Writing and Wayfaring: Marseille

Marseille

Every year thousands of Americans visit France. And by France, I mean Paris, the sights around it like Versailles, and Mont-St-Michel and the D-Day beaches of Normandy.

That's a big exaggeration on my part, I know. You'll find Americans visiting all parts of France. But it is true that until you've been to France and have distanced yourself farther and farther away from Paris, France's greatest tourist magnet, you don't get a sense of how relatively few Americans venture away from the French capital. In Lourdes and Carcassonne I barely encountered other American tourists. (In fact in Lourdes I don't think I encountered any.) And in Marseille it was as if American tourists are so uncommon that whenever I visited or stood in line for any tourist sight there, people assumed I must be Irish or English (I certainly don't look French, unfortunately, so all over France locals easily recognized me as a visitor).

Me, passing for not-American in Marseille

For those Americans who do indeed limit themselves to just Paris when they visit France, it's a shame. France is hardly homogeneous. It's a country with many regions vastly different from each other, with different local traditions, cuisines, industries, landscapes, and attitudes, and its cities other than Paris have a very different feel to them than the City of Light.

This post offers a few pictures and comments about the city of Marseille, way down at the bottom of France, right on the Mediterranean Sea. I admit the chance to sea the Mediterranean for the first time was my main reason to strike out for Marseille, as well as its allure as a place many people were warned not to go to for so long.

Prado beach south of the city

I dip my feet in the Med for the first time.

Marseille is a port city, always has been since it was founded by Greek sailors in 600 BC, making it France's oldest city. Fishing and shipping have been Marseille's most important industries for centuries, but these industries suffered badly beginning in the 1970s after that decade's oil crisis. Marseille gained a bad reputation for crime, and despite being the country's 2nd largest after Paris and the capital of the popular Provence region. Stories abound of Marseille's rough side, of smugglers, white slavery, sailors' gangs. Then there's Marseille's status as an ethnic melting pot. While Paris is extremely diverse, its non-European population hasn't left the same exotic imprint on the city the way Marseille's many North African immigrants and their French-born descendants have. I had to see this town. I had to.

At the train station in Marseille

Looking back at the Vieux Port (Old Port) of Marseille

It turns out Marseille is quite lovely--sunny, full of character, and a burst of brightness, of blinding white buildings and sun-bleached mountainsides when seen at a distance from the windows of a train headed Marseille's way. Indeed, in recent years Marseille has been revitalized, with money from the EU going into rebuilding the fishing and shipping industries. Yes, it's sprawling, and yes, I'm sure it still has its share of slums and rough neighborhoods. But guess what? So does Paris. So does Chicago, back home. Show me a big city and then show me a perfect city--the one isn't likely to be found in the other.

View of Marseille from the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde

Messy Marseille. Tilted arch. Actually it was me doing the tilting

So what's Marseille got going for it, other than a Mediterranean climate? Well, bouillabaisse for one, a hearty fish and shellfish stew made with local catches and a blend of Provencal spices like basil, saffron, and garlic. A piece of advice about looking for a place that serves authentic bouillabaisse in Marseille and throughout Provence--if a restaurant is selling it cheap, say for only 10 to 15 Euros, then it's not likely authentic, much less very good. There's also pistou, much like pesto but minus the pine nuts and often served as soupe au pistou, with white beans, potatoes, and macaroni added to the broth. On the sweet side there's also navettes, fragrant cookies made with orange flower water and shaped long and oval like a boat. It is a seafarer's city, after all. To smell fresh navettes is just as good as eating them. And speaking of smell, funny that a city with a reputation for being "dirty" would be so good at making soap. Savon de Marseille is famous throughout the world for its soaps made from vegetable oils and seawater. You have undoubtedly seen Marseille soaps, or something masquerading as such, being sold in department stores, boutique shops, fancy-schmancy bath product stores.

As far as sights go, there's tons in and around Marseille to see. A couple worth mentioning. If you're a literature freak, or island freak, or just like boat rides, Marseille has 4 little rocky islands off its Vieux Port (Old Port) known as the Frioul Archipelago. On one of the islands, If, is a chateau--actually a fortress and later a prison, built in the 1500s--that was used as a setting in Alexandre Dumas's novel The Count of Monte Cristo.

Heading out to the Frioul islands

Chateau d'If, picture from Wikipedia

You can take boats throughout the day from the Vieux Port to the islands. The fortress on If is worth seeing and taking the boat out to, but other than the fort, there's little else there. It's best to plan the trip to give time to spend on the other islands, specifically Ratonneau, which is bigger, has several beaches, and some cafes/restaurants. Sunny and rocky as hell though--bring your bathing suit and bring your sunglasses.

View of Chateau d'If from Ratonneau island

One of the Frioul islands

This being Europe, of course there are grand old cathedrals in Marseille. And this being me and my blog, of course you're gonna read about one. The Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, mes amis. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Guard. This is a neo-Byzantine chapel with a striking stripey bell tower that sits on the city's highest natural point. There, it's believed by the people of Marseille that Our Lady guards the city, the port, and sailors. Inside the church's decorations have a maritime influence, with some scenes depicting historic and miraculous moments in Marseille's port history. It's a lovely church with wonderful views of the city and sea. And it's a nice idea, to think of this golden lady at the top of the tower guarding the city and looking out for sailors and seafarers making their way to this great old port in the great old sparkling Mediterranean.