Marseille - Palermo's french Twin

Tobias Heller
10. Feb. 2017
4 Min. Lesezeit

Marseille, someone tells me, is the french twin of Palermo. I cannot imagine it is, but in the following days I will find out if I have the same feeling about that. From Nice I move along the Cote d'Azur to one of the most important european harbor cities and the second largest city in France following Paris.

Harbor & Seaside

The Seaside of Marseille - Chillout Times

I arrive in Marseille's train station. Once more I was able to find a couch surfing host, and I am happy to stay with a local and not in any cheesy hostel, where I often mainly encounter youngsters that go out constantly to party. I grew out of that age meanwhile I think, going out for a party would render me incapable of moving for the whole day. To arrive at Sephora's apartment I have to cross a long distance of the city, as always I refuse to take a bus - why should I undergo the stress of finding the appropriate line and waiting for the next bus, surely crowded with people at that time, while I can also walk and already get an idea of the city? After about 45 minutes I finally arrive at the sought-after place, which is located slightly off-center near the coast. Sephora and me have a connection right from the start, we start walking along the coast together, looking around one of the small harbors there and strolling upwards to a little park with green spaces, enjoying chats and good talks while relishing the nice sunny day and the gorgeous view along the Cote d'Azur.

Churches & Museums

Basic Sightseeing on a flying Vespa

Sephora is turns out to be great host, once more I have been lucky to be hosted by such a lovable person with a constant good mood and positive attitude. Luckily as it is a weekend, she has time to spare and offers to go on a sightseeing tour with her little scooter, which indeeds simplifies getting around here a lot, as the outstretches of Marseille are immense. I cling tightly to the iron handle that is attached to the backside of the scooter as we shoot through Marseilles streets, initially feeling uncomfortable as always when I am supposed to sit on a scooter whilst another person is driving, but my tensed muscles start to relax moreover soon. Our first spot is the Cathedral of Marseille and the area around.

We stop at the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, which is in a park with a large fountain and precious statues, the cascade basins albeit are non functional at the moment, no water is falling down and the dried out overgrowth with moss and other residues gives the thing a slightly sad appearance today. We walk up the stairs anyways and look into the park that starts from the upper platform into the south.

Art & Curiosities

Artistic Overflow - Scrawl & Graffiti

Later we go to the city center once more in order to fetch a drink together, thereby looking at a fantastic artistic area in Marseille, which I love a lot. The area contains a lot of bars, pubs and clubs, and is remarkable for it's various paintings and graffitis on all of the walls, doors and even shutters. There seems not a single building that seems to be safe from the flood of color that sweeps through the contorted streets. Astonishingly this is not only random scrawls that have been applied on the walls in an unprofessional and kinky kind of way, on the contrary great graffitis and artworks are displayed. Different artists have proven their talent here, some of the drawings showing well done portraits with subtle color graduations, others are more iconic figures or have a pop-art poster print style but then you also find non-realistic graphic arrays of patterns around the next corner. Colors here don't restrain themselves from occupying every surface and blend in completely with their surrounding. These are non of the streets that are cleanly constructed, trying to unravel confusion by organizing the cities structure, quite the reverse is the case: it only adds to the chaos, and this is - undoubtedly - why I like this area the most.

Churches & Viewpoints

Notre-Dame de Marseill - Vespa Cruise

How overly practical it is that Sephora has her scooter to go around in this city reveals itself once more when we decide to pay Notre-Dame de Marseille a visit. This church is located on top of an outstanding hill located prominently in the outstretches of Marseille. We go steep uphill, and I hope the small vespa is going to endure both our weights and the abruptness of the ascend. But we manage well and soon find ourselves on a wonderful viewpoint from which a great share of Marseille can be seen. The location of the the church is quite spectacular, surpassing any other building's height around.

Art & Curiosities

Alternative Space - Explore Mode On

Sephoras scooter rushes through waiting cars along the road, and she bends deep sideways into a curve and sprints up another street. We squeak around the corner off a long building that looks similar to a warehouse and once she stops I know we arrived at the place she wanted to show me. The alternative area is not the most likely to be read about in the tourist guides, but that makes the area a far more precious hidden secret. Local kids are gathered together here, doing flips and jumps with their skateboards around the terrain located next to the rails that lead into the nearby train station. Walls, pipelines, stairs and everything alike is covered with graffitis and scribbles. We take the stairs upwards, watching the kids doing some pretty advanced tricks while doing so and find a larger platform upstairs, with an urban shared gardening area, playgrounds and wooden beach chairs, where we lie down and put our feet up, enjoying the secrecy of the place.