15 October 09

City Focus

City Focus: Marseille

An autumn weekend in France's second city is the perfect tonic to a busy working week. Ed Chamberlin soaks up the sea air at Marseille's Vieux Port. Photography by Helen Cathcart

THE SECOND CITY OF FRANCE, AND ITS oldest – founded under the Greeks in 600BC – it’s no wonder Marseille has made such a significant mark on the nation. For over 2,000 years, people, goods, treasure, spices and stories have flowed into the city from afar, bringing the world to France. Today, Marseille remains the biggest commercial port in the country and one of its most popular tourist destinations. And the heart of the city is the Vieux Port (“Old Port”).

Filled with small skiffs and tourist ferries, the area is more of a throwback to the past than the massive commercial harbour across town, and the best place to start off is by the water’s edge at Le Quai des Belges (10 ON MAP). Bustling with the combined mass of locals getting on with their lives and tourists temporarily escaping theirs, the scene is imbued with the sharp smell of sea salt and freshly caught fish.

This is also your springboard to the nearby islands. Frioul If Express (tel: +33 (0)49 146 5465, www.frioul-if-express.com) will take you to the Frioul archipelago, where the Château d’If (8 ON MAP) is located. A former prison, it was the setting for Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Trips cost €10–€15 and depart at various times daily. To visit the nearby Calanques, stunning white-cliffed inlets, you can book through Icard Maritime (tel: +33 (0)49 133 0329, www.visite-des-calanques.com).

Flanking the port itself are the Quai du Port on the north side and the Quai de Rive Neuve on the south. Along Quai du Port are the more tourist-oriented venues. Soak up some local flavour at La Maison du Pastis (6 ON MAP), tucked into the shady colonnades. Pastis is a consummately French drink: aniseed flavoured and highly alcoholic. Once you’ve diluted it with a little water, your enjoyment of it will very much depend on your enjoyment of aniseed – but be sure to drop in here for a taste or to pick up a bottle.

Along this stretch are endless cafés, restaurants and shops, making an excellent corridor to retreat to for a coffee and some retail therapy. However, right by the waterfront is a stand-out venue, Le Marseillois (14 ON MAP). A large schooner, complete with tall masts and tangled rigging, it originally sailed the Med as a trading ship. Today, it serves up an abundance of fish dishes, as you are gently cradled and rocked by the water beneath. It may seem like a gimmick, but this is a thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended experience.

On the other side of the harbour is the Quai de Rive Neuve, with its string of terrace cafés and restaurants, such as Radisson Blu’s multicultural cuisine at Solaris (3 ON MAP), and Chez Maurice Brun (18 Quai de Rive Neuve, tel: +33 (0)49 133 3538, www.mauricebrun.fr), offering traditional Provençal cooking. Later on, check out the neon eclecticism of trendy bar Exit Café (20 ON MAP).

Slip down the streets perpendicular to Quai de Rive Neuve and you find yourself in a maze of busy side streets with Place Thiars at the centre. It’s a gastronomical extravaganza here, with restaurants of all kinds battling for customers. Naming itself after its address, Le 29 Place aux Huiles (12 ON MAP) is a particular highlight, with an encyclopaedia of Provence and Vallée du Rhône wines. Known as a “restaurant caviste” (wine merchant restaurant), the array of wines is complemented well by a varied and reasonably priced menu.

Next door, Sri Ganesh (25 Place aux Huiles, tel: +33 (0)49 133 0915, www.sriganesh.fr) serves Indian food in fragrant surroundings, while Chez Paul (23 Rue Saint Saëns, tel: +33 (0)49 133 0743) straddles the world, with everything from sushi to Mediterranean food. For an impressive venue, Les Arcenaulx (7 ON MAP) is exactly what a restaurant/bookshop should be: dignified stone walls, beautiful books to browse and the air of a guarded secret.

Another gem is La Trilogie des Cépages (13 ON MAP). While not exactly hidden, it does manage to keep a modest profile down Rue de la Paix. In its tiny kitchen, three chefs work together with tools both old and new (molecular!) to the delight of the clientele. Here, the proprietors value intimacy and warmth – the tables are mostly for couples, and many a marriage proposal has apparently been made here. The owners also prefer to make their name bouche à oreille (“by word of mouth”), and that’s my word of mouth to you.

But of all Marseille’s gastronomical delights, bouillabaisse is the dish that no visit would be complete without. Meaning roughly to “boil and simmer”, the bouillabaisse is a decadent seafood feast that is eaten gradually. It begins with a highly spiced, red fish soup, into which you dunk croutons spread with rouille, a saffron-and-chilli spread. No sooner have you begun the soup, than a platter of seafood arrives: crab, lobster, mussels, turbot, mullet and potatoes (well, you have to have some veg in there!). Following that you fill, dunk, sup and refill your bowl until you have finished all you can. The best places to eat bouillabaisse are Miramar (15 ON MAP), who use www.bouillabaisse.com as their web address, and Chez Fonfon (11 ON MAP).

Chez Fonfon is located in the delightful Vallon des Auffes, a cute miniature version of the Vieux Port. This tiny harbour is also home to the excellent Chez Jeannot (129 Vallon des Auffes, tel: +33 (0)49 152 1128, www.pizzeriachezjeannot.com). While both serve excellent seafood, Chez Fonfon is your stop for bouillabaisse and Jeannot’s your stop for pizza – both boasting a wonderfully romantic setting, especially at twilight.

After dinner, walk back towards the Vieux Port down Corniche du Président John Fitzgerald Kennedy, past the Plage des Catalans round onto Boulevard Charles Livon. Here you will see Marseille’s hotel to beat ’em all: the Sofitel (1 ON MAP). Recently refurbished, this hotel is leagues ahead of its competitors in terms of style, comfort and service.

The maritime theme that characterises the city itself prevails throughout, from the array of blues decorating the reception and main bar, to the beautiful glass sculptures of sea creatures in the foyer and a boat-shaped restaurant, Les Trois Forts (incidentally, once of the best in town). The rooms have all sorts of lovely touches: rainforest showers with additional shower nozzles down the walls, two-person baths, and mini conference rooms and all mod-cons in the larger suites.

The Sofitel also boasts the new and ultra-deluxe So Spa, complete with sauna, hammam, massage facilities and a range of cosmetic products provided by Parisian company Carita. To truly unwind after a long day, there is nowhere better.

Just across the road from the Sofitel is another great piece of Marseillaise hospitality: the New Hotel of Marseille (2 ON MAP). A cuter and quirkier place to bed down, it also boasts a top-quality eatery, Victor Café (tel: +33 (0)48 800 4600, www.victorcafemarseille.com).

Compared with other areas of Marseille, the Vieux Port is somewhat subdued at night – but venues that keep things exciting into the early hours include Le Pelle-Mêle (16 ON MAP), with live jazz; Le 504 (18 ON MAP) a Middle Eastern/African restaurant by day and decadent Moroccan lounge by night; and Le Circus (19 ON MAP), a salsa disco.

Le Trolleybus (17 ON MAP) is the Vieux Port’s most idiosyncratic venue, built into an old munitions storage space and deliciously dingy with its vaulted brick walls. Bright and exciting, it’s a buzzing maze of tunnels that will keep you entertained until the fishermen return to start another day.

FLY TO MARSEILLE PROVENCE MP2 FROM 28 DESTINATIONS, INCLUDING AGADIR, BIARRITZ, EINDHOVEN, MANCHESTER, OSLO (TORP), PARIS (BEAUVAIS), PORTO AND STOCKHOLM (SKAVSTA). VISIT WWW.RYANAIR.COM

TAKE TO THE HILLS

Marseille’s surrounding countryside is well worth exploring, so a city visit should involve striking out a bit into Provence. This is a region of picturesque French towns, vineyards and a breathtaking natural landscape. Highlights include the exquisite charm of towns such as Aix-en-Provence, and Mont Sainte Victoire, which inspired some of Paul Cézanne’s most famous works. Then you have the Calanques, Cassis and Arles – the latter with its Unesco-listed Roman ruins and a historical connection to Vincent Van Gogh, who immortalised it in so many ways.

Elsewhere, the “Perched Villages of the Luberon” make for a fascinating tour, taking in Oppède-le-Vieux, a village carved into the rock face, the fortress village of Ménerbes, Les Baux-de-Provence and Gordes, most of which are members of “Les Plus Beaux Villages de France”, a kind of France-centric Unesco designation.

For a comprehensive list of excursions and activities, online travel resource Viator – a leading source for researching and booking trips in more than 450 destinations worldwide – has a wide variety on its books.

FOR MORE DETAILS, VISIT WWW.VIATOR.COM. FOR TRANSFER FROM MARSEILLE PROVENCE MP2 AIRPORT, VISIT WWW.CARANDCO.FR

HOTELS

1 / SOFITEL
36 Boulevard Charles Livon, tel: +33 (0)49 115 5900, WWW.SOFITEL.COM

2 / NEW HOTEL OF MARSEILLE
71 Boulevard Charles Livon, tel: +33 (0)49 131 5315, WWW.NEWHOTELOFMARSEILLE.COM

3 / RADISSON BLU
38–40 Quai de Rive Neuve, tel: +33 (0)48 892 1950, WWW.RADISSONBLU.FR

4 / EUROPE HOTEL
12 Rue de Beauvau, tel: +33 (0)49 133 6564, WWW.EUROPE-HOTEL.FR

5 / LA RESIDENCE DU VIEUX PORT
18 Quai du Port, tel: +33 (0)49 191 9122, WWW.HOTELMARSEILLE.COM

CULTURE/SHOPS

6 / LA MAISON DU PASTIS
108 Quai du Port, tel: +33 (0)49 190 8677, WWW.LAMAISONDUPASTIS.COM

7 / LES ARCENAULX
25 Cours Estienne d’Orves, tel: +33 (0)49 159 8030, WWW.LES-ARCENAULX.COM

8 / CHATEAU D’IF
tel: +33 (0)49 159 0230, WWW.IF.MONUMENTS-NATIONAUX.FR

9 / PLACE AUX HUILES
2 Place Daviel, tel: +33 (0)49 190 0555

10 / QUAI DES BELGES MARKET
Quai des Belges, daily 8am–1pm

RESTAURANTS

11 / CHEZ FONFON
140 Vallon des Auffes, tel: +33 (0)49 152 1438, WWW.CHEZ-FONFON.COM

12 / LE 29 PLACE AUX HUILES
29 Place aux Huiles, tel: +33 (0)49 133 2644, WWW.29PLACEAUXHUILES.COM

13 / LA TRILOGIE DES CEPAGES
35 Rue de la Paix, tel: +33 (0)49 133 9603, WWW.TRILOGIEDESCEPAGES.COM

14 / LE MARSEILLOIS
3 Quai du Port, tel: +33 (0)49 190 7252, WWW.LEMARSEILLOIS.COM

15 / RESTAURANT MIRAMAR
12 Quai du Port, tel: +33 (0)49 191 1040, WWW.BOUILLABAISSE.COM

BARS

16 / LE PELLE-MELE
8 Place aux Huiles, tel: +33 (0)49 154 8526

17 / LE TROLLEYBUS
24 Quai de Rive Neuve, tel: +33 (0)49 154 3045, WWW.LETROLLEY.COM

18 / LE 504
34 Place aux Huiles, tel: +33 (0)49 133 5774

19 / LE CIRCUS
5 Rue Chantier, tel: +33 (0)49 133 7722, WWW.LECIRCUS.FR

20 / L’EXIT CAFE
12 Quai de Rive Neuve, tel: +33 (0)49 154 2943, WWW.NEWEXIT.SKYROCK.COM