bmibaby inflight magazine - yeah baby: october / november 2007

bmibaby inflight magazine - yeah baby: october / november 2007   the top 10 things to do in marseilles with its historic monuments, chic boutiques and cosmopolitan nightlife, you’ll find it hard to resist marseilles’ rugged charm by anthony peregrine marseilles supplies the big-city beat to the sweet-smelling south of france. it’s got the sun, the sea and the delicious cuisine – but it also boasts a boisterous charm that comes from being the country’s largest port. lately, the place has been getting all respectable, decking itself out with culture and smart urban projects. its heart, though, remains rooted in soccer, music, comedy, and shadows deep enough for all sorts of skulduggery; a place where you could never get bored. read on for our guide to the top ten things to do if you’re a first-timer… 1 vieux port bustling vieux port (above) is the focal point of city life. this is where its inhabitants come to eat, drink, celebrate – and where they buy their fish. now essentially a pleasure port (commercial traffic moved out in the 19th century), it’s filled with fishing boats and small sailboats, and surrounded by small streets teeming with bars and restaurants – hip folk head for le cristal or la caravelle on the northern side. the morning fish market on the quai des belges still features fat ladies filleting sea bass. and, from there, the city surges off in all directions, but mainly up la canebière, the city’s main street and a great starting point for exploring marseilles. 2 le panier on the north side of the port, steep little streets and stairways wind up the hill in marseille’s old quarter, le panier, first settled by the greeks. subsequently, this district has welcomed waves of immigrants off the boats. remember the french connection? it happened here, and still could, despite efforts to gentrify this area. it’s packed with cafes, restaurants and an abundance of architectural charm. 3 prado beaches this is where marseilles does its riviera thing. the beaches are mainly artificial, but they’re still better than those at st-tropez. and they offer every beach activity known to man. behind, there’s parkland and the escale borély, a nest of restaurants, bars and cool clubs. 4 château-d’if it’s a 25-minute ferry ride from vieux port to this prison island, the forerunner to alcatraz and immortalised in alexandre dumas’ the count of monte cristo. you can visit the cell of the self-styled count and see the hole through which he escaped – quite an achievement, given that he was an entirely fictional character! but there was no such reprieve for the thousands of protestants who were banged up on the seven-acre island during france’s religious strife. another real prisoner was a monsieur de niozelles, who was condemned to six years in solitary for not taking his hat off in front of louis xiv. 5 les calanques just past the beaches and you’re into a wild world of rugged headlands, scrub vegetation and white cliffs plunging to the blue sea. the calanques (‘creeks’) are about as elemental and dramatic as the med coastline gets – and they’re still within marseilles’ city limits. along the way you’ll stumble across charming ancient fishing ports such as les goudes and cassis. don’t miss! 6 la corniche leave the vieux port and head south towards the sea, and on the rue de l’abbaye you’ll find the fifth-century abbaye de saint-victor. nearby is the 17th-century fort saint-nicholas, built not to defend marseilles, but to keep its unruly populace in order! then you’re onto the corniche kennedy, a road that traces the rocky coastline. you can bus it, but it’s worth the walk for the little catalan beach and the bars and restaurants. stop at pretty vallon des auffes, now engulfed by the city, but still looking like a fishing village; and malmousque – another village area with access to a coastal walk and tiny coves where no one else goes. 7 musée grobet-labadié if you’re feeling highbrow, nip up la canebière, the main street, off into boulevard longchamp to the musée grobet-labadié (www.framemuseums.org) – testimony to just how rich some of the city’s inhabitants became during trade-boom years of the 1800s. a former private house, its suite of salons is still stunningly decorated and hung with an eclectic art collection. minimalism, you will gather, wasn’t their obsession. 8 stade vélodrome marseilles is the only truly football-mad city in france (even champions lyon only play at it compared to, say, liverpool or manchester). and the 60,000-capacity stadium, on boulevard michelet, is the olympique de marseilles temple (www.. om.net). renewed for the 1998 world cup, it’s hosted a handful of football heroes – jean tigana, basil boli, jean-pierre papin, laurent blanc (above), plus our very own chris waddle – as well as being imbroiled in a clutch of scandals, not least the great match-fixing scam of the early 1990s. a stirring visit, then – and open daily during the summer holidays. 9 rue saint-ferréol bang in the centre, this street is marseilles’ shopping hub. brand names and designer outlets then spread onto the nearby rue de rome and rue paradis. marseille’s couturiers hide out on the tiny rue de la tour, where manon martin has a chic hat for every woman’s head. meanwhile, a couple of streets away, the capucins district is colonised by the city’s liveliest market – although it’s more souk than market. the entire district throbs with stalls, open-fronted emporia, figs, spices, halal butchers, rai music blasting out of cafés and old arab chaps selling black-market fags. 10 notre-dame de la garde around 530ft up la garde, marseilles’ highest hill, the city’s landmark church is visible across much of the city and from miles out at sea. the best views are reserved for the huge 33ft-high, gold madonna atop the tower. the basilica itself consists of crypt and upper sanctuary, and is packed with domes, mosaics, marble and multi-coloured stone.     yeahbaby home issues archives destinations kids contact bmibaby home © copyright ink 2006. all rights reserved.

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