Fodor's Expert Review Marché aux Poissons

Up and going by 8 am every day, this market—immortalized in Marcel Pagnot's Fanny (and Joshua Logan's sublime 1961 film adaptation)—puts on a vivid and aromatic show of waving fists, jostling chefs, and heaps of still-twitching fish from the night's catch. Hear the thick soup of the Marseillais accent as blue-clad fishermen and silk-clad matrons bicker over prices, and marvel at the rainbow of Mediterranean creatures swimming in plastic vats before you, each uglier than the last: the spiny-headed rascasse (scorpion fish), dog-nosed grondin (red gurnet), the monstrous baudroie or lotte (monkfish), and the eel-like congre. "Bouillabaisse" as sold here is a mix of fish too tiny to sell otherwise; the only problem with coming for the early morning show is that you have to wait so long for your bouillabaisse lunch.