While we were in Marseille, my mother insisted we go to le Chateau d'If. I was very excited to see it.
By age 11, I had read "The Count of Monte Cristo" many times. In fact, I had brought my copy on the trip with me. We absolutely had to go to le chateau d'If.
In actual fact, my mother and I went, and my dad and my sister had their own adventure somewhere else.
The Chateau d'If
Built in the in the mid-1500s on the tiny island of If, the fortress was originally intended to act as a coastal defense station. By the 1800s the space, useless as a fort, was converted to a prison that used its island status as its main escape deterrent. During this time, a range of inmates were committed to the jail ranging from murderers to political prisoners. The conditions ranged from over-crowded dungeon cells for the lower classes to small apartments equipped with fireplaces for wealthy prisoners. The prison held a bit of notoriety thanks to its unique position, but it was catapulted into history when author Alexandre Dumas used it as the jail where his famous Count of Monte Cristo spent over a decade before escaping.
The chateau d'If is located a little under a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille.
