Near Marseille
 

I will be in Marseille in 2 weeks and have a few questions:

As an art lover I have always wanted to go to l'Estaque so finally can go. Other than the Fondation Monticelli does anyone have recommendations? Are there some beautiful places/views/beaches? Other art related places?

Re beaches, would you recommend Pointe Rouge or Les Goudes - or is it fun to go to one and then the other since they are both on the boat line! I prefer sand beaches but dislike tacky beach atmosphere.

Isn't that just a very small museum that only has a few exhibitions a year? I guess it is a good view to the sea.

I cannot around there, but the Beaux Arts museum in Marseille is quite nice, I thought. They have a good collection of artists from Provence and French paintings before 20th century. I guess modern works are in the other museum.

Aix-en-Provence is just a short train ride away - home to Cezanne and others who put it and nearby mountains on canvas - suppose they have a museum for Cezanne and other artists who held court here. Plus Aix is a really neat city - are you stuck to Marseille for the whole two weeks or can you travel a bit - Antibes has a Picasso Museum and St-Paul-du-Vence, an iconic hill town, has the famous Maeght Foundation on its edge.

Avignon and Arles are now a short high-speed train ride away - Arles being Van Gogh's base when in a fit he sliced his own ear off and was committed to an asylum at nearby St-Remy-de-Provence - copies of his pictures in both venues have been set up right where they were put on canvas. Avignon has the immense Palace of the Popes - so if free days there is lots of nice art not too far away and not to mention nice towns that have them.

PalenQ and I don't always agree, but we do absolutely in this case.

Les calenques de cassis are absolutely great.

Not to mention Nice has some really nice art museums as well - up in Cimiez and in the town itself.

Thanks but I have already been to those all of those places you mentioned in the past year - just curious about finding out more about 3 places I mentioned in case anyone knows about those.