Meet friends in Marseille? or another suggestion for a weekend
 

My husband and I have to travel from Paris to Grenoble for a conference on a Monday in March, and our North American friends will be in the south of Italy for the month of March. We're trying to see if there's a convenient place where we could meet for the weekend in France before we head to Grenoble.

The restrictions: a) We're travelling by train for this trip: Paris - ? - Grenoble - Paris. b) Assume that our friends are on the southwest coast of Italy, and could fly out of Rome. They want to fly, not take the train.

The options so far: Nice - good for them, too long a trip for us on the train (5+ hours Paris-Nice and Nice-Grenoble). Lyon - very convenient for all of us, but do we really want to go to Lyon in March, instead of catching a bit of warmer weather, or mountains? Marseille - easy and quick for all of us to get to, but what is Marseille like? Avignon/Aix-en-Provence is a short train ride from Marseille if our friends fly Rome-Marseille (direct from Paris for us), but our friends would be hopping on and off a lot of vehicles (e.g. coast in Italy-Rome-Marseille airport-Marseille train station-Avignon/Aix on Provence).

So Marseille is logistically the most desirable option I've found so far, but would it be fun for a weekend? All four of us like food, lively cities, some scenery. Some sun would be nice, even if it's not hot. Some of us like jazz. My husband loves mountains, but wants to climb them, not ski down them and none of are into skiing. We know that Marseille is rather gritty, but is it gritty in a funky, interesting way, or just gritty?

Try this article from New York Times last summer. http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/08/1...26&ei=5070

If the link doesn't work, search www.newyorktimes.com under the travel section. It sounds like fun to me!

I hear Marseille is one of the most underrated destination on the French Mediterranean. I plan to go myself this October.

Like Genoa, it's got a bad rep because it's an industrial port town, and therefore is not a sun-and-swim-sailboat picture postcard town. Also, it has a considerable non-French immigrant population, and some people just don't expect it or like it.

But I hear the food is fantastic, the historic center has many points of interest and that it is serious place for contemporary art. Like most seaport towns, it is a bit wilder than Monaco, but sounds like it might be perfect for you.

kate,

just wondering if you spent that weekend in marseille in march. we're thinking of a short stay there in march '07. would be interested in knowing about the weather, as well as how one gets around the city sans car.

thanks-

I visited Marseille (after hesitating for so long) in 2004, and have been back for 6 times since then. The direct TGV train Geneva-Marseille of 3.5 hrs helps. I like the Vieux-Port area and the Notre Dame de la Garde area but especially am hooked with hiking on the Calanques. Do image Google search with Calanques, Sugiton, Morgiou, En-Vau (is closer from Cassis). They are not very difficult, esp. for your mountain climbing husband that's easy and yet, you can have such gorgeous scenery.

When I'm in Marseille, I do everything with city bus and occasionally with Metro, including when I get to the starting points to hike to calanques. They have been reliable (well strike can happen though. Never met myself.), clean and cheap (€1,60 per single ride disregarding the distance). You can buy multiple tickets at Metro stations. They are good both for bus and metro. On the bus you can buy only single ones.

As to weather, it is farily fine all through the year. I would not hesitate go in March. However, in winter mainly, I think, you have to be careful with mistral that blows so hard occasionally. Take a look at the photos on the following link. I took them in December 2005 before Christmas. So sunny but the white smoke you see above water is actually sea wave blown away by the mistral. It was blowing so hard, often I could not even hold my camera stable.

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...%20Dec%202005/

For any of you that are interested - Marseille has just begun to offer a "City Pass" for visitors.
It offers the tourist train, visit to the Basilica Notre-Dame de la Garde, the navette and a visit to Château d'If as well as entrance to all museums. It costs 18€ a day or 25€ for two days... which is a pretty good deal.

Patricia

> It offers the tourist train, visit to the Basilica Notre-Dame de la Garde, the navette and a visit to Château d'If as well as entrance to all museums. It costs 18€ a day or 25€ for two days... which is a pretty good deal.

I don't remember having paid to visit Notre-Dame. Maybe there is a restricted area such as crypt that needs admission fee? If the pass includes the boat ride (navette = shuttle) to If Island and not only the entrance to the château, maybe it's not a bad deal (the return boat fare already costs about €11) although I like Frioul better. Much more to explore. Can we take the boat to Frioul with that pass too? If you do all (boat, white tourist train, museums) you may get better than even. Or much better?

I thought it sounded like a good deal since it includes the boat ride and entrance to all the museums. I honestly don't know if it includes Frioul... I just read about it in the local paper this morning at our village café and jotted some quick notes.
Patricia

I have checked on the Marseille Tourist Office site. Ok, the pass entitles you unlimited rides (within 1 or 2day according to the pass) on city bus and metro.

kappa,

Thanks... I'll add that to my notes. I was going to check with the tourist office, but you saved me the call !

Patricia

I had a great time in Marseille in February of this year. I had excellent weather with no mistral. Low 70sF afternoons then high 50sF at night. It was perfect for me for lots of walking.

I saw several small, nice museums. One group of 3 or 4 was in an old cloister with a round church in the middle just north of the old port. In the shopping mall basement is a fascinating archeological museum. There's a fashion museum that has special exhibits that run for several months. I saw an exhibit of coats from the 50's up to the 90's.

I had some amazing food. It was difficult for me to sample the famed local dish bouillabaisse though. It seemed most places it was served for two with about a 70euro price tag. I was traveling solo. That's way, way too much food and too expensive. I did find a few places that had servings for one.

I took the 30 minute boat ride out to Frioul. It was a Monday so Chateau d'If was closed. Frioul was very pretty to walk around. I found a few little pebbly coves for wading and watched the birds. In Feb. the ferry service was limited and most of the shops and restaurants were closed. I assume more would be open on a weekend. Several French people took the ferry out, ate lunch on a nice patio, then ferried back.

The Notre Dame de la Garde church was closed for extensive renovations. The crypt underneath was free to view. Maybe the crypt ordinarily charges when the church is open? I'm not sure when the renovation is slated to end.

Also closed was the Fine Arts Museum. The fountains were running out front at the time but the building is being renovated.

Glad to hear it paid off. I look forward to a visit Marseilles someday -- and I'll remember to take a friend to split the bouillabaise!