Rugby World Cup, 2023, France. 8, 9 and 10th, September 2023. Marseille.

8th September 2023. 

I had thought that I would have time to enjoy breakfast on the sunny promenade of Juan-les- Pins before travelling to Marseilles. But, due to an unexpected visit to an emergency doctor in the morning this did not happen. It was well past lunchtime before we set off to Marseilles. 

Again, the roads were very busy, the journey took over an hour longer than Google maps had estimated.

As the accommodation I had booked did not have parking. I booked parking with One Park, and the parking was the Mercure Hotel in Vieux Port, (although we were not staying at that hotel).  
The car park was actually Indigo parking, centrally located and easy to find.  There was a designated part for the Mercure hotel parking. It was underground, monitored  and very secure. 
At this point we were very glad to leave the BMW 4 series car. The seating position was far to low for us and we could barley walk! The car was also set to stay in the lane and kept pulling over when you didn't want it to. This car was not our favourite 😁
Our accommodation was in the Le Panier district. I had booked it over 2 years ago, and was grateful that it had not been cancelled - as had happened to a lot of rugby fans - and the price hiked up to double or triple what they are normally.

The apartment was Le Panier Enchante, located opposite the La Vieille Charite.

I had looked on Google maps, knew it was a 15 minute walk from the car park, but had not factored in the steep inclines and multiple steps to get to the apartment.

The steps of Marseille 

Once the journey up all the steps was over, the apartment, hidden behind the scruffy door was perfect. Exactly as shown in the on line photos, clean and just what we needed for our three night stay. It had a small 'kitchen' area with fridge, and hot plate, a good shower with plenty of hot water. A large comfortable bed. 

We just had time to have a quick shower, change and get off to Peron Restaurant for a booking at 19.30.

We were sat up stairs at Restaurant Peron, not on the deck that is shown in the photographs, but still had a stunning sea view. The food was wonderful, a real treat, the service was prompt and we had time to get back to the Vieux Port for the France v New Zealand opening match of the Rugby World Cup 2023. 

The bars in the Vieux Port were -predictably- full of rugby fans, as England, Scotland, Argentina and South Africa supporters were all starting to gather for tomorrows matches, so a lot of beer was consumed. 

We had a lot of steps to climb to get back to the apartment and the comfy bed. 

9th September 2023.

England v Argentina. 

We had a late start today, but once up, walked from Le Panier to the harbour area where a small fan zone had been set up. The fan zone was very poor compared to what was set up in 2007. Just a few rugby related activates, a couple of food stalls and bars. There was a big screen but it would not be showing any matches on the big screens. I hoped that the fan zone would improve for the quarter finals? 

Its always hard to know when to eat on a match day, as the match was late in the evening we decided to have a late lunch and enjoyed a delicious meal at one of the many family owned restaurants in the winding alleys of Le Panier, I had scallops with polenta; I need to learn to make polenta like that; it was heaven! 

We then walked to the Stad Velodrome via the Zoumai brew pub, where a group of England fans were meeting The final walk to the stadium was accompanied with plenty of Argentina fans enjoying the bars along the way, singing about the Malvinas. 

Upon reaching the stadium we realised the entrance was via a steep staircase. Fans were already queuing on the stairs. I asked a volunteer if there was an alternate entrance, and was directed to the back of the stadium; but that entrance was locked. So we went back and started to slowly climb the stairs. At the top of the stairs, there were THREE entrance points. That was it, three entry gates. 

https://twitter.com/johnsmit123/status/1700758657112109276?s=12&t=8E_doQfJvrW9kTPWMRXefg&fbclid=IwAR32sr9Z1WR6LxxWKRfBR5uFR0J3zLjAJdHG18euRN7FKx3uFKX7XTa2D2Q

We queued over an hour and a quarter on the stairs, and only just made it to our seats for kick off - a lot of other fans were not so lucky and missed the first half of the game. This situation was totally unexpectable, and the World Rugby are very lucky that people were very patient and well behaved; this could have been an absolute catastrophe!

There were hundreds of armed police just watching the chaos. The police were an irritation and not needed.  

The stadium was not full, it looked like a lot of the hospitality seats had not sold. The French seemed to be supporting Argentina and they were very confident that it would be a loss for England. It looked like that might be the case as with in the first 2 minutes of the game Tom Currey was sent off for a 'head collision', and the yellow card was upgraded to a red. This was a disappointing start and England down to 14 men for the duration of the game. Despite this set back, England played well and disrupted Argentina's game, ending in a 27 - 10 victory for England. 

We walked back into Marseilles and celebrated the min in the streets of the old port. The late night resulted in a late start on the 10th September 2023.

Today we were due at the stadium to watch South Africa v Scotland at 17.45, as we were so late getting up, and worried about getting into the stadium we set off to the stadium in plenty of time. 

After the fiasco yesterday all the gates, front and back were open, so we did not have to que on the the steps and entry to the stadium was easy. There were a few stalls selling beer and sausages set up, but that was all. No wine. Having enjoyed the match we walked back into town just in time to catch the Fiji v Wales game, we watched this in a very crowded and busy restaurant - L'Entrocote, and despite the restaurant being so busy the meal was good. Once again the streets of Le Panier were very quiet as we made our way back to the accommodation.  

the Norman Foster Mirror Roof at the port, Marseille