Why it is worth visiting Marseille

Hello again! Today I am bringing you a post which is very special for me: Marseilles, a multicultural city which I had the pleasure to have 30 minutes away from my university halls, and so, I wandered down its streets and coast several times. So, I am going to talk about what places are worth visiting, what cafes I liked and I will also tell you some stories.

How to get to Marseilles?

Marseilles is really accessible. It is a half an hour bus ride away from Aix-en-Provence, it also has a good connection with lots of airports (I flew there direct from Porto) or even if you feel like it, you could go there by bus from Barcelona, even though it takes quite a long time.

I am sure that the first thing that you will see in Marseilles will be the bus and train station, which has a really original architecture. The first time that I went there I stayed with a local photographer, who picked up me and Sandra in his 4x4 and showed us the main place in the city; after, he took us towards the coast, to Les Goudes, a place I will talk to you about in the next post.

What to see in Marseilles

Getting to the point, the places that you definitely have to visit in Marseilles are:

Vieux Port

The Vieux Port or "old port. " If this city is known for anything, it is for its big sporty port, full of every kind of boats, even those which take you to Les Calanques! It is enormous. So be aware that it can take you like an hour and a half to go around it, from one end to the other. Right at the port is the Marseilles Ferris Wheel, which you can go up to see everything from up high. In this area, there are usually small ice-cream and waffle stands, as well as selling every kind of fish!

The coastal area

As you know, Marseilles is a coastal city so I recommend that you go a bit further away from the centre, from the port and go to the beach and sea area. When I went it was Autumn so the sea showed us its more wild side, it was quite windy. You can see it in the photos. Walking from the port can take around 40 minutes, but it is worth it because each street is different. Once you are there, you can walk around until you get bored; the route is really long and you can see all the different beaches. Certain points stand out, such as the Kennedy cliff which you can jump into the sea from, as well as the Les Catalans beach and the Pointe Rouge beach...

Vallon des Auffes

But I don't only like staying at the beaches with their crystal water, as I would also like to talk about some places which are a bit more special, the ones that the locals recommend, because they know that they are worth seeing and that they show you the best side of the city. It is Vallon des Auffes which is really close to the Kennedy cliff. It is a small and very picturesque port, full of boats and surrounded by very rudimentary restaurants where you can eat good fish and seafood. I remember that a lot of them were decorated with wooden barrels which you could sit down at and eat. The surroundings are so characteristic because the little houses there are painted different light colours and it seems like they are on top of one another, surprisingly. But what caught my attention the most was a kind of bridge which closed this place, which people and cars went over. We bought some tupperwear and we ate there, enjoying the sun, even though it wasn't warm. I remember well that I went to touch the water, wondering how hot it was and that was when I slipped on the moss that was there and I fell into the water fully clothed. I didn’t have any other choice than to take my clothes off and then sunbathe, in the middle of autumn (or was it already winter?) until it kind of dried and we made our way back home. For me, a must stop.

Notre-Dame de la Garde

An emblematic place of this city is the basilisk of the Notre-Dame de la Garde. The first day that I went, I went in the car with Caroline, and the two other times I got on a kind of tourist train: once with Angel and once with Lucia. If you are motivated and you have energy, you can go up by foot. It is a really big basilisk, at the top of the city. Caroline told us that it is really interesting because wherever you are, at whatever point of the city, you can always see it and at the same time, it looks after you. And it is true, it seems as if wherever you are in Marseille, you can always see the basilisk.

Entry was free. Inside there are works with representations of ships and sailors, of sea storms... They say that the Notre Dame de la Garde takes care of sailors during their journeys so that they can get back home safely. Watch out, when you enter you can't have anything on your head (not even a hat even if it is freezing cold). More than one person got caught out before going in the basilisk. Here I will leave you some pictures that Caroline took whist we were there and others which I took the other times that I have been there. The best thing is the views! You can also see the Velodrome Stadium. The photos that I will leave for you here are taken by my friend Caroline (she gave me permission to include them). She is a photographer and that day as well as taking pictures of me and my friend Sandra, she also took pictures of the view from the basilisk. Here is a link to her blog Les petites poules.

Longchamp palace

It has quite a strange and pretty architecture: statues of different figures and its fountain is decorated with lots of plants and is the main feature of the palace. Inside, you can find the History Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, you get discounts with your student card. In the upper part of the palace, there is a park where you can stop to relax or have a picnic. It is a bit further out form the center but you can take a bus if you have no energy left.

Church of Saint Vincent de Paul

Walking through the city you may come across the Saint Vincent de Paul Church which has a gothic architecture. It is nearby to a really big street full of shops and restaurants. We ate in one of them: a tomato and mozzarella sandwich and a typical crepe with Nutella for dessert. Yum.

The Opera

Nearby to here is the opera, which presides over a big street full of shops, where they also sometimes had a market with clothes stalls. It is a really pretty street, decorated with really big treats which create a strange... ideal for a photo.

If Castle

I can't go without talking about the If Castle and the Frioul Islands archipelago. , of which there are four. This group of islands are opposite the coast of Marseille. You can go there by boat and spend the day there. As for the If castle, it is very famous because it appears in the "Le comte de Monte-Cristo". I remember that when I was doing GCSE's, I had to read an adaption of this in French lessons. Years later there it was, in front of the castle where the Count had been imprisoned. What is life. It never ceases to surprise you.

Cafes

As for cafes, and to finish off this post, I have to mention Maison Geney. It is really small but really lovely. Sandra and I spent an afternoon there and we couldn't resist trying one of the many sweets that they had at the counter. Really, it is quite difficult to say no to French sweets, of which there are loads at every cafe that you go to. We also went to Columbus, which is a chain which also exists in Aix-en-Provence. The best thing about this place are there different flavoured muffins. There we met a girl from Mexico who was doing an internship in Marseille as a biologist.

If you are more modern, you could go to Starbucks, which is also around this area on the street with the shops. Not that it is particularly cheap but hey, nothing ridiculous. Also, the frappes and smoothies are to die for, and they have so many.

As a kind of conclusion, I could keep on giving you more names of places to visit in Marseille, but from now, I have to say that it is a city that you have to get lost in, even in the streets that aren't as popular, in order to understand its true essence. It is a contradictory and multicultural city. Suddenly you are in a street with buildings with incredible architecture and then, three sidewalks and a dark alley later, you will find yourself in a decadent neighbourhood, full of graffiti and old and grey buildings; of which the Arc de Triumph is situated at the end.

And that is the post for today. I hope that you have enjoyed it and it has encouraged you to visit this city, which most definitely, for me would be an almost perfect place to leave. Tell me your opinions. Goodbye, and I'll see you in the next post.

Photo gallery