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Published: June 13th 2015
On our walk to the beach the other day, we discovered
Elyssa, a great little Tunisian restaurant facing the south side of the harbour at Vieux Port. The owner is a lovely young woman who open it just last September after gaining experience at her father's restaurant, in business nearby for the past 40 years. The service was friendly and attentive, the food was great and very affordable. Chris had the Tajine d'Agneau and I had Couscous au Mechoui (lamb). and we paired that with a house Rose for a total cost of around 42 Euros. Highly recommended!
As Marseille is the birthplace of bouillabaisse, we looked into what price some of the best restaurants are offering this dish for. Based on local recommendations and googling for info, we learned that we would be paying at least 50 euros per person for this fish soup. Luckily, Chris LOVES to cook, is an excellent chef, and she really enjoys learning local dishes and shopping at the local markets. So it was off to the fish market at Vieux Port one morning to shop for bouillabaisse ingredients.
Every day as the fishing boats come in with their catch, a number of
them set up stalls along the end of the harbour. The catch is still live and it's a lively, festive atmosphere. We checked out all of the day's offerings then with the help of one of the merchants, Chris chose the variety of fish she would need for her bouillabase. Total cost of the fish and other ingredients came to about 28 Euros for dinner for four, to welcome our friends Dave and Sylvia to Marseille.
Rather than rent a car, or be limited to only a few sites in the region travelling by train and walking, we booked a few day tours for the four of us with Viatours. Our first day on June 10 began at 8:00AM. Our guide and driver was Mathew. We picked up two women at Aix-en-Provence on the way to our first stop at
Saint Rémy. Provence is famous for the many street markets but the very large and varied one on Wednesday morning in Saint Rémy is renowned as exceptional. The stalls spill from the rue de la République just on the edge of Saint Rémy down into the winding alleys and shady squares of the old town. They offer traditional and
Vieux Port Fish Market
Shopping for Boulliabase ingredientsmore unusual crafts as well as clothes, shoes and a huge range of fresh local produce. We loaded up on a variety of food items there including cherries, cheese, sausage, spices (Herbs de Provence) as well as some Nougat that Provence is famous for.
Our second stop was at the archaeological site of Glanum. We stopped only briefly here to snap a few photos of the arch and mausoleum that mark the boundary and northern entrance to the site. Between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC, a distinct civilization grew up on the flanks of the Alpilles: The Glanics, Salluvian Gauls of Provence. They built a town around a sacred spring believed to have healing powers. The town was gradually influenced by the Greeks in Marseilles then in the 1st century BC, the arrival of the Romans imposed other architectural models including a forum and thermal baths.
We continued on from here to
Moulin CastelaS olive oil mill owned by Jean-Benoit and Catherine Hugues. We learned all about growing olives, then milling and creating a variety of high-grade olive oils. It was a fun tour and we really enjoyed tasting, and buying, a variety of their products. After spending
some Euros to take home some fabulous olive oils, we continued on to
Les Baux.
This town/castle has an amazing history and you really feel like you've gone back in time as you climb through the steep streets and walkways between the ancient architecture and tour the fortress. The history is really quite interesting so I've included the story which I've tried to keep as short as possible below:
The geographical location of the Baux Plateau on the top of a hill has always given the local people the dual advantage of being able to observe the surrounding countryside and to protect themselves. This no doubt explains why the site was occupied from so early in prehistoric times and has continued to be so right up to the present day.
The earliest known texts, dating from the 10th century, mention "Balcium Castrum". They give the name of the local lord as Pons the Younger; his descendents take the surname, Les Baux. During a major building programme introduced by Lords Hugues and Barral des Baux in the 13th century, the early fortress was replaced by a keep that took advantage of the natural configuration of the rock and
became a support for the other buildings in the castle.
In the Middle Ages, the Baux lineage was one of the leading families in Provence, thanks to its land.
The Baux family was master of seventy-nine towns or fortresses known as the "Terres Baussenques" (Baux lands). During their eventful history, the fortress seems to have fulfilled its primary purpose as a stronghold during the Baux Wars and the Wars of Religion.
On the death of Alix, the last Princess of Les Baux, King Louis III of Sicily, Count of Provence, seized the mediaeval castle and annexed it to the Count's lands. The town and the "Terres baussenques" later became Crown lands when Provence was annexed to the throne of France during the reign of Louis XI. The King of France fearing that it might fall into the hands of an enemy, especially those who opposed his authority in Provence, he ordered its demolition in 1483.
However, because of its former might and its glorious history, the lands of the Baux family were integrated into the "Adjacent Lands" of the kingdom of France under the authority of none other than the king himself. They were not subservient
to the County of Provence and they retained their customs, franchises and prerogatives.
The Renaissance was a golden age for the town and the residential buildings in the castle were partially rebuilt. In 1631 a revolt in Aix-en-Provence was put down by the Prince de Condé and some of the rebels fled and sought refuge in Les Baux. The town was besieged by Cardinal Richelieu's troops and, when the fighting was over, the fortress was again demolished.
In 1642, the lordship of Les Baux was given by King Louis XIII to Hercule Grimaldi to thank him for his policies in favour of the Crown of France. Hercule passed the title of Marquis des Baux to his descendants and its current holder is Prince Albert of Monaco.
After the revolution, the marquisate was annexed to France. The village of Les Baux was gradually abandoned and had a population of only 400 at the end of the 19th century (there had been 3,000 inhabitants in the 13th century). Les Baux, however, had another date with History. In 1821, a geologist discovered a red rock there rich in alum earth - he called it "bauxite".
It was after the
Second World War that the village began a new life as a tourist and cultural centre with the arrival of Raymond Thuillier who helped to make Les Baux internationally famous by opening the celebrated Oustau de Baumanière, an ambassador for gourmet cuisine that attracted all the world's best-known names.
In 1966, André Malraux signed a decree placing the entire town under the protection of the Ministry of Culture and the Environment and leading to its revival. This was another period of rebirth ("renaissance") for the town, with renovation that, in 1999, resulted in its listing as one of the "Most Beautiful Villages in France".
Our next stop touring Provence was in
Arles. Registered on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, Arles is the city with the most Roman remains after Rome. Arles is a good example of the adaptation of an ancient city to medieval European civilization. It has some impressive Roman monuments, of which the earliest – the arena, the Roman theatre and the cryptoporticus (subterranean galleries) – date back to the 1st century B.C. During the 4th century Arles experienced a second golden age, as attested by the baths of Constantine and the necropolis of
Alyscamps. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Arles once again became one of the most attractive cities in the Mediterranean. Within the city walls, Saint-Trophime, with its cloister, is one of Provence's major Romanesque monuments.
The amphitheatre (arena), built around AD 90, ranks among the great amphitheatres and could hold 20,000 spectators. Gladiator fights and animal hunts took place here until the end of the 5th century. During the Middle Ages, the building became a fortress, sheltering two chapels and 212 houses within its walls. These parasitic constructions were destroyed in 1825. The underground passages of the Cryptoporticus were used as foundations for the Roman forum, the political, commercial, and religious centre of the Roman city. They were built in 30 BC on the side of the hill, and their construction necessitated gigantic earth filling and levelling operations. The U-shaped Cryptoporticus is made up of three double corridors covered with barrel vaults. They intersect at right angles and are separated by rows of massive pillars supporting basket-handle arches. Towards the end of the Roman Empire shops were built, opening on the outer side.
The Roman theatre was built at the end of the 1st century BC. The cavea
could hold 10,000 people in 33 rows of seats. The majestic high wall at the back of the stage was decorated with columns and statues; two columns and the collection of sculptures are in the Arles Archaeological Museum. From the 5th century onwards, the theatre was occupied by houses and religious buildings, which were demolished starting in 1834. At that time the semi-circular orchestra section with its precious marble pavement, the space occupied by the machinery used to raise and lower the curtain, part of the seats, and parts of the outer wall preserved in the Tower of Roland during the Middle Ages were restored and conserved.
The church of Saint Trophime and its cloisters constitute an exceptional Romanesque group, strongly influenced by ancient art.
L'Espace Van Gogh, is the hospital where Van Gogh was taken after he cut off a portion of his ear. He also painted the interior courtyard of this former hospital.
We had a lazy morning today following our long day yesterday touring Provence. By noon we were finally alive enough to head out and try the Tram for our next adventure, exploring the
Market at Noailles (Le Marché de Noailles). Also known
as the Marché des Capucins, this crowded, chaotic, cheerful food market takes place in the narrow side-streets just off the top of the Canebière, a couple of hundred metres from the Old Port.
Entering the market area, you're instantly confronted by a sensory overload of multi-coloured African fabrics, mangos, loose spices, prayer mats with a compass set in them for locating Mecca, cheap sets of boules and couscousières, bootleg cigarettes and much more.
Many of the shops and stalls on the rue Longue des Capucins, the market's main axis, are run by and for Marseille's Arab community and have ornate Moorish tiled interiors and grandly evocative names: Au Palais des Viandes, Le Royaume des Saveurs, Au Coin du Bonheur, Le Soleil d'Egypte...
In the back-streets, other shops sell Indian saris, Chinese and Vietnamese groceries or African spices and hair accessories. We bought lunch here then continued on to buy some large shrimp and produce before taking the tram back towards home. A short stop at the Mono Prix grocery store on Rue de Republique for a few essentials (wine) and it was back on the tram to head home for a lazy afternoon of napping.
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