Why Marseille is my favourite French city for a long weekend
I feel at home in the streets of Marseille, maybe because I’m an exile, albeit by choice. “Marseille is, and always has been, the port of exiles .… whoever disembarks in the port is inevitably at home,” wrote Marseille author Jean-Claude Izzo.
In 2024, I made my sixth visit to Marseille. The city is home to more people than Barcelona, yet it is largely shunned by la France profonde, attracting instead the edgy, creative types looking to live in a lively, and affordable, place by the sea.
For three years running I’ve stayed on the southern edges of Marseille, mesmerised by the sea views and swimming in the calanques, the rocky coves that stretch from the city, along the Calanques national park, and on towards the town of Cassis.
Marseille has changed a lot since I first visited more than ten years ago, when I used to eat regularly at Chez Etienne in Le Panier and stay at the Radisson Blu hotel in the Vieux-Port, both of which are still there.
I did not pay much attention to last year’s news headline in the Financial Times that read:’Knives and Kalachnikovs’: Violent drug gangs torment French city of Marseille’. My belief is that most cities in the world are plagued by turf wars between rival gangs – and, in any case, in Marseille these wars are mainly played out in the northern neighbourhoods.
Even so, as the woman at the calanque told me in a sharp tone: “This is not France. This is Marseille!” Another way of saying, you can’t meddle with the people here.
By the water: at the Vieux-Port
I usually go to Marseille in July, a month when the midday sun beats down with a vengeance, casting dark shadows, and pushing people into the bars and cafés.
As part of a ritual, when I arrive at Saint-Charles train station, I first head to the Vieux-Port – drawn as if by a magnet to stand by the salty, deep blue sea.
Unlike Barcelona, Marseille has always looked out, across the Mediterranean, and not inland. The neo-Byzantine Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde – who’s nickname is la Bonne Mère, or the Good Mother – watches over the bay, welcoming everyone arriving by boat, whether from Corsica and Sardinia, or the North African countries of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
The Vieux-Port is also the place to catch a boat to the island of Château D’If, the setting for Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Boats – and the sound of boats – are entwined with daily life in Marseille.
Nearby: Cours Saint Louis
Some of my favourite places to eat and shop are in or near the Cours Saint Louis, one metro stop, or a 12-minute walk, from Saint-Charles train station, and near the Vieux-Port:
Maison Empereur – a store emblematic of Marseille and named after its founder, François Empereur, rather than a French emperor. It’s is an Aladdin’s cave of homeware. The maze of rooms stretch through the higgledy-piggledy structure of the 19th century building, and up a creaky flight of wooden stairs.
Recent purchases include a linen cloth for drying wine glasses, a hand whisk for beating eggs and French-made beach shoes made from a golden mix of recycled plastic and hemp.
You can even stay at the Maison Empereur chambres d’hôte at the back of the store.
Herboristerie du Père Blaize – what Maison Empereur is for homeware, Père Blaize is for herbs, tinctures, creams and natural medicines. The store offers 5,000 plant-based products to remedy any malaise, it seems.
In the Maison Blaize across the road, I buy soap from the Savonnerie Du Moulin à Grain. Marseille, or more precisely the nearby town of Salon de Provence, is famous for its soap.
Nearby places to eat and drink include:
El Barrio Marsella – a casual Latin American eatery, easily identifiable by its yellow tables, on the corner of rue d’Aubagne and rue Vacon. Like most places in Marseille the kitchen closes in the afternoon, at 3pm, rather than the more normal 2.30pm. I went for ceviche and an arepa (a maize flatbread with, in this case, a tomato and mushroom sauce on top). Super fresh ingredients.
Pétrin Cochinette – I often buy bread as a ‘present’, and here is my favourite bakery in the city… whether for a loaf of sourdough, a croissant and coffee, or a quick sandwich lunch. The baker by run by the restaurant next door, La Mercerie – on my list for my next visit to Marseille.
The north side: Le Panier
Marseille is a city of 111 neighbourhoods, of which Le Panier is an historic, working-class neighbourhood overlooking the Vieux-Port, on its northern side.
It provides the backdrop for Jean-Claude Izzo’s neo-noir Marseille Trilogy (Total Chaos, Chourmo and Solea), which centres on the story, feelings and thoughts of fictional ex-policeman Fabio Montale.
Izzo himself grew up and lived in Le Panier. Born in 1945, the son of a Neapolitan barman and a seamstress from Spain, he died all too soon in 2000.
Since the days of Izzo, Le Panier has become more gentrified, but there is still a sense of neighbourhood and a colourful vibe, with little shops and bars, and narrow streets that wind across gentle slopes.
In the rue de l’Évêché – opposite the Bishop of Marseille’s palace – is urban winery Chai Microcosmos. A chai is the place where the wine barrels are stored above ground. The word is pronounced ‘shay’, and comes from Occitan, of which the dialect in Marseille is Provençal.
Fate has it that each time I’m in Marseille, the winery is closed. But one day the stars will be aligned. On my list for July 2024 was also lunch at La Cesta de Lucia in Le Panier. But I arrived in town too late, distracted by the allure of the blue waters in the calenques.
An ice-cream at nearby Vanille Noire is also for next time. Vanille Noire has three addresses in all in Marseille, but only open from April until the beginning of November.
The trendy district: Cours Julien
If you like street art and a Brooklyn vibe, Cours Julien is for you. The elongated square is shaded by trees, and is home to bars, restaurants, daily markets, quirky stores and a microbrewery, as well as the Espace Julien music venue.
My idea was to buy a sandwich at Pétrin Cochinette, but the sandwiches had run out. So I bought some bread instead, and then walked up to Cours Julien and on to L’Art de la Fromagerie to buy some local goats’ cheese scattered with dried rose petals.
In the same street (but with a different name), I supplemented my bread and cheese with tomatoes and apricots from La Chicorée grocery store, which sells local and seasonal produce. I could have also bought my bread at the House of Bread, next door. I then sat on some steps in Cours Julien for my makeshift meal. Perfect!
Ashourya – for stunning Middle Eastern food, along from Cours Julien. This well-priced Syrian restaurant is usually open when everything else is closed. I went for the mixed mezze.
Elsewhere in Marseille
Traditional Marseillaise cuisine includes the likes of bouillabaisse (a fish soup), anchoïade (a dip made with anchovies, capers, olive oil and garlic), pistou (a crushed mix of garlic, olive oil and basil often blended into a soup of summer vegetables and pasta) and panisse (fried wedges made from chickpea flour).
As Izzo writes in Garlic, Mint & Sweet Basil, a book released posthumously featuring his essays on Marseille: “The cuisine of Marseilles has always rested on the art of using fish and vegetables disdained by the local ship-owning upper classes.”
But this is a city of exiles, so you’ll find plenty of cuisines from around the world, and especially from North Africa.
Here are some other places where I have been, and where I would return:
La Femme du Boucher – slightly out of the way, but it is always good to explore a city. The ‘wife of the butcher’ is the chef and les mecs (the guys) are on the restaurant floor. The menu is not only about meat.
My Gazpacho had a tasty tomato-strawberry combo, which I followed with Courgette stuffed with rice & a meat (à la daube).
Deep Coffee – near the Vieux-Port, just by the Marseille Opera House and an easy walk from Cours Saint-Louis. They roast their own coffee, on the premises.
Bricoleurs de Douceur is in the southern foothills of Notre-Dame de la Garde. It is run by pastry chef Clément Higgins. “He’s French,” I was told, when I asked about the origins of his surname.
The names of the cakes are as scrumptious as the cakes themselves.
The Michael Choumacher , for example, is with choux pastry, bien sûr, raspberry, vanilla, orange flowers, and yellow & green lemons; and the C’est Marseille Bébé is with brioche, peach and vanilla ganache. Excellent for a morning pick-me-up.
A museum by the water
From Le Panier, it’s an easy walk, despite the dog days of summer, to the MuCEM, a museum dedicated to the art and culture of the Mediterranean region.
The museum was inaugurated in 2013, when Marseille was the European capital of culture. It is designed by Rudy Ricciotti, whose practice is in nearby Bandol, famous for its heady Provençal red wines. He describes the building as a ’vertical casbah’.
Exploring the Calanques
There’s a bus from Madrague de Montdragon, on the southern edge of Marseille, to Les Goudes, or take the boat from Pointe-Rouge.
At Les Goudes, on the rocks, you’ll find the super trendy Tuba Club, a restaurant and place to stay.
In the harbour, France: the Monocle Handbook recommends L’Auberge du Corsaire Chez Paul, an institution famed for its bouillabaisse.
Some of the best ice-creams are found on the corner, at La Gelateria des Goudes. I went for two scoops: a Libanaise (pistachio and orange flower) and an apricot sorbet.
A couple of bus stops further along from Les Goudes, in the Calanque de Callelongue, is La Grotte, where you can eat out on the terrace under the bougainvillea. There also a house in Callelongue called ‘Gina’, at No 28. If only that were my age.
For the really adventurous, on days when the sun is not too strong, follow the GR98 hiking route up into the mountains and along, and then leave the route at Callelongue.
For cars, access to the calanques is restricted. You can find more information on how to get there on the official Marseille tourism site.
Marseille is an hour’s train journey from Arles. See my post on Arles.
About the blog
‘A Conscious Way to Travel’ was born out of my frustration in finding magical places when I travelled. This is despite the plethora of guide books, magazines reviews and the world wide web.
The word ‘conscious’ is about slowing down, being more aware. ‘Conscious places’ are beautiful places that offer a distinct experience, and which open the door to …
- ART to lift the soul
- NATURAL WINE and HUMAN WARMTH to free the spirit
- SEASONAL FOOD prepared with THE HEART to replenish the body.
As food is for sharing, so are good stories… and good addresses.
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