Chateau d’if
Marseille is the setting of Alexandre Dumas classic book, “The Count of Monte Cristo” more specifically the prison featured in the book is Chateau d’If. It is a prison just off the coast of Marseille much like Alcatraz Island prison located in the San Francisco Bay off the coast of California. The fictitious character Edmond Dantes is falsely accused of treason and sent off to serve out his time without a trial at the grim island fortress. It is a story with classic elements of love, adventure, justice, revenge, hope, and forgiveness. Steve and I took a short ferry boat out to Chateau d’If last week. It was a spectacularly beautiful day with clear cerulean skies overhead and glass-like blue-green waters below. The Chateau d’If is a small fortress on a rocky island rising out over the sea. Our crowded ferry docked and we began our short climb up to the medieval prison with curved turreted walls; a striking stark white stone structure against the aquamarine sea/sky backdrop. ...