Which way to go: Marseille
Glamour and grit thrive side-by-side in France’s most dynamic city
Urban farms, solar powered cooking and a marine biology focused underwater museum – Marseilles is having a renaissance since being named a European Capital of Culture in 2013, buzzing with hip hoods and urban cool. Let’s not lie, it’s been known as a brawling and boisterous beast of a port city that’s equal parts exotic trading hub and simmering live wire. But that energy is why we love it and this year it dialled it up as the city played host to the Olympic Games Sailing and Football events. Visitors were treated to new bars like Le Directoire and Copper Bay (and don’t miss seaside Tuba Club) but many have been surprised by the “greening” with citywide urban renewal initiatives.
Solar gastronomic restaurant Le Présage is the vanguard of Marseille’s eco-friendly food scene. Founder/former aeronautical engineer Pierre-andré Aubert has created a solar powered bioclimatic building, serving hyper local dishes from its “edible forest” garden.
Elsewhere, thanks to the Visa Vert (green visa) inhabitants can place greenery in public spaces like Rue de l’arc in Noailles, and there’s
Le Talus, a former dump now urban farm.
Most innovative is snorkelling to the Underwater Museum with 10 submerged statues 100m from Catalan Beach, part of a marine biology program. And you can now visit Cosquer Cave without getting wet. The entrance, 37m underwater, leads to a large chamber with 2700-year-old paintings and engravings. It’s been replicated in the Cosquer Méditerranée hall.
Founded in 600BC by ancient Greek settlers from Phocaea, Massalia, as it was known, is one of the oldest continual inhabited sites in Europe. Dive into Le Panier where settlement first began; this charming web of alleyways, quaint bistros and shaded squares packs a historical punch. Le Panier feels like a village or open-air museum. Its hilltop is dominated by La Vieille Charité built as a hospice for the poor in 1671, the arcaded galleries and Baroque chapel now home to museums (Le Musée d’archéologie Méditerranée has the largest French collection of Egyptian antiquities after the Louvre), an art house cinema and a calm cafe. You’ll find Place du Moulin, former home to 15 windmills (some integrated into houses) and unexpectedly, top tier street art (look for famed French street artist Invader).
Another juxtaposition is the contemporary iron lattice facade of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MUCEM) connected by footbridge to the 16th century Fort Saint-jean. The cherry on top is the 154m high Notre Dame de la Garde.
A port city that’s equal parts exotic trading hub and simmering live wire