Ruff Guide to Marseille

A round of a-paws please, as we travel to Marseille to meet its most famous canine resident

How did one of Marseille’s smallest residents become one of its biggest stars? Will Dunn soaks up the city’s seafood and sunshine with a famous, four-legged guide. Photography by Yohanne Lamoulère

As a journalist, you come to recognise the presence of real fame. There’s that charisma famous people seem to have – and, of course, the fact that everyone recognises them. My host in Marseille definitely falls into this category. Everywhere we go, people turn and stare. “Is it him? It looks like him,” they say. They don’t even mind when he stops to relieve himself, right in the middle of the pavement.

“Saucisse feels people should keep their streets clean, so we set an example,” remarks Serge Scotto, the escort for my unusual guide, as he scoops the offending item into a bag. Saucisse looks on, obviously amused. As you may have guessed, I’ve travelled to Marseille in the south of France to interview a dog. A Dachshund, to be precise. But this is no ordinary pooch; he has a weekly column in the newspaper Marseille Plus, and is the “author” of four novels (with help from Monsieur Scotto). He’s become a national TV star, had a square named after him and, like Mariah Carey, he even has his own wine, Cuvée Chien Saucisse.

I meet Serge and Saucisse by the town hall in Marseille’s Vieux Port (Old Port). Hemmed in by two gigantic old forts, this was once one of the biggest shipping ports in the Mediterranean. The grand old harbour is now a café-lined marina, although you can still buy fish straight off the boats (often still wriggling) every morning on the waterfront. The weathered, 17th-century town hall is where Saucisse rose to fame in 2001, when Serge put his dog’s name down for the mayoral elections. Despite being of the canine persuasion, Saucisse did rather well.

“It started as a joke, but people supported him,” says Serge. Saucisse’s slogan – “For a more humane existence, against a dog’s life” – won him 4% of the vote, enough to enter the presidential elections too, although he was barred from doing so by the authorities.

Having taken in perhaps the only mayor’s office in the world to have been contested by a Dachshund, we board the free ferry that crosses the harbour and begin climbing the hill towards one of Saucisse’s favourite restaurants. Passing a statue of Serge’s great- uncle, the composer Vincent Scotto, Serge tells me a little of his own history. Like most people in Marseille, his family arrived from elsewhere (Italy, in their case). Serge says Marseille has the best pizza in the world, thanks to its large Italian population – and I’m inclined to agree. Chez Etienne (43 Rue de Lorette) is the best in the city, but there’s also a high standard wherever you go. Saucisse’s favourite Italian restaurant is Le Don Corleone (128 Rue Sainte), a classic Sicilian trattoria that’s popular with a literary crowd. “Is Saucisse ever any trouble?” I ask the owner, as my host sniffs eagerly at a bottle of rosé. “He is an excellent customer,” he chuckles. “He loves the cannelloni most of all.”

We continue our tour with a visit to Jigal, the publishing house where Saucisse’s new book, Saucisse face à la Crise (“Saucisse Faces the Crisis”), has just arrived. In his journalism and his books, Saucisse has a strong social conscience, highlighting injustice and corruption from a canine point of view. And, while he may not put paw to paper much, in a way he really is the author.

“When I write as myself, I am constrained by my own views,” explains Serge. “But when I write as Saucisse he can approach human society from a different angle, from outside. So he can say what he wants – he is free. He has his own personality, and this goes into the books. It is Saucisse who has done all this, his character, his drive. I could not do this with another dog. And because he is small, he likes to help others who are small.”

I ask the publisher, Jimmy Gallier, if his star author has any special requirements. “Croquettes,” he replies, “he must have croquettes.”

It hasn’t always been cannelloni and croquettes for Saucisse, though. He started out on the meanest streets of the city.

“He began life as an entrée,” says Serge, shaking his head sadly and indicating the big scars on his canine companion’s flank. “The people who fight dogs, they use puppies to bait the fighting dogs. So when he was just a baby, they tossed him to a Pit Bull. He was half-eaten, almost dead. It’s… not human.” Luckily, our hero was saved by the Société Protectrice des Animaux (SPA), an animal protection charity, and it was at their shelter in Marseille that he and Serge first met.

Looking at society through the eyes of his companion, Serge found a new way to write, and columns by Saucisse began to appear in French newspapers. Then came the novels, the election, and the Place du Chien Saucisse’s entry on city maps. Last year, Saucisse appeared on the TV show Secret Story, the French equivalent of Big Brother. He won, and donated his €10,000 prize money to Marseille’s SPA – repayment for the favour they did him in the early days.

Our next stop is Cours Julien, a road that’s home to Marseille’s hippest bars and clubs. The streets around here are a good example of Marseille’s vibrant hotchpotch of cultures; and in the brightly coloured mishmash of shop fronts you can find a million different distractions. The record shops of Marseille’s famous hip-hop scene are crammed in next to quirky florists and bakeries, inventive fashion shops, and bars where the locals take a glass of that other famous Marseille export, the aniseed-flavoured aperitif Pastis.

Where Rue des Trois Mages meets Rue des Trois Rois there’s a little square where you’ll find Saucisse’s other favourite restaurant, Le Cuisineur. Run by a burly, bearded character named Jean-Michel, it serves what Serge calls the “real food of Marseille” – fresh seafood, meat and vegetables that are expertly cooked without being too fancy (or expensive). It’s also on the square named after Saucisse, yet when I go looking for the sign I discover a different “tail”.

After eight years, the square has been renamed, and Serge believes Saucisse’s outspoken views had something to do with it. Eventually, I do find the plaque, sitting proudly above the bar of Le Cuisineur. Jean-Michel hopes one day to return it to the wall outside.

Ask a local and they’ll still call it the Place du Chien Saucisse. So it seems you can change a sign, but you can’t stop people rooting for the little guy – however small he is.

WHERE TO STAY

If you’re too big to be a lapdog, try the lap of luxury instead. The Sofitel Marseille Vieux Port has incredible views of the Old Port from many of its rooms, an impressive spa, and possibly the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. Breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant comes with a stunning panoramic view, and is not to be missed.

WWW.SOFITEL.COM