Blogs from Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe

Whenever this French port city is mentioned, Gene Hackman portraying Popeye Doyle in “The French Connection” immediately comes to mind, with visions of criminals roaming the docks - but nothing could be further from the truth. For sure this no doubt exists in the French underworld, but grit and grandeur coexist seamlessly in Marseille, an exuberantly multicultural port city with a pedigree stretching back to classical Greece, with a fair claim for wearing the mantle of France’s second biggest city. Once seen as dirty and dangerous and lacking the glamour of Cannes or St. Tropez, this black sheep of the Provencal coastline has blossomed in cultural confidence since its 2013 stint as the European Capital of Culture. The addition of a brace of swanky new museums is just an outward sign of optimism among the locals ... read more

Day 4 of the cruise... read more

Marseille is the oldest city in France. It is the second largest city, besides it is France’s busiest cruise and cargo port. In addition, this is the place where France’s national anthem ¨La Marseillaise¨ was created. I know most of you after having read the first paragraph asked: ¨Why did Global Wanderluster mention cruise …in Marseille?, Is this blog post for cruise passengers?”. Well, part of my job experience involved ship work which allowed me to visit and explore ports around the world (whenever the ship stayed longer on the port) I visited Marseilles for the first time in 2016 as a crew member to do dry dock for the company’s new ship which was christened one month later, so after duty I managed to go ashore and I asked the ... read more

Arriving direct from the wide avenues we had walked along in Lyon, our first impression of Marseille was that it seemed just a bit more edgy and gritty. The walk from the Gare Saint Charles down to the Vieux Port and La Panier wasn't far. About 1.4 km. Not scary at all (despite a lot of the publicity about the area), just a little more life and movement, much narrower streets, a bit more litter about and a more diverse population. We refined this impression as we moved about some parts of the city but we didn't move too far away. It may be the weather that has been great for most of our week here but that, combined with the life of the city, made Marseille a European city that we could easily live in. ... read more

Waking up at the crack of dawn (because our apartment is floor to ceiling windows and no blinds..at all (has made getting changed an interesting experience). We headed out after tea and brekky on Saturday 29th, walked along the port vieux with all it's boats and found that Marseille had it's own ferris wheel - which is becoming almost as much of a habit as going to Hard Rock Cafes! So we hopped on, this one has the added adventure of being open, and having the twisty pole thing in the middle so you can turn your carriage. WHS anyone? We got a great view of the whole port, the rooftops (which are decidedly more mediterranean than Paris, and Notre Dame De La Garde. It was a great warm day of 19 or 20 degrees so ... read more