Marseille, France

Oh, Marseille, my bewitching Marseille... 

I only had one day to explore this extraordinary seaside town and it was one of the best days ever. There is so much colour in Marseille and so much contrast. There are the poorest of the poor communities that live in absolute filth, very reminiscent of my hometown, if you will and then, there are other much cleaner parts that are taken up by rich and forgive me for the but, white people. I did not see a single person of colour in the richer neighbourhoods. Make of that what you will. 

Before going to Marseille, I had a ton of people warn me about it, saying that it was infamous for being unsafe, and that murders might happen, la-di-dah... to a point where I was a bit closed off towards exploration. Although, I had such a flabbergastingly dazzling experience that I want to make all those people eat their words. 

Now, what I mostly saw are different beaches. There are more than 15 beaches accessible to the public. Let me just say this: The south of France is an entirely different vibe. The people are so much more laid back and relaxed. They have more time than those in where I live, the centre. I really liked this attitude. I do not know the exact science of how and why people become extra relaxed in seaside communities but this seems to be a universal phenomenon. Case in point: Goa. 

The sea accessible to here is the Mediterranean and I love the waves and the warmth of it. Is is absolutely extraordinary!

Savon De Marseille (Marseille Soap)

You know how every region has their specialty? Well, the specialty of Marseille is the high quality and affordable soaps which are available at little every nook and cranny of the city. They come in many different scents and my favourite is.. strawberry. I spent hours exploring the different shops and smelling all the different soaps. Did you know? There is also a soap museum in Marseille! I did not have enough space in my bag as a courtesy of the baggage limitations by Ryanair but if you happen to have enough space, please get some of these little cuties as souvenirs!

Street Art

As most cool places go, there is a ton of street art to be seen everywhere. Marseille is also one of these cool places with street art. Lanes and lanes full of really talented artists demonstrating their art without the bounds of the four walls and glass cabinets of museums. 

Giant Rooftop mirror at the old port

I was walking on the port and was surprised to look up and see this really cool mirror reflecting back to me. This is a zone where people come and chill, look at the boats and the port and look up at themselves!

Chateau d'if (If Castle)

This castle used to also be a prison and it was immortalised through the count of Monte Cristo, an excellent novel written by Alexander Dumas.  I was so happy to be blessed enough to be in a place where history was written, literally. It is on a far away island but we can see it from Marseille. It is a wonderful castle nestled inside a water-locked territory and looks almost unreal. 

Watching the Sunset

Once again, I was profoundly blessed to be granted to privilege of watching the sunset from a narrow lane that I stumbled upon. There is beauty and wonder everywhere in Marseille.

This blog is much shorter as my time there was much lesser than other places. I would definitely say that I made a 100 percent of the time I had! It was amazing and Marseille is definitely worth a visit. 

Aditi's recommendations:

• Cycles and electric scooters are quite cheap to rent out. You should definitely do that to explore the city.
• Spend time at the beaches and play with the sand. It seems generic but a lot of people will forget about the beaches in the excitement about other things.
• Buy the Savon the Marseille, it makes for the best souvenir!

Thank you for reading and until next time!