Marseille France
March 1st, 2009
African Mask in the Marseille Museum
I spent seven months in Marseille learning to speak French. Not sure if I suceeded but my French friends say “he can communicate” even if the process is painful for everyone involved.
I lived in the seedy port city of Marseille on the southern coast. First up English speakers it ends in an “A” sound as in Hay. Stop making it plural!
Marseille is kind of it’s own little world. I can say that I lived surrounded by France but I am not sure I can say I actually lived there.
Marseille is the gateway city for immigrants of France’s colonial past. Many have come home to roost. In the not to distant past Algeria used to be department of France. They have this bizarre system that does not require contiguous geography to be part of the country. Hence the trivia question “whats the largest country bordering France”? The answer is Brasil. They call it the DOM-TOM and if your really interested look it up.
In any event things did not go so well in Algeria and one day they up and booted about a million French people out. These Pied Noir or “black shoes” all showed up in Marseille and dramatically changed city. The story “at least one side of it” can be found here:
Add to this the fact that Marseille predates the Roman Empire and the formation of France by centuries. Then there is the pesky little issue of periodic rebellion. Bottom line, Marseille is somewhere between France and Northern Africa and in my opinion it takes great strength from both.
I lived next to the Vieux Port. Its the old part of the city bordering the Panier or “bread basket” which is the longest continually inhabited quarter of the city. Apparently Greek sailors showed up around 600 BC and set up shop with the locals. Despite the region being inhabited continuously for over 30,000 years, apparently being Greek gets you the distinction of discovering things. Kind of the whole Columbus thing all over again….I digress.
Vieux Port
It took me a few weeks to get settled in the city and by settled I mean connected to my high speed internet connection. I spent the first two weeks working out of a North African internet shop. The owners where some of the nicest people I met and happily let me install my internet phone and computer gear each day. Sometimes doing business calls over the howls of teenage gamers can be a challenge, but they made great tea.
Most of Europe is a afraid of Marseille. Other than the occasional annoying pickpocket I found it to be a quite safe city. There is one scam I ran into my first day where a teenager will ask you for a cigarette. When he hears the accent is foreign they start talking about Futeball (Soccer) and then they do this thing where they pretend to be trying to kick a ball around you. This is to distract you from the attempt to pick your pocket. I had this attempted on the main street my first night and quickly found myself in danger of beating a screaming 15 year old to death. Fortunately my wallet and his dignity both survived the experience more or less intact. Later when I would have this attempted again I would simply tell them in French “come on I live here wait for the tourists!”
I finally got into a french class, run by some very friendly local entrepreneurs, called Destination Langue. The leader was a guy named Lionel. A delightful human being and a pleasure to know. I will be eternally grateful for his introducing me to the pleasure of Pétanque and Pastis. Few things made me feel more Provencal than getting liquored up on Pastis and arguing over position in Pétanque.
Lionel the best French instructor/Pétanque player
In the summer we would go on trips around the area including the very famous Calanques in nearby Cassis. These are small canyons formed by erosion that extend the sea inland forming beautiful natural inlets.
Calanques
Waterfront Cassis
Coast of Marseille Bridge
Cassis
French love for british engineering
I took several french courses over the seven months. My classes contained a mixture of peoples from all over the world. We had Russian, Spanish, Canadian, Swedish, Zaire, and Chinese students in my class. In general a really nice bunch of people, many of which I became friends.
My French class
One of the great things about living on the Mediterranean is the food. I happened to live next to a famous market known as Noille. Its primarily run by North Africans. Every day I would go there to shop for fresh vegetables, bread, cheese and other delicacies. Its two long streets with open stalls spilling onto the street. I loved going there to try new things and to enjoy the atmosphere.
Spices in Noille
I of course fell in love with French wine. While Marseille is expensive in general the small store across the street from my apartment had fantastic red wine from Bordeux for 3 euros. While there I signed up for couchsurfing.com. Little did I realize how this would change my life. Couchsurfing is a social network where people offer other travelers a place to stay. There is no money involved. You generally host people and share a meal or a few days of hospitality. This has grown in popularity and now nearly every city in Europe and the States has a local chapter. Aside from the visitors, the local members tend to get together for dinners and social activities. In Marseille there where about 80 active members and hardly a week would go by that we did not have some gathering. Monthly we would go to the beach and sit drinking wine till the wee hours of the morning. I met some fantastic people and I hosted about 25 travelers in my tiny apartment.
A quick word on my apartment. I was in a hurry to get a place to live and work and I had a general idea of the location I needed so I took my apartment very quickly. It is located across the street from the Marseille Opera. During the day its a quite pleasant street just 50 meters from the harbor. What I did not realize is that in the evening the two cross streets immediately adjacent to my apartment are the zoned for “night Cafes”. While not out and obvious brothels, they all have scantily clad young ladies, calling you to join them for a drink and private dance. In the immediate 100 meters from my apartment there where 12 of these. On any given night I would have the drunk night crowd, from the disco’s and bars, show up for one last chance at a paradise till six or seven each morning.
I have to give credit to my couchsurfing guests who wedged themselves into my 80 Meter square apartment and listened to pseudo-prostitutes negotiate with the summer tourism crowd.
Couchsurfing Brasilera
My Couchsurfing friend Emeline
late night couchsurfing friends at after hours bars
Some of the people I met became more than couchsurfing friends and are now part of my extended global family. These are people who will appear in my future rambling and whom I will go out of my way to keep as part of my life.
I am thankful to couchsurfing for bringing them to me and have to say that without it France would not have been half the pleasure.
My homies
Body Paint with Liko
I made one close friend from my language class. A Canadian who had family living in Marseille. She ran off to Paris to fall in love, but prior we enjoyed a lot of nice chats over too much wine and good food. She is pictured below on the main east/west road of Marseille “Rue de Rome”.
Marcella a cool Canuck
Marseille has a couple of beautiful local buildings. There is a huge hill in the center of the city with the gorgeous Notre Dame del le Garde Cathedral. Once you figured out Notre Dame means “our lady” you start to notice that they are all over not just in Paris. This cathedral is dedicated to the sailors and the interior and exterior are all fishing motifs. Very nice and a lovrly view. Here I am touring with some friends.
Hospice Charite in the Panier
The Fantastic Four
Maritime Cross
Marseille has a loverly coast dotted with small islands. The most famous is Chateau D’if that Alexander Dumas made famous in the Count of Monte Christo. You can see it here in the distance.
Marseille Harbor
Not as famous but deffinately cooler to explore is Isle Friol. A fifteen minute boat ride across the harbor. It is littered with old forts hailing from World War II. This picture here is the remains of a turret mounted to the ancient fort to protect the harbor.
WWII Ruins Friol D’if
France is hard to put in perspective. Its old and its new. Its irritating and its amazing. Its pretty much whatever you make it. As an old world city it can stand by and care less what you think, then magically it reaches out and embraces you and makes you feel your the only first to experienced its beauty.
I fell in love with warm summer evenings on the old port drinking wine and talking with friends. I left feeling just a little more sophisticated than I arrived and at the same time a little humbler.
Like any good wine I it gets better with time and once you see beyond the petty annoyances its all love. In my final night we played some poker with close friends. Late in the evening I was dealt the first natural Royal Flush I have received in my life. Like falling in love with Marseille I caught it on the river.
Royal Flush
