In the 2,600 or so years since the Greeks landed and named it Massalia, the French port of Marseille has welcomed waves of diverse and colourful visitors. After the Greeks came Persians, Romans, Visigoths, Russians, Armenians, Vietnamese, Corsicans, Spanish and north Africans – all leaving their distinct imprint on the city.
Now the British are on their way, as tourists transported to France’s Mediterranean gateway by a direct Eurostar service from London, which launches on 1 May and takes only 6½ hours.
Good timing, because Marseille is on the crest of a creative and entrepreneurial wave that began in 2013, its year as European City of Culture, which boosted its vitality.
Here are some of its delights as revealed to me on a tour by Elodie Van Zele, a Parisienne, who came to Marseille and never left and who reveals its secrets for her blog Chut Mon Secret.
The Panier district
Once gritty and run-down, the increasingly trendy Panier district in the heart of the city is delineated by the 17th-century Fort Saint-Jean at its southern tip, and the unmissable Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MuCEM), which opened in 2013, to the west. The museum can be reached by a walkway that connects the fort to the roof and terrace of the modern building – mixing the old and new has become a leitmotif of the city. Exhibitions at MuCEM this summer include Shared Holy Places (until 31 Aug) and Traces … Fragments of a Contemporary Tunisia (13 May-28 Sept).
Past the fishermen’s church of Saint Laurent is Schilling (37 rue Caisserie), a 24-cover restaurant opened by Scotsman Malcolm Gardner, who buys his fish off the boats each morning and plans his daily menu accordingly. His Highland take on French classic dishes involves lashings of whisky, and his mum Zöe brings out suitcases of cheddar cheese.
In need of a snack, we pop into Dunk for a bagel before strolling around the Place de Lenche, the former Greek agora, or market place, which has cafes and cosy theatres. On hot days, Elodie recommends an ice-cream from artisan glacier Vanille Noire. They are handmade in familiar and exotic flavours every day by Nicolas, who says his passion for all things sweet was inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Où est Marius? is a wonderfully eccentric shop run by Audrey Novara, whose eclectic stock of local produce includes tinned sardines, Carmargue knives, ceramics by Anne Boscolo-Cavin, and poutargue de muge (mullet roe, nicknamed Provençal caviar). But never mind where Marius is, who is Marius? He is in fact the title character of a play by local writer Marcel Pagnol (who wrote the book that cult film Jean de Florette was based on), says Audrey.
Tucked away in a narrow street behind City Hall, Patrick Veillet’s black-mirrored scent and jewellery shop N-Cigale, sells products inspired by a Provençal icon, the cicada.
The city is famous for its savon de Marseille (soap) but, buyers should be aware that only five “real” soap producers remain, including La Grande Savonnerie, on the edge of the Panier/Vieux Port districts. Owner Sylvain Dijon says that only the kind made with olive oil – for cakes of green cosmetic soap – and with added palm oil for liquid soap, with no colour or perfume, are the genuine article. He and his partners are continuing the centuries-old tradition with a modern twist; customers are invited to stamp their own Marseille soap.
Palais de Justice district
At Chez Georgiana, Georgiana Viou, a finalist in the French MasterChef TV show, cooks lunch while fielding bises on the cheeks from customers and smiling expansively. Her menu – today it’s spinach salad, sea bream with black rice, and rice pudding with fresh strawberries – sounds simple but has a strong undercurrent of exotic flavours. Culinary journalist Anne Garabedian says Georgiana’s cooking is an example of Marseille’s gastronomic renaissance: “In Marseille, people speak of a before and an after 2013. A restaurant like this wouldn’t have survived five years ago, but now it’s packed. The culture year whipped everyone up and our challenge is to harness this energy and keep it going.”
Elodie decides we need to walk off lunch with a visit to the nearby Jardin Montgrand, an ever-changing store selling high-fashion clothes, art and designer furniture, and with an inviting garden cafe. As we leave I am pressed to accept an extraordinary biscuit and lemon mousse “John Lemon” pattisserie made by Clement Higgins of Bricoleur de Douceurs.
In Rue Paradis, one of Marseille’s longest streets, is perfume and accessories store Jogging. The former butcher’s shop still has the Boucherie sign outside, and shelves with meat hooks inside but, otherwise, cutting-edge style is the règle du jour.
Vieux-Port district
Marseille’s old port is hardly a secret, but the art of visiting is in the timing. Aim to go there at around 8.30am, when fishermen empty their buckets on to stands while locals with weathered faces jostle to pick through the flip-flopping fish for the best of the day’s catch.
If you’re looking to relax with a portside pastis as the sun goes down, you can’t go far wrong in any of the bars lining the Vieux-Port, but for food you might want to be more picky. Le Poulpe run by old schoolfriends Michel Ankri and Michel Portos, sources most of its food locally, but has received mixed reviews, namely over service. However, a dinner with bonito, a member of the tuna family, served with crisp vegetables on the terrace on a warm early spring evening gives nothing to complain about, and three courses will only set you back about €26, including wine.
There are so many places to go and see, but an evening in Marseille has to start somewhere, and tonight it’s the Saint Victor area, and Fietje Cave à Bières, to sample some of the 10 draft and 30 bottled beers. From there it’s a short stroll to the Marché St-Victor, a mix of indoor market and lively food hall where six independent stand-holders sell drinks and food to eat in or take away.
Here we find Pamela Pappalardo holding court, and she plies us with delicious Corsican cheese and charcuterie accompanied by glasses of wine she described as having the “character of tenebrous men”. Her partner Jeremie Depieds established the market with associate Brice Ruoppolo (who is doing a roaring trade in Spanish bellota ham at €179 a kilo). The trio are typical of Marseille’s dynamic new generation of entrepreneurs, who are challenging France’s obstinate economic crisis and setting up on their own.
“One day we just said: ‘Let’s do it’,” says Pamela. “It’s risky and hard work, but passionate.”
On the rue again, and Elodie and I duck into La Velada, where the barman proffers a plain brown envelope containing the message: “Pour Kim W. Le code est 0705A.”
He points to a dimly lit corridor and a bookcase with an electronic pad. I punch in the number and the bookshelf swishes aside, revealing a staircase, at the top of which is another restaurant. Elodie giggles like a schoolgirl and I assume the joke is on me. Mais non! This is Il Clandestino. Here, chef Jérome Benoît creates delicious nouvelle cuisine versions of traditional French fare, such as the famous bouillabaisse fish stew. Reservations are a must.
If bread is regarded with almost religious significance in France, then Pierre Ragot is one of its high priests. Pierre spends his days, and sometimes nights, at his boulangeries, dreaming up ways of making new bread: with bacon, with mustard, truffles, harissa, curry, chestnuts, olives, caramel, berries … Many are in baskets on the table in Il Clandestino. “I’m a bit of a poet when it comes to bread, and I love to invent new ones,” he says. “When I was 17 years old, I knew bread would be my life and my soul, and it is.”
La Belle de Mai
The labyrinthine backstreets of this district echo with the muezzins’ call to prayer, and the Arabic chatter in the coffee shops is reminiscent of the Maghreb. Diagonally north from the city’s main station is the Friche, an arts and social project set up in a former tobacco factory. It is a vast state-funded “village” with functions including crêche, skate park, and theatre school (not yet opened) and atéliers (studios) occupied by a mix of artists, businesses and a local radio station. Sitting on the edge of one of Marseille’s poorest areas, the centre showcases the arts, and offers an extensive programme of events. From June to September, a massive roof area will host free DJ evenings every weekend, and free open-air cinema every Sunday in July and August.
After my tour, I speak to Magali di Duca of the Bouches-du-Rhone tourist office. “Marseille is very dynamic these days,” she says. “Once it was hard to get moving, but now people are fighting back, inspired and collaborating. The charm of Marseille is it’s a city but it’s kept the spirit of a local village.”
Where to stay
Les Lofts du Vieux Port
These two large loft apartments were created out of a warehouse and are just 120 metres from the Vieux Port. One sleeps eight (complete with suspended bed, kitchen and cinema room) and a second can sleep a couple and two children/young adults. They are decorated with retro touches, an old Italian moped here, a parking meter, road sign and petrol pump there, amid industrial furniture, from Greg & Co, a second-hand furniture shop opposite.
• Eight people from €450 a night, or four from €170 (if booked for three nights; the nightly prices are from €350 and €150 a night respectively), +33 6 6559 2963, loftduvieuxport.fr
Alex Hotel
This 21-room boutique hotel, with its pretty inner courtyard, is a haven of tranquility near Saint Charles station, the Eurostar’s terminus.
Rooms blend modern, minimalist interior design with a classic Marseille exterior.
• Doubles from €120, +33 4 13 24 13 24, alex-hotel.fr
Hotel Dieu
This building, just east of the Panier, was once a grand hospital but is now an even grander Intercontinental hotel. If your budget doesn’t stretch above €200 a night, the view from the hotel’s elegant terrace is just about worth an expensive coffee.
• Doubles from €239, ihg.com
Don’t Miss
The Calanques
For stunning coastal scenery, visit the jagged limestone coves and crystal clear waters of the Calanques national park between Marseilles and pretty Cassis, keeping an eye out for fearless climbers making tortuous progress up the rocks. Boat trips leave the Vieux-Port, and Cassis, every day. The park is also ideal for walkers.
La Cité Radieuse
The public can wander round La Cité Radieuse, Le Corbusier’s modern housing scheme in the south of Marseille, but you see more, including an apartment interior, on a guided visit run by the tourist office.
• €10/€5, in English at 10am on Saturdays, marseille-tourisme.com
• Eurostar (eurostar.com) fares to Marseille from London St Pancras start at £99 return. The trip was provided by the Marseille Tourist Office, the Bouches-du-Rhône Tourism Agency and the Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur Tourism Board
