Roanoke (CL 145) - Naval Cruise Book

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if? Ac1miral's reception Marseille-with music Qin:- -55:56

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,qv -'Z -Af . gig-iz. ut, lei HE MARSEILLE for any incidents that might mar our stay, during the May Day parades and celebration downtown. Marseille, like Genoa, is not a glamorous city, but a city of industry and commerce, centering, of course, on its milesflong waterffront. We took a taxi up to the church of Notre Dame de la Garde, the mariners' church of Marseille, built high atop the highest peak in the city, and from it we got a breathtaking view of all the city there was to see and its tremendous harbor. Gur stay was not long enough to make it appear worthwhile taking the tours offered by our roving friend the American Express agent, but some of us did go off to Paris for the live days that the rest of us spent in Marseille. Cur sightseeing in Marseille was done by walking through the busy streets, shopping in the many small perfume shops, and sitting at sidewalk cafes to sample the French wines and watch the passing parade, an excellent vantage point for this latter pastime. We were interested in the French girls, Were they as voluptuous, beautiful, chic and passion' 55a ' - --siiiiwfw -A A-+'-ffffrffx' ate as Life Magazine has always hinted? Well, we looked at them, and they looked about like the girls in Ames, Iowa or Macon, Georgia. Those of us who went to Paris reported that the girls there were really French, meaning the ooooooflafla type. The ones we saw in Marseille were more like the ones at home, and, frankly, we were glad they were. The members of the France'United States Club, an organization founded for the purpose of bringing about better relationships between American and French people and fostered by our State Depart' ment, offered its facilities to the Roanoke during our stay in Marseille. Each night a sizeable group of us went there to meet the girls, to dance, to drink beer and Coke, and to eat the sandwiches which were generously passed out. It was our experience that the Club was doing an excellent job in May 1950 of cementing good relationships between some of the youth of France and America. Algiers, in French North Africa, was our next stop. The Casbah, famous stamping grounds of

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Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamar, is in the city, and is its main tourist attraction. Unlike tourist attrac' tions in many other places visited by tourists, the Casbah has little beauty to offer. The residents of the Casbah are a mixed group, Many of them are Moslems, and these rather resent the horde of tourists who flock through the place ohfing and ahfing at whatever they can poke img, We went through the narrow sidewalkfwide streets of this native quarter on an afternoon when a light drizzle was falling, and we rather felt that appro' riate attire would have called first of all for a air of high rubber boots, a suit belonging preferably P P ro anybody else than ourselves, a battle helmet and, if available, a gas mask. Perhaps only the rain heightened the smell of the Casbah, but then we doubt if the odor of the Street of Meats could possibly have been brought to such heights by just a little rain. All stores are open stalls facing the streets, and where meats were displayed without benefit of refrigera' tion the sights were strong to say the least. Life appeared to be at a low ebb in the Casbah, and its only concession to the modern world appeared to be the existence of electricity. Referred to by many as quaint and exotic, we rather felt that such descriptive words must have come from those whose nearest approach to it had been via the romantic motion picture, Algiers. The city of Algiers, aside from the Casbah, was quite charming indeed in many aspects. Our Amer' ican Express tour took us up to the high hills surrounding the city and its harbor where we could look down on the red roofs. There, back away from the crowded city itself, we found many lovely villas surrounded by colorful gardens and thought to ourselves that here there was at least a measure of the prosperity of our modern world. Back down' town we were able to find excellent shops where we could haggle to a minor degree if we were of a mind to or we could pay the asking price and still feel we were getting about what we'd paid for. From francs to the escudos of Portugal was quite H jump, but we were so delighted with the city of Lisbon that we accepted it without a qualm. By far the most modern city that we were able to visit during our fourfmonth trip away from home, we walked, or rode by taxi or street car, up and down its beautiful boulevards and felt that we could easily be in a city in the United States. Untouched 57a