Marseilles mini-break

Me and Mathilde have a nice yearly (or, rather, bi-yearly) tradition, whereby we treat each other to surprise weekends as birthday presents. And this sunny Friday, it was my turn to treat Mathilde to her surprise trip.

This time, I had picked Marseilles. We went there a couple of years ago, but didn’t really have time to discover everything this great city has to offer. So I figured the place merited another visit. We arrived in the Vieux Port around 11 AM, so had a bit of time to check into our hotel (which was handily located near the Vieux Port), and have a walk around, before lunch. The Vieux Port was as animated as expected (with the fishermen selling their daily catch) – a pity about the road works that surrounded the port…

For lunch, I had booked a table at The Ruhl, a kind of legendary place famed for their Bouillabaisse. It’s one of the three restaurants behind the “Marseille Bouillabaisse Charter”, which attempts to set some rules as to how this Marseille culinary institution should be prepared. Not a bad idea, considering that the bouillabaisse most restaurants sell is a pale imitation of the real thing. The Ruhl is rather stunningly situated on the Corniche, a scenic road that hugs the coastline around Marseille. The bouillabaisse was, from what we could tell, prepared according to all the rules in the book. Most people probably think it’s a kind of fish soup – but a bouillabaisse is much more than that. There are at least three different types of fish used from an “approved list” (all have to be freshly fished in the ‘Med), and the resulting broth is served first (together with bread and rouille – a kind of mayonnaise), and the fish meat only afterwards. It is a truly memorable culinary experience – and definitely hits the spot! All in all, an excellent start to our weekend!

The coastline with its beaches around the Ruhl was really inviting, and the weather was just stunning, so we decided to hit the “beach of the profet” and bask ourselves in the sunshine for a bit, and swim in the beautiful med. A nice way indeed to digest all that fish. After a couple of hours of chilling out, we made our way back to the hotel.

Before the evening program, we decided to have a walk around Marseilles a bit. We started our walk at the Cannabiere, the legendary main street of Marseilles. It’s maybe lost some of its glamour and bustle over the years, but it’s still a lively place to stroll down. From there, we made our way into one of the famous quarters of Marseille, La Plaine.  It’s a pretty nice and lively place to walk around – a kind of edgy, trendy place. Reminded us of some parts of San Francisco… From there, we made our way back towards the Vieux Port. The walk revealed another facet of Marseille – the fact that it’s a very cosmopolitan place indeed. At times, the street scene was more reminiscent of Egypt or Tunisia, than France (kind of reminded us of Palermo, actually).

We eventually ended up in the Panier district, which is kind of the old town of Marseilles. Originally this remarkably charming part of town, with its sloped cobble-stone streets (the Panier is kind of located on a hilltop overlooking the old port), was inhabited by the poor folks of Marseilles. Quite surprisingly, it has managed to retain some of its original character – rather than becoming a tourist trap. After a quick pizza for dinner, we made our way back to the hotel, and prepared ourselves for the night’s entertainment.

…which was, theatre! The play I had chosen was called “Paris-Marseille” – it was a touching story about a Parisian teacher who is sent to teach in Marseilles, and has to share a flat with a, how shall I put it, rather typical Marseilles bloke. What followed was 2 hours of “humiliate the Parisian the Marseilles way” – no clichés spared! It was all rather entertaining, in spite of the fact that I only understood about one word in three the Marseilles guy said (he laid on the accent “a bit”) – thankfully the humor wasn’t what I would call subtle… ;-)

We started the next day with a bit of shopping, and then decided to explore the area around the port a bit more. We ended up in the Abbey of St. Victor – which is one of the oldest churches in Europe (dating back all the way to 415). It’s a really fascinating place to visit – basically the basilica that is today visible (dating back to 1200) is built on top of the old monastery, which is now the crypt. So basically, after visiting the “modern church”, you can walk downstairs into the crypt, and admire the remains of one of the oldest places of worship in Europe. Fascinating stuff!

In the afternoon, we headed to L’Estaque, a small fishing village, located at the outskirts of Marseille. In the olden days, it was a popular hideout for impressionist artists, notably Paul Cezanne, who painted quite a few of his paintings here. L’Estaque is not, as one might think (considering its popularity with painters), a picture-perfect cute little fishing port, assailed by hordes of tourists. It’s got quite a gritty and every-day feel to it, and certainly hasn’t been overrun by tourists. There are certainly a fair few restaurants here, but they mostly seem to serve locals. We basically really liked the place & its rugged charm.

After a swim in the ‘Med to wash off the sweat we’d acquired in the summer heat, it was time to hit the road and head back home. A very nice mini-break indeed!