There is the most fabulous museum in Marseille, Musem the museum of European and Mediterranean civilisations . It comprises of two buildings separated by a bridge. The views are nothing short of spectacular. There is also a rooftop terrace overlooking the ocean with lounge chairs for visitors to relax. When we visited they were showing, amongst many other exhibits, an exhibition called Bonnes mères, an exploration of motherhood over four thousand years. The museum is a must-visit in my opinion.

There is a little “train” (not really a train, it travels along the road) from outside the Town Hall up to the Notre Dame de la Garde which is the breathtaking cathedral situated on top of a hill topped by the bright gold statue of the Good Mother. Again, the views are amazing as is the architecture. You must be appropriately dressed to enter the cathedral so shoulders and knees covered. Do take a few euros in cash if you would like to buy a candle to light for someone. There is no charge to enter. There is a beautiful gift shop if you like religious statues and rosaries. The train ride is great fun, I thoroughly recommend this excursion, there were some small children sitting behind us pretending they were on a rollercoaster every time we went downhill. Just after we disembarked back at The Old Port the train broke down blocking an entire street of motorists which caused absolute chaos.

The view from Notre Dame de la Garde, the stunning gilded ceilings, visitors can buy a candle and say a prayer

We also visited beautiul Marseille cathedral, again free to enter, and took a walk to the Le Panier, a bustling district decorated by what my daughter calls street art and I call graffiti. There are lots of inexpensive gift shops here as well as bars and cafes. We stopped off and had a delicious iced tea and a browse around the quirky shops. My daughter had seen various vintage clothing shops on TikTok so we trudged to a couple of these but everything was ridiculously overpriced. There are a great many homeless people in Marseille which is very sad to see, whole families on blankets begging. Young children and babies out in the blazing sun, many who don’t appear to be with their actual parents, they are everywhere you go.

Street art in the Le Panier district

Marseille Cathedral, if you look carefully you can see a homeless woman huddling by the entrance gate

My son wanted to go to the beach, this is an outing I could gladly have missed but he had been so good about coming along to all the museums and churches so off we went. We left the hotel at around 4pm and it was still sweltering. As we approached the beach, the plage des Catalans, a fight broke out between two teenage girls, a very nasty physical fight and they both had to be restrained. The beach was heaving with people but we stayed an hour or so. I would definitely suggest keeping your eye on your valuables here.

I didn’t do any shopping in Marseille with the exception of a tin of beautifully scented soaps, a gift for my neighbour who had kindly watered my garden in my absence. I bought these from a shop called Mado along the seafront. We packed a lot into our few days in Marseille. It was a wonderful trip which we all really enjoyed.

Thank you for reading

Samantha

I didn’t really want to go to Marseille. I had planned on going to Portugal and had been sitting at my PC for hours watching YouTube travel vlogs for suggestions of places to visit and stay, weighing up one hotel against another etc and was just about to check out of the booking website when my husband decided that he would rather go to the south of France. “Why don’t we go to Marseille?” he suggested. Slightly annoyed, I had a quick recce, again on YouTube for the best area to stay, the Old Port seemed to be the favourite and started the whole tedious process again. I had been dithering on the booking website for so long that a rep actually rang me and offered me a ten percent discount and threw in some luggage allowance as well.

After I had paid, I Googled Marseille and was not overjoyed to find it is labelled as “The Most Dangerous City in Europe”. Why hadn’t I just booked Lisbon instead? Fair to say I was not by now in the best mood. My husband thought it was funny and my dad thought we would all be murdered. Every time I mentioned to anyone that we were visiting the city they would say “ooh I don’t think I would fancy Marseille”. What an epic fail. Then a friend who regularly visits France told me it is actually lovely, especially around The Old Port which is where we were staying. The were right, it is beautiful and very lively with so much to see and do. I would quite happily have stayed for another few days.

A word of warning, the traffic in Marseille is madness and the drivers are very aggressive, the countless e-bikes and e-scooters are a real problem as they do not stop at zebra crossings and neither do motorcycles. We saw a man knocked off his e-scooter and the driver of the car who hit him just drove off. Instead of showing any concern or sympathy the other cars just hooted at the injured man lying in the road because he was holding them up. We also saw a woman’s car break down at a roundabout and the response from other motorists was brutal, hooting and shouting at her as she looked thoroughly panicked, fortunately some young men pushed her car out of the way. Good luck to you if you are planning on hiring a car.

We stayed at The New Hotel, Le Qui , which is situated in the Old Port. I would definitely recommend staying here, the beds were incredibly comfortable, the bathrooms stocked with L’Occitane toiletries and the air conditioning worked perfectly. The the hotel is within walking distance of just about everywhere you could wish to go. Just outside the door there are shops and restaurants. The only thing I didn’t like was that there was no safe place to leave luggage if you arrive before you can check in, the staff literally give you a paper ticket and your cases are left in the café area within touching distance of the customers which is not a satisfactory or secure arrangement at all. A taxi from the airport to the hotel was around £30.

The first place we visited was the Old Charity Centre or Le Centre de la Vieille Charité this was free to enter. Built in 1640 to shelter beggars and vagrants, today it hosts various exhibitions. We were curious about the various pieces of material draped over the stone work and then discovered these were part of an art installation by artist Adrien Vescovi. Over six hundred vintage bed sheets have been collected and reflect the site’s history, some of the sheets have rather movingly been used in hospice care. Many of the items were monogrammed with the initials of whoever had slept on them over the years. There is also currently an exhibition called Mémoires de la Méditerranée or What The Sea Keeps, the glass bottles in the photo below make a stunning exhibit.

After we had finished at the Old Charity Centre we had some crepes and coffee and then walked uphill to The Palais Longchamp in the 35 degree heat. There is a beautiful fountain at its entrance were two dogs were playing trying to keep cool. Designed by  architect Henry Espérandieu to commemorate the arrival of water through the Marseille canal, the palace really is a breath taking sight, It is completely free to walk around the surrounding gardens. On either side of the fountain are two museums, on the left side the Museum of Natural History, and on the right the Museum of Fine Arts which is the oldest museum in Marseille. Both were a welcome cool refuge from the sun.

We took a boat trip, lasting around two and a half hours, from The Old Port around the Calanques, the famous cliffs surrounding the national park. The trip cost around £200 for four of us and was probably the favourite part of my holiday as it was so peaceful. All the commentary is in French although there is a QR code which I believe you can scan if you have Air pods to listen in anther language. Of course this probably varies from boat to boat. The Calanques National Park is a popular destination for hiking and kayaking. Longer boat tours are available where passengers can stop off for a swim.

Of course, being a port, there is a lot of sea food on offer. My husband and I are both allergic to fish so we ended up eating mostly crepes, pizza and steak. Some of the food was not very impressive including raw burgers and cold lasagne. The price of eating out is comparable to London. There is a shopping mall called Terrasses du Port where you will find Uniqlo, Zara, H & M and all the usual stores. There is also a large food court with a burger restaurant called Black and White Burger, the black part of the bun being made from natural activated charcoal. My nineteen year old son ate here while we just had a cold drink. The view from the upper terrace of the mall is gorgeous but there is nothing particularly French about this shopping centre however the air conditioning made it worth a quick visit.

Thank you for reading

Samantha