Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: Most French people like sauce and herb flavouring, but not much spice. Many expats move to lovely small towns in Provence and after a couple months being spoiled with ratatouille, slow cooked lamb, bouillabaisse and all other French Mediterranean delicacies, they start asking where is …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: Peter Mayle once wrote that Chez Etienne was his favourite Marseille restaurant for lunch and it seems he is not alone. As the locals say, ‘Il faut absolument passer, un fois, dans sa vie, chez Etienne’. Even Gault & Millau call it a ‘veritable institution’. Mayle …

I have to hand it to the Musée Regards de Provence seems to keep finding interesting local artists to introduce to us all. This time, André Maire (1898-1984) was an inveterate traveller. He was very curious about people, civilizations and religions, and painted his impressions as he went. …Continue reading …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: A major expansion of the Marseille Provence Airport (MRS) has been announced with British architect Norman Foster winning the design contract. Airports are in keen competition with each other and Marseille Provence wants to be able to welcome 11 million passengers a year by 2025. Foster …

Distracted by Marseille’s traffic, we almost missed the sign indicating a sharp right turn towards Le Petit Nice. Once you make that turn, you are committed. Of course, you WANT to be at this 16-room boutique hotel and eat at the Michelin three-star restaurant, but the narrow entryway is not designed …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: Visitors to Marseille’s MuCEM or the Musée Regards de Provence can eat in either venue, or may like to wander along the main road a little to try Les Halles de la Major which is in the vaults tucked underneath the magnificent 19th century cathedral. …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: This week sees a new expo at MAC, Marseille’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Hip-Hop started in the South Bronx, where, surrounded by economic deprivation, the young generation developed creative ways to party, dance, paint the urban environment and challenge the establishment. It spread, district by district, …

Contributor blog post by Dorothy Garabedian: You’re wondering: Where or what is Plan-de-Cuques? Well, it’s a town, or rather a suburb – actually a commune north of Marseille – and it has a few secrets. Plan-de-Cuques is not very old in comparison to other French villages, although abundant archeological evidence indicates …

Contributor blog post by Jill Barth: The Southern French port city of Marseille has been the entry point for the world since the Greeks settled there around 600 BC. The second largest city in France is home to people of scoping nationalities and this diversity makes Marseille the world’s kitchen. …

While we’re on the subject of Sete from our recent train-from-Barcelona post, there’s a question that fish soup lovers who visit the South of France want to know. What’s the difference between Marseilles’ bouillabaisse and Sete’s fish soup? Which town has the best fish soup? Leave it to Nancy McGee …