Marseille - (Fall 2024) - Day 5
The original plan was to take a ferry to visit Chateau d’If but the rain in the morning changed those plans.
Marseille History Museum
This history museum is a great visit especially since it is free to enter. The entrance is the old original ancient harbor and it has a short movie showing how it used to look and how it evolved from prehistoric times. The exhibits on the lower floor have many of the ancient artifacts that have been found while the upstairs has some exhibits regarding some more modern history of Marseille.
Pizza Charly
It’s ok to have pizza for breakfast right? This was the Marseille style pizza with anchovies and no cheese. The sauce was drippier than I was anticipating and I made a bit of a mess when I folded it. Still a great way to start the day.
Bar des 13 Coins
We headed back to the old neighborhood of Le Panier to explore the streets at a less busy time as it was a weekday in the off-season. We took a break at this little bar.
Boujou Coffee
Despite not going on the ferry due to the early rain, we still wanted to be around the water so we took a bus out towards the southwest of Marseille. We stopped by this coffee shop for some caffeine. From this spot, you can access an alley that takes you down to the water and walk along the cliffs.
Walk from Pointe Cadière to Plage des Catalans
Bikini Café
Across from Plage des Catalans beach is this little bar that seemed pretty popular with the locals. Great view of the water and you can enjoy the gentle sea breeze with your drink at their sidewalk tables.
Walking Back to the Old Port
1860 Le Palaise
We had planned to get bouillabaisse for dinner on our last night in town. It is the classic fish soup dish of Marseille (and usually pretty expensive). The place I had planned on going to was apparently closed this night so we had to go to Plan B. The Palaise is a pretty modern upscale eatery and seemed popular with the after work crowd. We got their modern interpretation of bouillabaisse which was pretty tasty. Will have to save the traditional soup for our next visit to Marseille.
Carry Nation
We sought out this cocktail bar not realizing it was a speakeasy. Not knowing the code to get in, we stood outside for a minute until another couple came and opened the door for us (the code was something silly like 1111 I think). When we sat down, the bartender, Patrice, recognized us from a previous night in the La Plaine as he was also having a drink at the Paloma at the time. Great conversing with him while he poured us some fantastic cocktails.