I'd flown into Provence via the Marseille airport, but had never actually been to Marseille itself. It was a scary thought, driving to a city, but I picked out a parking station, set the GPS and I was off. I'm not going to lie, I thought I had picked a station outside of the main city but it turned out not to be and the drive there was pretty horrific, made worse by the fact that there were roadworks everywhere. But I took my time and made it there, dropped the car off, and went to explore.
Marseille is a pretty big city, and it's broken up into different parts. Where I'd parked was the modern section, but I should have parked closer to the 2nd Arrondissment, which was the old town, also known as La Panier. I didn't know this at the time though, so I walked along Quai du Port along the front of the ocean port, before spotting a path up to the right leading up the hill to Le Panier.
The first thing I noticed in Marseille old town was that all the streets were really narrow. It actually felt a lot like stepping into history, as the area seemed untouched by modernism and not at all like an area within a city the size of Marseille. It was awesome. The second thing I noticed there was that there was a LOT of street art around which gave it a cool, arty vibe. It was really hilly, so there was also a lot of walking up and down, but the whole area was so nice.
I bought a sandwich from a cafe in the area, and sat on a bench to eat it, then walked to the Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille or Marseille Cathedral down on the waterfront. Unfortunately, as seems to be my lot in life, the cathedral was undergoing restoration work and was covered in scaffolding. So I only have pictures from the outside where the scaffolding wasn't showing (which wasn't too many places!). The inside of the cathedral was, however, really lovely, with lots of decoration... and we all know I am a sucker for decorated churches.
I walked around the harbour area for a bit, but it was an odd area, as it was right next to a really busy road, and there were a lot of tourists around there as that's where the cruise ships drop off their thousands of passengers. The area was also home to the modern MuCEM building (or the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean) and the 17th century Tour du Fanal, pictured below.
I walked back to the new town area, stopped into Starbucks to get a much-needed cup of tea, then went to find my car. I could have spent a lot longer in Marseille, but the 1 hour drive back to Arles made me want to leave before peak hour. I think Marseille gets a bit of a bad rap, but I certainly would go back, if only to spend more time in Le Panier!
That evening, I made dinner in my apartment, then grabbed my camera and went out to take some photos of the sunset. Arles truly is a beautiful place.
