Notre-Dame de la Garde

This guide to Notre-Dame de la Garde traces an old saying among Marseille's sailors: if you want to learn to pray, go to sea. It follows the vow that built the hilltop chapel into a basilica, starting with two barefoot sailors in 1644 who survived a shipwreck and climbed up to hang a model of their broken ship from the vault. You'll meet later arrivals too, like the navy painter commissioned in 1841 to record a grounded brig's crew rowing to safety. Look up at the ceiling's swinging ship models before you head toward the gilded statue outside.