SCNF cancelled my train
from Béziers to Marseille because of maintenance work on the line, so I
travelled by Ouibus instead. It was a four-hour trip via Montpellier, where
there was a change of driver (the bus had come from Bordeaux). On the Béziers-Montpellier
leg, a young Muslim woman from Morocco was seated next to me. She spoke
beautiful English with a slight American accent (she had studied there) and was
also fluent in French – and Arabic, of course. She urged me to visit her
country.
Marseille is
sprawling, colourful and chaotic, and I was pleased my friend Dominique B was
waiting at the bus station to guide me through obtaining a travel pass, and
catching the metro and bus to her apartment. The Marseille metro was
built in 1977, and has two lines (1 and 2) and 28
stations, two of which, Saint-Charles and Castellane, provide interchange with
the other line.
Dominique’s grandmother
bought the apartment in 1962, attracted by the view across forest to the hills.
Since then, the forest has been cut down to accommodate apartments and the St Lou commercial centre, which incorporates a huge supermarket, but the view of the hills remains:
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| View from apartment in Boulevard Romain Rolland, Marseilles. Photo Ann Barrie |
On
my first morning in Marseille, before the day got too hot, Dominique and I took
the bus to towards these hills, to the left, so we could go hiking. Our
destination was Le Parc des Bruyères on the edge of the Calanques National
Park. It's refreshing to have such a park so close to the city. Dominique used
to take her children here when they were young; they would walk from her apartment. We met up with other
walkers, locals, many of whom were exercising their dogs.
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| Ann Barrie with Dominique in Le Parc des Bruyères, Calanques National Park June 2019. |
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| Olive trees in Le Parc des Bruyères, Calanques National Park June 2019. Photo Ann Barrie |
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| Plan of Calanques National Park June 2019. Photo Ann Barrie |
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| Calanques National Park June 2019. Photo Ann Barrie |
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| Rosemary growing in Calanques National Park June 2019. Photo Ann Barrie |
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| Wildflowers in Calanques National Park June 2019. Photo Ann Barrie |
Dominique’s
apartment has some lovely pieces that have been passed down through the
family. In the dining room these include a panetière where bread was stored; and the adjoining salon has a bonetière provençale, which originally was for linen but later also accommodated dishes and platters.
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| Dominique in the dining room of her Marseilles apartment. Photo Ann Barrie |
We visited many of the
well-known attractions including the old port; and the MuCEM (Museum of
European and Mediterranean Civilisations). MuCEM is spectacular ...
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| View from MuCEM, Marseille, towards Jardin du Pharo. Photo Ann Barrie 2019 |
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| MuCEM, looking towards Notre-Dame de la Garde. Photo Ann Barrie 2019 |
At
MuCEM, there is a temporary exhibition, Jean Dubuffet, un barbare en Europe.
Dubuffet, 1901-1985, was a French painter, sculptor and visual artist, the
first theoretician of an art style to which he gave the name of “art
brut”. Sarah Lombardi, director of the Collection of Art Brut of Lausanne, says
that from their point of view, art brut has two dimensions. The first is of a
sociological nature. It defines the author according to his original
context and a criterion, that of the self-taught, the one who has not learned; there
is also a certain notion of marginality, the artist stands outside the art
system. The second dimension would be artistic; the search for a strong
production from an aesthetic point of view, the formation of new languages,
inventions or techniques*. (Personally, I found many of Dubuffet’s paintings
childlike, but the exhibition was educational for me.) Dubuffet returned to collage
toward the end of his life, and this work, Le
déchiffreur, is 28 pieces of acrylic on reinforced paper on canvas:
*
We enjoyed wandering in the ancient Le Panier quarter of Marseille, in the 2nd
arrondissement up behind the town hall. Our first stop was La Maison Diamantée, a 16th century mansion with a façade
entirely covered by diamond-shaped tips. Nowadays it houses several administrative
services of the City of Marseille, but visitors are welcome to admire the monumental
staircase:
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| La Maison Diamantée, Marseille. Photo Ann Barrie 2019 |
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| La Maison Diamantée, Marseille. Photo Ann Barrie 2019 |
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| La Maison Diamantée, Marseille. Photo Ann Barrie 2019 |
Le Panier is a bohemian quarter, and there is a
lot of street art and graffiti, some of it expressing anger at the fact that
inhabitants are being displaced so that the city can redevelop the area for
upmarket accommodation:
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| Street in Le Panier, Marseille, looking toward the bell tower of the Accoules Church. Photo Ann Barrie |
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| Le Panier is angry. Photo Ann Barrie 2019 |
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| Le Paniers. Laundry line above Notre-Dame de la Garde. Ann Barrie 2019 |
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| Le Paniers street art. Photo Ann Barrie 2019 |
I wanted to take Dominique out for a meal in the Panier quarter. We spotted a small place, not overrun with tourists, and the menu du jour looked tempting to me; but Dominique, having classical tastes, could not countenance the idea of rabbit bouillabaisse – it was not correct. We decided to
investigate other restaurants, but after discounting these, agreed to return to
the 'rabbit bouillabaisse place', and Dominique would avoid the menu du jour. We
hadn’t noted the name of the restaurant, and we wandered fruitlessly through
the maze of little streets before asking a group of young locals; they
consulted their smartphones and worked out that it was Marafiki in rue du Refuge:
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| Ann Barrie with Dominique at Marafiki restaurant, Marseille, June 2019 |
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| Marafiki restaurant, Marseille, June 2019 |
Marifiki ('friendship' in Swahili) is run by
an African family. The ‘bouillabaisse’ was tongue in cheek – the dish was an
excellent rabbit ragout; and Dominique had seafood with rice:
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| Marafiki restaurant, Marseille, June 2019. Photo Ann |
We had just finished
eating these dishes when the mischievous mistral arrived; or perhaps it was a
different wind, because it departed after 20 minutes – we were relieved, as we’d
planned on an afternoon at the beach. We enjoyed our dessert, which was in
keeping with the restaurant’s tropical theme: beignets incorporating banana and
coconut, and with a creamy chocolate filling:
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| Marafiki restaurant, Marseille, June 2019. Photo Ann |
We walked down more little streets. Dominique
photographed me in front of this phosphorescent bougainvillea; a
wandering minstrel had just walked past playing sweet music, but he was not for capturing.
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| Bougainvillea in Marseille, June 2019 Ann Barrie |
Dominique was
curious about the interior of the Marseille Intercontinental Hotel, which is
in the stately 18th century Hotel Dieu, and so we boldly walked in.
Prices vary depending on time of year, but in September the least expensive
room would be about €245. This photo is taken looking out from the lobby.
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| View from lobby of Marseille Intercontinental Hotel. Ann Barrie |
*
At Vieux Port we took the navire Maritime to L'Estaque. It is also possible to do this trip by bus, but the half-hour boat trip is much more scenic with wonderful views of MuCEM, and interesting manoeuvring through other craft. Swimming at l'Estaque brought back memories of Malta** – getting changed on the beach, wading out, people in close proximity.
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| Ann Barrie on the beach at L'Estaque, Marseille. June 2019 |
I was nervous about the
two of us leaving our small backpacks on the beach as we bathed, but Dominique
showed me how to wrap my towel around mine neatly; there was also a patrol tower
nearby. The water at 5.30 pm was about 20 degrees; Dominique said this was a
little cool, but I assured her that living as I do on Wellington’s rugged South
Coast, I am accustomed to much colder. The boats have not yet switched to their Summer timetable,
and we caught the last one back at 7.00 pm. As we approached Le vieux port, we heard the most
beautiful music. It was a young man playing his keyboard by ear (par cœur) underneath the huge, stainless
steel, mirrored sun canopy that the City of Marseille built to accommodate not only
musicians but local fishmongers; these, however, prefer to sell
their catch beside their boats.
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| Musician under the mirrored sun canopy, Vieux Port, Marseille, June 2019. Photo Ann Barrie |
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