First of all, I definitely intend to complete my unfinished blog posts from our Leg 14 in South America, including our trip to Machu Picchu that I didn’t get a chance to write over the summer. But for now I am skipping ahead of those experiences to record my impressions of Marseille after 2.5 weeks here.

We spent our first week in Marseille mostly working other than a couple nights out with friends, making up for the time off we took to tour England and Scotland with Chad’s parents. But we’ve incorporated more day trips and sightseeing in the past week and a half. I’ll do separate posts about the day trips but will share here some of the wonderful qualities we love about Marseille.

Arrival and Airbnb

Our arrival to Marseille from Edinburgh was delayed by a day due to British Airways canceling our flight. We didn’t have a great experience flying them to London a couple weeks before and after this we plan to actively avoid British Airways. They only partially approved our cancellation compensation, paying for our hotel, meal, and ride to the airport but not the cancellation fee they’re supposed to give under EU law (220 pounds for each of us). So I’ve filed an appeal with their official arbitrator. We’ll see if we end up receiving that. I mostly like the principle of it, punishing airlines for their poor planning. 

In addition to the delay getting us here, they also misplaced one of our bags, which meant more time at the airport filing that claim and having to deal with the delivery later that night. But we got it so all was okay. Kind of hard to believe after reasonably good luck in this area we’ve had two legs in a row with delayed luggage (see my Buenos Aires post).

Luckily our Marseille Airbnb has proven to be pretty well perfect. The host met us promptly and showed us the apartment. It is very comfortable and reasonably spacious for a one bedroom. There’s even a nice workspace for Chad. And we love our neighborhood, which is between the Vieux Port (Old Port) and Cours Julien, a popular restaurant and bar spot that our local friends like. And we have friends here, which is very different for us. Our friend Mark from home lives here in Marseille with his wife and two daughters very near Cours Julien. So it has been great fun to spend time with him and his Marseille friends, most of whom are also expats from the US and other parts of Europe.

Beautiful Weather and City

Marseille is located in the south of France on the Mediterranean Sea and is completely gorgeous in the fall. It can get chilly in the winter but our friends here report that the weather is generally pretty nice (except occasional strong winds). For our stay so far, pretty much every day has been 75 degrees and sunny, except for a couple of rainy days.

In the main districts of Marseille around where we’re staying, it has cute little streets, typical European architecture, and tons of local restaurants and shops. Our neighborhood is wonderfully diverse with a strong African influence. While I know it is a city with typical problems of poverty, etc., we’ve had a great quality of life here with fresh baguettes and pastries from the many boulangeries, interesting cheeses from tiny fromageries, and numerous wines and aperitifs to try. I even bought fresh flowers at one of the markets! It’s truly been a pleasure just walking around the city, even the touristy Old Port area.  

Cultural Opportunities

We lucked into noticing that the Marseille symphony had a concert planned for our first weekend in Marseille when checking out the website for the Opera House in our neighborhood. The concert was actually in another location, the Auditorium du Pharoah on the edge of the port, but was very enjoyable. 

Marseille has several beautiful churches. We visited Cathédrale La Major next to the port on one of our morning walks. Built in the 19th century (which is rare for a cathedral in Europe – they’re usually older), it was very beautiful inside and outside.

We’ve made time for one museum so far in Marseille, the city history museum (called Musée d’histoire de la Ville de Marseille), in which we learned about how the city evolved from its founding by Greeks in 600 B.C. to its Roman period to the importance of the port to the kingdom of France to changes brought by immigration. As France’s second largest city, Marseille has tons of museums, many of which are free like the city history museum. We plan to check out several more in the next couple of weeks before we leave.

Great Food and Drink

Of course, the best part of France, in my opinion, is the cuisine, and we’ve enjoyed some great meals out and some great meals in. Chad made a traditional French bouillabaisse, which was fantastic. We’ve also enjoyed a round of mussels and fries, a French favorite, plus pizza, gelato, vegetarian food, and so much cheese.

We’ve continued our foray into learning about French aperitifs and digestifs that we began in Lyon (I’ll post about Lyon in the future after I get Peru caught up). The favorite so far is suze, a very herbal liqueur that is often served with tonic. Pastis is really popular in Marseille, an anise-flavored liqueur that is mixed with water. Chad also tried a Get 27, which is mint-flavored. 

We still have much more to try in Marseille, but we’ve made a good start. 

Summary 

Our time in Marseille has included all our favorite parts of our life on the road with the added bonus of friends in town. I’m so glad we chose it to be our long stay in France on this very abbreviated leg.