Island of If
written by jogintas
on April 27th, 2008
(0 votes)
One of the best known islands in the whole world – the island of If. I could not find the story about the island, why is it called like that – If. But one thing I know for sure is that this island is famous because of the Count of Monte Cristo. As you can remember the story of Alexandre Dumas, this Count was jailed there and the whole story is about how he tries to escape from this small island, where only the building of jail is located. I do not remember the exact amount of time, but I guess that he escaped only after several years (maybe 7 or 13) by digging the whole in the wall with the spoon.
The funny story is that he did not know which direction to dig, so firstly he got into another cell. This hole from one cell into another one is still “alive” in the old jail building, which is now more like a museum. The whole island is not so small – there are old fishermen houses and of course one café and the museum administration building as well. This island of If can be reached by boats from the old port of Marseille, which I described in another Lomo Locations story (http://www.lomography.com/loc/Boats). Another interesting thing is that on the island of If you can feel the spirit of love – well, I have felt it, and maybe it’s France which is responsible for this, but I had such a romantic time there… Two other major islands, called Ratonney and Pomegeus, are very near the island of If, so you can reach it by boat too or just take a shot from the top of the old jail building. What type of camera to use? Any, because you’re in the jail… What type of film? Choose two different, because the inside of the jail is very dark even in sunny days, but the outside needs only ISO 100 films. Anything else? Well, it is one of most interesting islands in the whole world, so go to Marseille Old Port and do not hesitate to take the round trip by boat to the place, where the Count of Monte Cristo was held (you can even watch the movie before you go: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245844/)
“http://www.marseille-tourisme.com/servlet/otcm?LANGUE=2&dist=1GP:http://www.marseille-tourisme.com/servlet/otcm?LANGUE=2&dist=1GP
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