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| THE VIEW OF THE VIEUX PORT IN MARSEILLE FROM OUR HOTEL ROOM | ||||||
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Marseille
is the second largest city in France, and is easily the largest in
Provence. We have been to Provence a couple of time, and didn't visit
Marseille. We were on a Mediterranean cruise with a scheduled stop in
Marseille, but due to bad weather, that stop was canceled. So
it seemed to us that our travels in France (we've visited several
times) would never be complete if we didn't visit France's capital of
the south. So, we scheduled this trip - primarily to Marseille, and
then we discovered a music festival in Aix-en-Provence, so we added
that lovely small city to the itinerary, and added a couple of festival
concerts as well. |
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| Many
of our friends were surprised at our intention to spend several days in
Marseille. The city does not have a great reputation. It is known as a
magnet for immigrants from North Africa, and accordingly has a large
Muslim population. We went anyway, and we are glad we did, as we found
a delightful city, which reminded us very much of our home town -
Haifa in Israel. Both have a significant Arab or Muslim population, but
both are clean, interesting, and with no sense of "social turmoil" as
might be expected. In short, we had a great time in Marseille!! |
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| Our
itinerary was simple - 5 nights in Marseille, and then 4 nights in
Aix-en-Provence, 1 organized winery tour, 2 classical concerts in Aix,
and lots of great restaurants. No car this time, and we just enjoyed 2
delightful cities. Below are the details. |
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In Marseille, we stayed in the Hotel
Residence Vieux Port,
a lovely hotel with absolutely the very best location possible, both
visually and logistically. It’s located on the old port, and the view
is tremendous. The view from our room is the picture at the top of the
page. It’s also located in the center of everywhere you might want to
visit in Marseille, within short walking distance to the starting point
for the hop-on hop-off tourist bus, Avenue Carnibiere, the Bourse
shopping center and the Mucem Museum.
We took a superior room, and it was spacious and modern, and the staff was professional and helpful. We had to change rooms directly after check-in because the safe in our room wasn’t working, but the staff did their best to accommodate us. |
 VIEW OF THE MED FROM MARSEILLE |
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| Here's
what we did in Marseille. |
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 HOPON HOPOFF BUS WITH NOTRE DAME IN THE BACKGROUND |
We rode the Hop-on Hop-off bus and it was a lot of fun. The company which runs it is called Colorbus. The starting point is at the Vieux Port and was about a 3 minute walk from our hotel. This hop-on hop-off bus service is well run, with new clean buses and with very clear audio descriptions. There are 2 routes, and they both start at the old port. The route that goes to the Basilica Notre Dame is great fun because of the narrow steep streets the bus has to navigate. It was a real adventure and we enjoyed the tour. We rode on 3 different buses and they were all just fine. | |||||
| We
visited the Center Bourse
shopping center, which is located right near the old port. It is pretty
new, and has lots of the standard stores. We also found the shopping to
be quite expensive, and even the toilets cost half a Euro. Attached to
the center are Galeries Lafayette, a large supermarket, and a city
museum with an active excavation going on. |
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| As for
the Vieux Port
itself, as noted above, our hotel was right there in the best spot
available. The Vieux Port is the heart of Marseilles and it’s much
bigger than you might expect. At the closed end, it leads right into La
Canebière, which is the main street of central Marseille. Each leg of
the port is about 1 kilometer long so it’s quite a hike to stroll the
entire port. To the right is a picture of the street along the Vieux
Port right near our hotel. As you can see, it's full of restaurants. |
 RESTAURANTS ALONG THE VIEUX PORT |
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 CATHEDRAL OF MARSEILLE |
The Marseille Cathedral
is located at the far end of the old port. It is huge and is quite
attractive both inside and out. It’s definitely worth a visit. It is
located right near the MUCEM,
the Museum of Mediterranean Civilizations. This is definitely a place
to visit. The building is beautiful and very modern, and the setting is
unequaled. We went inside but didn't visit any of the exhibits.
Strolling outside was just enough! |
 BRIDGE BETWEEN MUCEM AND FORT ST JEAN |
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| The
cathedral shouldn't be confused with the Notre-Dame de la Garde
which is the centerpiece of every fantastic picture from the
Vieux Port and is itself one of the major attractions in Marseille. Here
is the official site in English. It's a beautiful church and the views
of Marseille when you get up there are fantastic. |
 NOTRE DAME LOOMING ABOVE THE VIEUX PORT |
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 IN THE NOAILLES MARKET |
We
walked the length of La Canebière Street,
which is the main street of Marseille. It's lined with lovely
buildings, high level stores, and several churches. The Main
Tourist
Office is also located on Canebière and it's a very well equipped
tourist office. If you walk up Canebière
for a few hundred meters, you will get to one of the major attractions
in central Marseille, the Marché de Noailles, or in English the
Noailles Market. The Noailles Market is open daily and is the real, unassimilated deal - a real North African street market located in France. It's full of authentic street vendors, restaurants and spice stores. We enjoyed walking around and even bought a few items. We also had lunch here, and you can read about that farther down in the restaurant section. |
 SPICES IN THE NOAILLES MARKET |
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 THE DAILY FISH MARKET IN MARSEILLE |
There
are many markets in Marseille, but the one we enjoyed most was the
daily fish market at the Vieux Port, just steps from our hotel. Every
morning the local fishermen bring their catch to the vendors at the
market, and the variety is incredible. There is everything - all kinds
of fish, sardines, tuna, squid, octopus, shellfish, sea anemone... We
had a great time just strolling about taking pictures. |
 THE VIEUX PORT |
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 THE CALANQUE |
We
also took a boat ride to the most amazing natural wonder in this part
of France - The Calanque.
It is a national park filled with breathtaking white cliffs and lovely
views. There are many possibilities for visiting from Marseille. The
easiest is taking the regularly scheduled cruise
from the old port which sails twice a day, with a 2 hour cruise at 11
AM, and a 3 hour cruise which sails at 2:30 PM. We took the morning
cruise. There was no problem buying a ticket the same morning, and the
boat wasn’t full. It’s fun and well run. This cruise is on a big
commercial vessel with around 100 places. For those who are more
adventurous, there are many small boat tours with swimming and diving
available, and many land based tours, and lots of hiking possible. |
 THE CALANQUE |
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 ROSÈ IS VERY POPULAR IN CASSIS |
While
in Marseille, we also took a full day (7+ hours) wine tour to Cassis
and Bandol with “Provence Wine Tours”.
The wine tour was excellent and well done. We visited and tasted wine
at 3 wineries. Our guide was Eric, whose English is excellent, and who
is very knowledgeable about the wine industry in this area. We were 7
people on the tour and it was very nice. The tour also included a stop
in Cassis for lunch on our own. Here's some more general info on visiting these 2
neighboring wine regions. |
 ON THE WINE TOUR |
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Cassis
is a lovely little fishing village right next to the Calanque National
Park. I would call it quaint, but it’s not. It’s full of shops,
restaurants and tourists. It does however have a lovely little harbor
and if you are in Marseille, you should visit Cassis, once anyway.It's
also a good starting point for a visit to the Calanque. |
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 THE LITTLE SQUARE OUTSIDE OUR HOTEL WINDOW |
Aix
(as it's generally known) is a lovely small city and we visited here
several years ago. It has a population of about 150,000 people, and has
many attractive attributes. It's only 25 KM from Marseille, and when we
discovered that there would be a classical music festival here while we
were in the area, we decided to spend a few nights here. |
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We
spent 4 nights at a hotel called "Hotel
de France". It is located perfectly in the center of Aix and near
one of its most famous fountains - the "Rotonde Fountain". It is
rated at 3
stars, but some elements are 4 star quality. The rooms have been
renovated, although there are all kinds of little things which need
improvement. The best part of the room is the bathroom which is super
modern. The staff is friendly and helpful. On the other hand, the
maintenance should be improved a bit. Our room phone stopped working,
and for 2 days it didn’t get fixed. Finally, I solved the problem
myself, by convincing the front desk to take a working phone from a
vacant room. |
 OUR HOTEL ROOM |
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 SATURDAY MARKET IN AIX |
We
arrived on a Saturday and found ourselves in the middle of the Saturday
street market. The main street, known as Cours Mirabeau
is completely filled from one end to the other with street vendors.
Cours
Mirabeau is a lovely street famous for its trees and fountains, and is filled with lots of stores and restaurants. Saturday was
market day (there are 2 other market days as well), and on Sunday, we
even got to see the finish line of the Aix marathon which was located
right near our hotel. We had really great weather, and this particular
day was a perfect day for running a marathon. |
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 THE VIEW NEAR CEZANNE'S WORKSHOP |
Aix is
known not only for its trees and its fountains. It's also known as the
long time home of artist Paul Cezanne. One of the most popular attractions
in Aix is Cezanne's workshop, known in French as "Atelier Cezanne".
We walked there from the center of town as the distance isn’t very
great. Unfortunately, what we didn’t know is that the walk is mostly
uphill. There is also a bus that goes right by. The atelier itself is
quite modest with only 1 or 2 rooms to view, and outside is a very
limited wooded area. Perhaps, it was because of the uphill trek to get
here, but we were kind of disappointed. There are also walking tours
available of Paul Cézanne's life in Aix-en-Provence. You can get
information at the city tourist office. |
 CEZANNE'S WORKSHOP |
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a travel guide to to Paul Cézanne's Aix-en-Provence |
As for
Cezanne, we very much enjoyed the short movie about his life which we
saw at the Caumont Hotel. The Caumont is not a hotel, but
rather a museum. It's a lovely
little museum in the middle of Aix. It is a beautifully preserved villa
with lots of history attached. Unfortunately, when we were there, the
special exhibition was closed, but we thoroughly enjoyed the grounds,
the villa rooms and the 20 minute film about Cezanne and his life and
work in Aix. |
 AT HOTEL CAUMONT |
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 THE GARDEN AT HOTEL CAUMONT |
We
also enjoyed a light lunch in the lovely cafe which is part of the
museum. It's
a beautiful café set in the museum garden, and it's a great place for a
light lunch on a sunny day. It serves light fare which includes a nice
selection of tasty salads. No reservations here, and all the clientelle
are the museum visitors. The service was very elegant. |
 THE SAINT SAUVEUR CATHEDRAL IN AIX |
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 AIX CITY HALL |
We
strolled the center of Aix, the town hall (Hôtel de Ville),
which is a beautiful and historic building, the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral,
which is a beautiful cathedral, and of course all the
various markets. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are triple market
days, with the big market (the grand marché) on Cours Mirabeau, the
daily grocery market and flower market at Place Richelme (near the town
hall), and the flea market
at Place de Verdun. While we were there, the entire Place de Verdun was
totally a construction zone, and the flea market was held elsewhere. |
 HOME MADE SPICE BAGS IN THE FARMERS MARKET |
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 THE AIX FARMERS MARKET |
And,
I have to mention the wonderful concerts we attended. In Aix, every
year around Easter, there is a music festival called the Festival de
Pâques.
The festival lasts about 2 weeks and there are 2 or 3 venues, all
within the town of Aix. We attended 2 concerts at the beautiful
auditorium called the Grand Théâtre de Provence. It was a short walk
from our hotel and these 2 wonderful concerts were the highlights of
our visit to Aix-en-Provence. |
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 VALLON DES AUFFES |
Fonfon
is a lovely restaurant located in one of the most picturesque spots in
Marseille (Vallon des Auffes). The restaurant is known as one of the
best in Marseille for the city’s signature dish, Bouillabaisse.
The restaurant serves great food (mostly fish and seafood). I had the
Bouillabaisse and Alisa had a simple fish soup and it was just as good
as the Bouillabaisse. |
 BOUILLABAISE AT FONFON |
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 FISH AND FLOWER AT FONFON |
I
have to admit that one of the reasons I wanted to visit Marseille was
to taste authentic Bouillabaisse. I can now report that I was sorely
disappointed. The soup is delicious, but so are most fish soups made in
Marseille, and the fish which is cooked in the soup is quite
disappointing. It reminds me of boiled chicken (which one of my
grandmothers used to make) - tasteless and boring. And what about the
price? Bouillabaisse
in a decent restaurant costs between 50 and 65 Euros! Normal fish soup
costs less than 20 Euros, and with the difference in price you can buy
any other dish you want. |
the complete guide to Bouilabaise how to make classic french bouillabaise in search of the perfect bouillabaise |
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 AT UNE TABLE, AU SUD |
Une
Table, Au Sud:
This is a beautiful restaurant with a Michelin star, located right on
the old port of Marseille and just steps from our hotel. All of our
dishes were excellent, and original. In particular my dish of blue
lobster was exceptional. Our only complaint here would be that the
restaurant is quite noisy. |
 LOBSTER DISH AT UNE TABLE, AU SUD |
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| Chez
Roger
is located on the vieux Port and was also just steps from our hotel. We
ate here when I decided I wanted oysters, as it is noted for its
seafood. It was a fun place to eat and the seafood was great. Alisa
had delicious fish soup and a few langoustines and I had a seafood
platter which included delicious oysters, shrimp, clams and mussels. |
 SEAFOOD PLATTER AT CHEZ ROGER |
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 AMUSE BOUCHE AT MIRAMAR |
La Miramar
was the biggest culinary surprise of our visit to Marseille. We thought
is was just another seafood restaurant located on the edge of the old
port, but we were seriously surprised. The place is very
elegant, with professional service and food to match. All the dishes were beautiful, and most could have been served in any Michelin restaurant. The meal included a tasty amuse bouche, and a beautiful sardine dish. We also had oysters and the best dish of the meal was a fabulous octopus ceviche. We were blown away by this restaurant. |
 CHEF'S SURPRISE DESSERT AT MIRAMAR |
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Alcyone is a Michelin starred restaurant and was one of the highlights of our visit to Marseille. Everything about this restaurant exudes class and style. First of, it’s located in one of the most prestigious hotels in Marseille, and its entrance is most impressive. After that, the restaurant is gorgeous, the service is perfect and the view is incredible. And then there’s the food, which was absolutely top notch! Everything was excellent from amuse bouche to desserts, and the highlight dish was the whole duckling which was for 2 people. It was split into 2 separate servings, with the breasts served first, and when we were done with the breasts, we were served the lower half which was prepared differently. It was a great surprise, and done perfectly. This is a restaurant for any special occasion! |
 OUR WINDOW AT THE ALCYONE |
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| At Petit Pernod,
we had breakfast and were sorely disappointed. The formula breakfast
includes coffee, croissant, and orange juice. The first croissant the
rude waiter brought me looked like he had been sitting on it and I
returned it. Apparently he didn’t have another, so he brought a
chocolate filled pastry which I didn’t want. The waiter got angry, and
in the end, I only had the coffee. In the evening, the place is pretty full, but we were turned off by breakfast and never returned. |
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 LOVELY FISH DISH AT L'OUSTAU de la MAR |
L’Oustau
de la Mar (Cassis) This was a surprising restaurant in Cassis. It looks like all the formula restaurants at the port, but the chef here seems like he really invested time and creativity in each dish. Even the salad he put together was magnificent! |
 "JUST" A SALAD AT OUSTAU de la MAR |
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Femina is a Tunisian restaurant serving couscous and other North African delicacies right on the edge of the Noallie market in Marseille. It’s a fun place with lots of atmosphere and incredible decorations on the wall. The waiters are lively and entertaining and it’s a great place to eat. I had the lamb couscous, and Alisa had a very nice salad. I know what real couscous should be because I eat lots at home (Libyan style), and I really enjoyed the one I had at Femina, which, we were told is Tunisian style. |
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 SEARED RED TUNA AT FEVAL |
Mickaël Féval
is a beautiful restaurant with a Michelin star. It’s located right in
the center of Aix. The tables are nicely spaced and the restaurant is
pleasantly quiet. I ordered the “Tentation Menu”, which includes 3
courses and dessert, all for the very reasonable price of 68 Euros. My
dishes included a seared red tuna dish, and then langoustine with foie
gras, and lastly a dish with chicken and other tasty things. Dessert
was an incredible creation with a simulated honey comb. Alisa had the
same langoustine dish I did, and then an incredible dish of scallops.
The dishes here were all works of art. Mickaël Féval is the artist in the kitchen and his lovely wife Olivia, runs the service staff out front. We had a wonderful dining experience at Féval. |
 INCREDIBLE SCALLOPS AT FEVAL |
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 IN THE CAVE OF HENRY IV |
Les
Caves Henri IV
is a unique restaurant located in an underground cave in the center of
Aix. We had an interesting meal here. As the name implies, it is
located within a cave below ground level. Most of the dishes were
wonderful, although a couple could have been better. I took the 5
course “surprise menu”, which had no detail regarding the dishes – a
total surprise. Let’s just say there were ups and downs. The two I
remember best were a vegetable dish with sea bass on mille-feuille,
which was unfortunately smothered in mayonnaise, and the other dish was
sweetbreads with fillet minion, which was absolutely fabulous. Alisa had
foie gras, and then langoustine with scallops. There was one really unpleasant aspect to this restaurant. It’s noisy, but I guess that’s something you have to expect if you want to eat in a cave. |
 LANGOUSTINE AND SCALLOPS AT HENRY 1V |
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| Brioche Dorée is
where we had our breakfasts. It's located right on one of the main
streets of Marseille, Rue de la Republique, just a few steps from our
hotel. It’s a chain of cafes located across France. The croissants and
the other baked goods are absolutely delicious, and cheap. |
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| The Queen
Victoria
is an English pub right on the Vieux Port, and I spent one evening here
(by myself) watching the quarterfinal of the European champion’s league
playoff. The bar has about 8 different screens for easy viewing from
every corner. The beer is cold, fresh and varied. The menu is limited
and contains typical pub food. It’s a pleasant place to spend an
evening with friends. |
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 CAFE CAUMONT |
Café Hotel Caumont is a lovely
café in a lovely setting and a great place for a light lunch on a sunny
day. It’s part of the Hotel Caumont and has a nice selection of salads.
No reservations here, and all the clientèle are the museum visitors. |
 SALAD AT CAFE CAUMONT |
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 MUSSELS AT LE COQUET |
Le Coquet
is located at the Place Forum des Cardeurs in the center of Aix. This
square is full of restaurants and they all beckon longingly for your
business. We chose Le Coquet for lunch. It was a pleasant lunch, with
onion soup, mussels and a wonderfully prepared dish of lightly dusted
and fried shrimp with a salad. It’s a nice place for lunch, although
there are so many restaurants in this location, I would want to try
them all. |
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La Fromagerie is a cheese and wine store as well as a restaurant. We tried to eat there, but couldn’t because of our schedule. They mainly serve cheese platters. We did buy some cheese here and they have a wonderful selection. |
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Here's
one last bit of advice. When going through security at the Marseille
airport, THEY TAKE CHEESE IF IT'S IN YOUR CARRY-ON!!! We witnessed this
with our own eyes. We were lucky because we had been forewarned by the
El Al security people when we checked in with our bags, and we were
able to move a few pieces of cheese from our carry-on to our suitcases.
The last time we flew from France, we flew out of Charles De Gaulle
Airport in Paris, and cheese in the carry-on was no
problem. Thanks to El AL security! They saved us some great
cheese! |
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| A HISTORY OF MARSEILLE |
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| DAY TRIPS FROM MARSEILLE |
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| THE BEST MUSEUMS IN MARSEILLE |
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| PUBLIC TRANSPORT SITE OF MARSEILLE |
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| DISCOVER MARSEILLE IN 1, 2 OR 3 DAYS |
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| THE BEST MARKETS IN MARSEILLE |
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| THE BEST MUSEUMS IN MARSEILLE |
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| MARSEILLE
FRANCE TRAVEL GUIDE |
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| BEST THINGS TO DO IN AIX-EN-PROVENCE | ||||||
| 48 HOURS IN AIX-EN-PROVENCE |
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This is a page from our site "Travels with Steve & Alisa". It describes one of the many trips we have made together. We've built these pages not just to describe our trips, but to help other travelers if we can. Please use the information we've provided freely, and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to answer about your own planned trip, or just let us know if we have helped you. Or perhaps you have some information we could add to the site. Visit our home page using the link to the right.
Enjoy
your next
trip!!
~Steve & Alisa~
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