VALLEY OF THE RHONE
CORNICHE ROAD BETWEEN NICE AND MONACO
Marseilles is a place about which the casual traveler knows but little, and yet it is one of the oldest and most important seaports in the world. So long ago as 600 years before Christ, the Greeks sailed into this natural harbor and made it "master of the seas." Marseilles carries on a large oriental trade, which accounts for the fancy-dress-ball appearance of its quay and streets.
Then there is the Cannebière.
Do you know what the Cannebière is? Well, it's a street, or, rather, three streets in one, each with a double row of trees meeting in an arch overhead, and each of these rows of trees flanked by broad walks which are formed into open-air cafés, served from the hotels and restaurants which face them. Here the multitude gathered from all nations may be found—quite the most cosmopolitan of my experience—and here we have our tea each afternoon.
All European cities have open-air cafés, but none of them can duplicate the Cannebière, The Marseillaise are very proud of it, and have a song which runs:
"Si Paris avait une Cannebière,
Paris serait une petite Marseilles."
(If Paris had a Cannebière, it would be a little Marseilles.)
Those who named the streets in Marseilles must have had their share of sentiment and romance. One of them is named "Rue Paradis," and its principal shop is called "Paradis de Dames." Another rue is named "Pavé d'Amour," which doesn't quite harmonize with the odor of the favorite dish, bouillabaisse, of which Thackeray wrote.