Dirty and smelly but intruiging (Marseille)

Member Name: GlaswegianAbroad

Product:	Marseille
Date:	13/09/08 (334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great weather, decent food, nice people

Disadvantages: Filthy, smelly, expensive

Marseille is a dirty, smelly city. You can't argue with that. There is graffiti everywhere and the place looks really run down. Almost no matter what town you live in and what you think of it, Marseille will have you returning to it, feeling proud of your clean-looking city.

On the way in from the airport on the bus you see graffiti everywhere and some really dilapidated buildings with washing hanging out of windows. You arrive in the city centre to realise it's just the same there.

Only small parts of the Vieux Port and La Canabiere look relatively clean. It's hugely busy and noisy on the main streets too and drivers don't care much for pedestrian crossings and people on scooters ride all over the pavement acting as if you are in their way!

However, it does have a certain character, and as someone who comes from Glasgow, I'm used to appreciating a city which has parts that don't look too great but which have a certain 'je ne sais quoi'. Though Glasgow, Marseille's twin town, really is the better looking of the two and, with the exception of Glasgow's very own 'racaille', the people are much friendlier.

Of course, it also helps when you know a city and the people and places to be wary of. Marseille has a bad reputation for crime but on my visit I didn't have any problems. We did get bothered by a couple of beggars - the most annoying was a German, or at least someone pretending to be German, with a weird American accent begging for change at the train station at Aubagne (the equivalent of a Glasgow junkie's request for 10p for the bus).

Again, coming from Glasgow I'm not particularly fearful of walking about at night (anyone who's happy walking down Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night wouldn't be fazed) but you would want to be careful. Looking confident and knowing where you're going helps, as does not carrying any obvious valuables (cameras etc). There was a pretty good police presence when we were there, even at night, and they seemed to enjoy ticketing all the illegally parked cars along the Rive Neuve.

There's not a huge amount to see in Marseille - Chateau d'If, the Calanques, Notre Dame de la Garde and the Palais Longchamp are the highlights - so a weekend would suffice.

Forget the museums: they are pretty dull and have virtually no signs in English so without excellent French you're lost. And before buying a City Pass ticket, check which attractions are actually open. We went in June and bought a two-day pass, which gets you into most of the attractions (boat and entrance to Chateau d'If, Longchamp, etc) and unlimited public transport, but lots of the places weren't open which devalued it somewhat. Though if you use public transport a lot it's still worth it. That said, it seems like a very easy ticketing system to defraud and seemingly most Marseillaise manage to skip fares.

The people themselves are friendly enough though not particularly talkative (but that's just the French - if you fail to attempt to communicate with them in their own tongue, they won't bother helping you). So some French is very useful as they appreciate it and warm to you if talk a little of the lingo.

On the whole, once I'd grown accustomed to the grottiness of the city, the crazy moped pavement driving and the relatively expensive food and drink (stick to wine, it's the only alcoholic drink that's cheaper than the UK - vodka is extortionate), I enjoyed my week in Marseille, just sitting about eating and drinking in the sun watching the world go by.

The beaches are no great shakes, fine pebbles rather than sand, and there was a strong wind when we went.

If getting a taxi back to the airport, make sure to agree a price in advance and ask the hotel for a decent company. The fare seemed pretty high to me.

It's a decent base for visiting Aix-en-Provence and Cassis (a beautiful little port a short distance from Marseille) but after one visit, it probably won't be high up on your list of places to return to in a hurry, but it's certainly an experience.

Summary: Not your average picture postcard destination but deserves to be seen.