[Summer in Grenoble] Marseille - Day 2: Marseille Vieux Port in the Morning

Oh my...
I really need to get back to posting, even if I'm kind of busy because of summer school.
I mean, the 'Summer in Grenoble' posts are stuff that happened approximately a year ago.

Anyway, here goes...

June 14th, 2015
after some sleep, we checked out of the hotel and were ready to get going

but before leaving the hotel, we had some breakfast at the hotel lobby.
Some cereal, croissants, and baguettes... because France!

My friends and I left the hotel after having some breakfast.

We reached a slightly more open area.

and also went past this plaza with a statue, and some shops.
According to Google Maps, this place seems to be called 'Cours Honoré-d'Estienne-d'Orves'

There was this shop that was preparing for business.
I think it would be very nice to eat at a cafe or restaurant like this one.

Anyway, we went on

and made it to Marseille Vieux Port.

It was a very beautiful area.
The buildings, sidewalks, the roads... everything was very well-maintained and pleasing to the eyes.

There was this hotel that was right next to the port area.
It must be at least a few times more expensive than the hotel we stayed in, right?

This is the port.
Just watching the water calms my mind, which is why I really like cities next to bodies of water.
Out of all of the places I've visited, my favorites were Marseille and Geneva for that very reason.

There were some people selling some fish at the port, at an earlier time in the morning.

Maybe it's because this area was the central area of Marseille, but all of the architecture I could see in the area were all very amazingly built.

This was a pretty noticeable building
It's called "Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins." I'm not sure what this is called in English though.

Next, we tried to drop by the Marseille Tourist Information Center and pick up some information booklets and passes.
Unfortunately, it was a bit too early for that.

So, I just took some pictures of the buildings in the street.
Some amazing French architecture here.

and we came back to the port

In the distance, we could see "Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde" (Notre-Dame de la Garde Basilica)
That's the place we were going to visit immediately after visiting the tourist information center.

My friends were very interested in buying souvenirs. I wasn't.
In case of post cards, I would rather take pictures myself as a practice.
In case of other forms of souvenirs, I didn't have any more room in the suit case.

The port is still very visually pleasing.
I would love to live at a beautiful city or town like this. That is, if areas other than the main port area was also pretty decently maintained.

This was Hotel de Ville, the City Hall of Marseille.

After some time had passed, there were a lot of street shops at the port.
I really like seeing street shops like these (I've been sayint this a lot, haven't I?)

After appreciating the view of the port for a bit more.

and after waiting for friends to finish shopping for some more souvenirs..

We started to walk over to the tourist center.