Marseille / Les Calanques (Sept 8-9, 2025)

Some city, some mountain, some country… time for some beach! With limited time, Nice / Cannes would have been too far; Les Calanques are about an hour from Marseille via public transit.

Les Calanques are a two for one deal - go for a hike and then for a swim. The hike to beach ratio however was greater than I expected. It was about an hour hike from the bus stop and some of the rocks were a bit slippery in regular shoes. But great views in and out of the water!

After swimming in fresh water all summer, I forgot how salty the ocean / sea can be. Best part was that you could watch fish swim around, just a few strokes out from the shore! There were dozens of types - tiny ones smaller than your pinky and larger ones that would fill up a dinner plate; white with a black band, striped, silvery, black and yellow, or just plain yellow; elongated or more diamond shaped. My favorite was watching a pair of small fish feeding at the bottom of - a brown / white striped catfish looking one would kick up the sand with its mouth / whiskers and then a flat sand colored one would follow suit; the two would always move together as a pair! Wish I had a GoPro lol. Swimming over the reef just off the shore was almost scary. I’ve never been this close to wildlife in the sea and I was afraid to disturb something sacred.

The city of Marseille itself also has a distinct vibe. 

The drivers are more aggressive and the French almost has an Italian inflection to my untrained ears - both of which reminded me of Milan. The people come from all walks of life - there’s the big fancy cars (spotted a self driving Renault) / speedy fancy bikes and shopping district of La Joliette but there’s also the smell of trash / sewage and Marseille’s “rugged” reputation. There’s some really cheap food (sandwich for 5 euro) and the 60 euro bouillabaisse, hinting at some of the divides in this city. We experienced both sides in our time here.

On the first night, we wandered through the more touristy areas.

We stumbled upon the Cathedrale le Major had a cool “Orientale” (near East) flair.

We strolled through Le Panier - the historic city center. Here I overheard a tour guide bemoaning gentrification and rising prices.

We had dinner in the old port with a view of the sea, sailboats, and forts. 

At Chez Madie we had:

1. Toast with anchovy (?) mayo - mayo had the flavor of fresh (not canned) fish! Rich and complex!

2. Les artichauts en barigoule - very tender artichoke hearts, cooked with carrots, whole lemons, garlic and olive oil. All the flavors complement the artichoke flavor!

3. Bouillabaise - served in two courses. First soup with crostini lathered with garlic mayo and relatively mild cheese (similar to fontina maybe). Second with the fish itself. Broth had sweet flavor of leeks, onions, tomatoes, and fish. Fish was a bit overcooked at this particular restaurant. Nice experience but a bit of a rip off here imo.

4. Les pieds et paquets - lamb feet and intestine. MY FAVORITE!! So flavorful and concentrated. Besides the lamb, also had slight smokey flavor from bacon, carrots, potatoes, and amazing French garlic! Feet had a fun jelly texture (like chicken feet) and intestine was chewier but also more flavorful!

The next morning, we experienced some of Marseille’s other side. We walked around Noailles which is rich in its immigrants from North Africa and the Near East. It was cool to see products we didn't see in other parts of France (several types of bread alongside baguettes, several types of harissa, buckets of soap, etc.)

Many types of bread - Spanish and Italian white bread, Moroccan semoule, rounded Couronne, braided Fleur alongside baguettes

Cool salts in a spice shop

A few types of harissa

Soap! They also sold them like this when my mom was growing up

Nevertheless, there also seemed to be pent up anger and antagonism in people's eyes, even if I couldn’t understand what they were saying to me. The eyes of owners in shops with better business were softer, but you could feel that not everyone makes it out here. There was also palpable anti-Asian racism, which ranged from curiosity (guy selling us grapes pointed at the eyes and asked where we were from) to straight up aggression (guy lunged and yelled at us, only word I caught was chine). Perhaps this was also mixed in with some sexism in the male dominated culture of this area.

When I travel, I insist on at least attempting to understand the people who live there. To only see the touristy side would be a disservice to the place and its people. Here in Marseille, the root of the tensions might also be intertwined with its amazing cultural richness.

We finished with a delicious Tunisian lunch at Restaurant Le Jasmin:

1. mechouia - like baba ganoush but with other roasted veg (tomato pepper eggplant) and topped with tuna, egg, olives. In this case, pretty garlicky (raw) but the tuna tempered the raw garlic pretty well

2. ojja merguez - like shakshuka except sauce has harissa, making it smokier and more spiced. Depth of sauce worked really well with perfectly poached eggs and also olives + raw red onions. Merguez sausage were a bit too salty though

3. kefteji - sautéed vegetables (peppers and idk what else, maybe zucchini) lightly enveloped in egg, sweet and soft, not watery at all like usual sautéed veg! Served with grilled chicken breast, fried egg, fries, olives, raw red onions. Chicken was pretty tender, great with a squeeze of lemon.

4. green tea with fresh mint - a bit too sweet before the meal, but perfect palate cleanser after

5. kaber elouz - ball of ground almonds, held together with sugar syrup with a touch of rose water (almond + rose water is almost citrusy)

Stomach full and heart happy, we set off to continue our journey around the Provence region.