
The monument was built in 1869 and has an east and west wing connected by a fountain in the middle called the Château d'Eau. Water from the fountain flows down to a cascade waterfall and eventually into a pond. I assume there should be landscape gardens around the pond but the area was bare and dry when I visited, which was a real pity. A bit like a beautiful lady all dressed up in a glam outfit and lovely makeup, but her hair is like a scarecrow. You get the picture, right 🙃? Nevertheless, the monument itself was still spectacular, we don't get anything in UK on this scale.
I spent ages at street level taking photos and hubby wandered upwards leaving me because he knew I would be here forever. Well, that's what bloggers does, we take millions of photos. He should know that by now!! After a whiile he beckoned me over and told me that the actual monument itself is even more spectacular. And he wasn't lying!
Two curved staircases on either side lead up to the east and west wings, and they house the Museum of Fine Arts and the Natural History Museum. As important as both these museums are, I didn't visit either of them and to be honest I wasn't sure if they were open, being a Sunday afternoon. Plus, being a short flash visit to Marseille, museums weren't exactly top on my list. I'd much rather spend time outdoors with the Palais Longchamp itself.
The thing I loved most about this place is its symmetry and the fact the facade is curved. There's something about these two elements combined together in a building that makes it extra-spectacular and grand. Building something symmetric is not that easy but when it's curved, including the staircase and the walkway, adds to the complexity, and in my humble opinion adds to the visual aspect.
There's a park behind the Palais Longchamp, which is ... a park. I mean I didn't venture very far in due to lack of time, so I didn't know if I missed much. Probably not, because if you read all the reviews about this place on the internet, it's all about the monument in the front. I'm pretty sure that is the crown jewel. We spent about an hour here including stopping by at the park cafe for coffee and crepe, which was reheated by microwave but it still tasted pretty good. Maybe our standards dropped a bit when we're on holiday, or maybe all foreign food tastes especially good on holiday 😃.
If I hadn't come to Palais Longchamp, Marseilles would have ranked pretty low on my list of travel experiences. Luckily this saved the day, and if I ever return (will I? I'm not sure) I'll definitely come back here again.
