The Marseille Identity
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Marseille is a top ranking educational and research centre; there are about 90 000 students in 30 faculties and 'Grandes Ecoles'. Its research units in the health sector are top ranking.
The population is young, dynamic, creative and has a long experience in international exchange. The city has a rich mix of Mediterranean cultures.
Having an advantageous geo-strategic location, the city is the capital of province, France's third economic region. Marseille is the gateway between Europe and the Mediterranean region.
Over the centuries, Marseille has preserved its traditions and unique lifestyle. It's the capital of soap-making (Savon de Marseille) and the word famous santons (figurines of the province lifestyle put in the Christmas crib). The local specialities are: Pastis (Marseille's national drink), La Bouillabaisse (fish soup) and la pétanque (a local game).
The Heart of Marseille offers a diverse range of venues, attractions and experiences: from city centre joints to rural retreats. Vibrant and cosmopolitan, you will discover everything you ever want of a city, with a Provencal touch; cultural diversity, scintillating shopping, bubbling nightlife, great Mediterranean cuisine and rich heritage.
Review of Marseille by area:
Our apartments are located in the 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Districts.
The 1st District:
This is the heart of downtown Marseille. It encloses the Vieux port, Noailles, Belsunsce, La porte-d'Aix and St. Charles neighbourhoods.
Vieux port is a very lively neighbourhood near Marseille's old port, with an active night life. Its streets are lined with quite a number of charming cafés, pubs, restaurants and Nightclubs. The vieux port is a meeting point of the Marseillais during big events. Here, we celebrate OM's victories, with jubilant fans at times diving into the waters of the harbour.
It's also a departure point for shuttles towards the Frioul islands and the château d'If. On one side, the city hall facade overlooks the harbour. On the opposite you'll find the famous théâtre de la Criée (formerly a fish auction hall) which houses the ballet of Marseille's shows.
The entrance of Vieux port by sea is guarded by 2 forts: le fort Saint Jean on the left and le fort Saint Nicholas on the right.
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St. Charles and La porte-d'Aix is the area around Marseille's train station, St. Charles. Very busy but very conveniently placed. The Saint Charles quarter is a junction of Marseille's transport network. The neighbourhood is a gateway into Marseille: The metro station, the bus station and the train station, with its TGV terminal which puts Paris 3 hours away.
La porte-d'Aix is characterized by the presence of major regional, administrative and social institutions. The monument marks the gateway to and from Marseille by Highway.
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Noailles is located right behind la Canebière, Marseille's main Street. There is a daily fresh vegetable market. Noailles is a lively and colourful neighbourhood. The neighbourhood distinguishes itself by its huge foreign community and exotic shops, mainly Handicrafts, traditional restaurants and exotic grocery stores. It's the only neighbourhood you can get products from the five continents in the same area.
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Belsunce is off la canebierre, near Marseille's largest public library (L'Alkazar), a shopping mall, (le centre bourse) and the faculty of economics and Management. This is one of Marseille's oldest quarters. Cours Belsunce is the kingdom of sportswear, with sales all year round! With a high immigrant population, the quarter is one of the most dynamic in Marseille where all races and creed mingle in harmony.
On the Canebière, you'll find le palais de la Bourse which was the headquarters of France's oldest chamber of commerce (1559), during its glorious trade period. It today houses le musée de la Marine et d'Outre-Mer. The St Vincent de Paul church, otherwise known as Réformés is on the highest end. Another landmark on la canebière is Marseille's most famous torréfacteur. They propose over a dozen different types of coffee, bought fresh and roasted here, and over 40 different varieties of Tea.
The 1st district has a bubbling night life with quite a number of theatres and cinema halls. Perpendicular to la Canebière are rue de Rome, rue saint-ferréol and rue paradis which are shopping streets.
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The 2nd District:
The 2nd district is composed of the Panier, république and la Joliette neighbourhoods.
Le Panier is the most ancient quarter in France and naturally oldest district in Marseille. It's a popular district, close to Vieux Port with Provencal pedestrian streets lined with multi-coloured buildings. Le Panier has numerous steep, narrow streets. It was constructed on what used to be the 'old Marseille'. A part of the neighbourhood was unfortunately destroyed during World War II. The Clocher des Accoules, la place des Moulins, la Vieille Charité and la cathédrale de la Major are all rich in history. |
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La Vieille Charité is a superb 17th century construction which was for a long time a shelter for the homeless and orphans. Later, it became a hospice. Today, it houses scientific and cultural activities such as the National Audiovisual Institute, social sciences studies, CNRS research library and the Mediterranean Archaeology Museum.
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La cathédrale de la nouvelle Major is a 19th century Roman-Byzantine cathedral was built on the remains of the ancient Roman-Provencal 12th Century church. It is the largest cathedral in France. |
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La Joliette is the area around Marseille's main port (le port Autonome). There is an upcoming business district under the Euro-Mediterranean project at La Place de la Joliette. . The Joliette docks are the long red brick buildings along the overhead motorway.
Republique is the area along Boulevard de la république, a street renown for its identical Haussmann architecture buildings which are currently undergoing renovation under the euro-Mediterranean project.
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The 3rd District
This is covers the St. Lazare and Belle de Mai neighbourhoods.
St. Lazare is the area behind St. Charles train station. It covers the area around the St. Charles Faculty of science, former Marseille main library and the Gaston Berger students' halls of residence.
Belle de Mai is an old residential neighbourhood. You'll find la Friche la Belle de Mai. Housed in an ancient tobacco factory, La Friche de la Belle de Mai is a multidisciplinary place where the mass media, training, multimedia , cultural firms, theatre, music, dance, fine arts, cinema, broadcasting, literature, gastronomy firms coexist. You can watch productions by "Le Cabaret Aléatoire", "Théâtre Massalia" among others.
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The 4th District:
This covers the Longchamps, Les Chute Lavie, les 5 avenues and les Chatreaux areas. They are typical Marseille residential neighbourhoods.
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Le palais longchamp is at the end of the boulevard of the same name. The boulevard is lined with majestic 19th centaury residences which today house prestigious film production firms. Palais Longchamp is a good place to go for walks and a take in a little culture. Le Palais Longchamp is a monumental water tower was built to commemorate the building of the Durance Canal in Marseille. In its two wings, the Palace houses the Natural History and Fine Arts Museums. The Palais Longchamp gardens with its waterfalls offer pleasant strolls and afternoons out. |
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Les 5 avenues neighbourhood is named after a big star-shaped crossroad which joins five different streets: le boulevard de la Libération, le boulevard de la Blancarde, l'avenue des Chartreux, le boulevard du Jardin-Zoologique and l'avenue du Maréchal-Foch.
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The 5th District
The 5th district is a calm residential district. It covers the Cours Julien, La plaine and la Timone neighbourhoods. Here, most buildings are typical Marseilles buildings with 3 windows.
Cours Julien has a large student and young professional population. Its also has an artist populating, who run galleries in the area. The cours Julien is renowned for its sympatique cafés, restaurants, pubs, concert halls, cabarets and fringe theatres.
La plaine is a small neighbourhood between Cours Julien and La Place Jean-Jaurès. Its Marseille's trendiest neighbourhood, a meeting point for young artists, intellectuals, students … It's very animated at night. On the square is one of Marseille's largest markets on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Here, you can get practically everything; Fresh vegetables & fruits, fish, clothes, shoes, utensils…It's very lively. |
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La Timone is the area around the Timone hospital, the faculty of Medicine and Marseille school of Journalism.
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The 6th District:
The 6th district is part of Marseille's business district. It s covers the Prefecture, Castellane and Vauban neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood is renowned for its fashionable shopping streets especially the rue Paradis and rue de Rome. It's also close to the metro and has a good public transport network.
La prefecture is the area around the provincial headquarters. It's a busy shopping area.
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La Place Castellane marks the intersection of main roads such as rue de Rome, Avenue de Prado and Boulevard Baille. Restaurants, Bars and cinemas keep the Castellane square very lively day and night. It's Identifiable by the splendid Cantini fountain which is one of the most beautiful fountains in the City.
The Vauban neighbourhood has charming bourgeois residential buildings and narrow streets. It's a quiet neighbourhood with quite a number of Provencal traditional restaurants and artefact shops. Constructed on a hill, its narrow winding streets are one of Marseille's most picturesque.
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The 7th district:
The 7th covers mainly la corniche, Pharo, Endoume and Roucas Blanc neighbourhoods. It's calm, secure and easily accessible.
La Corniche (seaside esplanade) winds along the Mediterranean coast. It has plenty of good view points from where you can admire the open sea. In this district, you will also find The Palais de Pharo, a great place for walks and the Vallon des Auffes is a tiny picturesque fishing harbour right in the city centre. It's renowned for its fish restaurants and for the local speciality, la bouillabaisse. L'Abbaye de Saint-Victor is a church that was originally built in the 5th century and then fortified in the 14th century. It's one of Marseille's main historical and cultural centres.
Endoume is dominated by Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica. This basilica was built during the 1800s, and sits on a hill which gives it a majestic dominating presence over the entire city. The basilica is also known as la Bonne Mère because of the enormous golden statue of the Virgin Mary on top of the bell tower, who is the Guidant of the city. Being the highest point of the city, you can't miss it when entering Marseille, be it by the A51 highway (autoroute nord), rail or sea. The platform of the basilica offers not only a splendid view on the city but also, a view on some of les calanques, the If and Frioul islands and the sea.
On the Roucas Blanc hill, there are sumptuous villas built on "a white rock" in the 19th century by prosperous ship owners. Below it Roucas Blanc is Malmousque, a seaside fishing village.
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The 8th district:
This is an upstate district. It's composed of the Prado, Mazargues, Montredon, Sainte Anne, Pointe rouge and Les Goudes neighbourhoods.
In this area, you'll find Le Park Borely, Marseille's largest public park with 40 hectares of a landscape garden, a rose garden and a botanical garden. There is also a popular racecourse.
Prado is the area around l'avenue du Prado. It's a quiet business distinct with posh residential estates.
Saint Anne and Mazargues neighbourhood are close to museum of contemporary art and the Bonne veine shopping mall.
La Pointe Rouge is the area around the Pointe Rouge sailing harbour and les Goudes is and old fishing port at the extreme southern end of Marseille.
In this district you'll also find le parc Chanot with its parc des expositions (formerly the venue of colonial exhibitions) and the modern palais des congrès, a venue of most yearly exhibitions in Marseille. The most popular are the annual Marseille international fair and the car show (salon de l'automobile). There are also diverse antiquarians, collectors …etc exhibitions.
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The 9th District:
St Marguerite, le Redon and Luminy neighbourhoods make up the 9th district.
In this district, you'll find the Velodrome Stadium which is the sanctuary of football in Marseille, the town's passion. Renovated in during the 1998 world cup to marks 100 years of the Olympique de Marseille soccer team, the stadium is the 2nd Largest in France after Le Stade de France with a 60000 spectator capacity.
St Marguerite is a residential area around the line 2 metro terminus.
Luminy and Redon are suburban neighbourhoods at the slopes of Marseilleveryre hills and a stone throw away from the spectacular Calanques. The two neighbourhoods have easy access to the town centre, which is 15 minutes drive away. Luminy is also a large student centre composed of the Luminy Campus, Euromed Business School and Marseille school of Architecture.
On your way towards cassis is La route de la Gineste which winds up the Gineste hills which overlook Marseille. On this road, there are spectacular views of Marseille, the luminy valley, and the sea from various view points on the roadside.
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The 10th -16th districts are all suburban residential neighbourhoods .
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Traditions:
Foire aux Santons (Christmas figurines fair) in November and December. This is 200-year-old tradition held on the upper part of the Canebière.
Foire à l'Ail et aux taraïettes (Garlic fair) every summer on cours Belsunce and the Canebière.
The Marseille-Cassis annual marathon. This 20 Km marathon on the route de la Gineste is held in October and is open to both professionals and amateurs. http://www.marseille-cassis.com
Mondial-la Marseillaise à Pétanque: Held in July, this is the largest annual péntanque competition in France, an illustration of Marseille's passion for this local version of boules, a typical French ball game. Usually qualified as the Rolland-garros of boules, Mondial-la Marseillaise à Pétanque attracts over 10000 players.
La Foire Internationale de Marseille. Held on the 3rd week of September, the fair hosts delegations from several countries at the parc des expositions. The products displayed are mainly handicrafts and gastronomic products.
Le fêtes de quatiers: (Neighbourhood festivals) Most neighbourhoods hold each year their own festivals. The most famous ones are la fête du panier in the Panier quarter in June composed of street theatre, music concerts, poetry and dance.
Les journées des plantes et Jardins: this flower and plant show is held in April and September on the cours Julien.
Le festival de musique sacrée: This is a festival of classic religious hymns held in April and May at the St. Michel Archange church, in La Timone in the 5th district.
Les nuits Caroline: held every July in a superb décor, the ruins of Caroline hospital on the Frioul islands, les nuits Caroline is composed of music, dance and folk tales.
Le festival de Marseille: the Marseille festival is a concoction of contemporary performing arts; Dance, music and theatre held in various renowned cultural venues in Marseille. Click here for more details: www.festivaldemarseille.com
Le Festival International de folklore: a folklore festival held in July at Château-Gombert in the 13th district.
Le festival ciné pleine air: every summer in central Marseille neighbourhoods, the open-air film festival projects movies free of charge in various squares.
Other festivals include: the Marseille annual carnival in March, La fete du vent in September (kite festival), and le festival de Jazz des 5 continents (Jazz festival) in July at Palais Longchamp, to mention but a few.
