La Marseille merveilleuse

Marseille has an image problem. It has a reputation for crime, decay, hooliganism and radical Islam. Apparently much of that was valid within easy living memory, but cities, like people, change. The Marseille of today, while not bursting with prosperity, is lively and rapidly evolving. EU funds started pouring into the city when it was picked to be the European City of Culture in 2013. The city drastically spruced up its old port, bringing many derelict period buildings back into use, and removed a lot of post-war car-centric infrastructure to return the city centre to the public realm.

There is a noticeable Muslim population, but anyone coming from London wouldn't bat an eyelid, and it's certainly not the califat-sur-mer of the rightwing press. True, we didn't venture deep into the banlieues, and Marseille has some of the poorest districts in France, but there is no sense at all of a city under siege. In fact, it felt like a city on the edge of a boom.  There is a lot of youthful, artistic energy in the streets of Marseille, far from the corporate pressures of the capital, and the Cours Julien has to be one of the hippest neighbourhoods in Europe right now. There is a mix of grandeur and edginess, and layers of history visible on its streets - I liked it immensely. 

As Marseille will find itself in the spotlight as the host of the sailing events in this Summer's Paris Olympics, I expect many others will come to like Marseille immensely in the years ahead. Glad we got a glimpse now.



The streets around the Vieux-Port: scrubbed up, but not sterile.

Le Panier has a distinctly Valparaiso feel to it.

Marseille has some of the loveliest streets you will find anywhere.



Vieux-Port, the heart of the city.



The Nazis demolished most of the old centre of Marseille towards the end of WWII, and while its redevelopment couldn't be said to have been sensitively done by today's standards, it is far from the worst examples in Europe (see: Birmingham, Bristol).



The stunning Mucem (Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean) sits at the mouth of the Vieux-Port.



After WWII, the Vieux-Port was hemmed in by an eight-lane stroad that choked the life out of it. The quaysides are now walkable and filled with commerce, art and people, both frenetic and at rest.



Cours Julien, très branché



We took a tour of La Cité Radieuse, the development that kicked off the brutalist modernist movement.



Sunkissed Marseille is nestled between the sea and the hills - something for everyone.



Haussmann of Paris Boulevard fame played a hand in the design of modern Marseille as well.

Vallon des Auffes - if it were in Porto, you wouldn't be able to see it for all the Instagrammers. Sometimes a questionable reputation is a city's best asset.


Shaun H. Coley ~ Archway ~ Islington ~ London N19 ~ UK ~ shaunism.blogspot.com