Contributor blog post by: Aixcentric This is the view as you drive over the rocky mountains towards the Mediterranean from the very eastern edge of Marseille. The breathtaking Calanque de Sormiou is the setting for ‘Le Chateau’ a family-run restaurant established back in 1948. To be able to drive down …

By aixcentric What a great idea – 640 tonnes of sand to be dumped on the MUCEM esplanade to make a big beach for the summer. It will be open all day for walks, picnics at shaded tables, pétanque games, Ping-Pong and, on Sundays, dances. There will also be workshops …

By aixcentric If you fancy giving your painting skills a boost, I can recommend from personal experience the Atelier Ombres et Lumieres in Les Milles. Owner and artist Muriel Moutel will be teaching one-week courses during July, for adults and ados. Muriel encourages her classes to start with interesting backgrounds …

It’s a pretty big honor to be the first Roman Catholic church in a region where around half of the population is Catholic. Back in the 12th century, Église Saint-Jean-de-Malte served as a hospice and chapel for the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem of the Order of Malta.  This group was formed …

By aixcentric Are artists visionaries? How did they see the future 100 years ago? How do they see the future today? These are the questions posed by FUTURS the new expo at Marseille’s Vieille Charité which opened on Friday. There are a hundred works grouped chronologically by Léger, Ernst, Matisse, …

By aixcentric Thanks to Claire (@clairewords) for alerting Aixcentric to the new rules governing car-hire. It seems that, from today, we Brits no longer need to carry the paper part of the driving licence which records offences and endorsements; all that information is going online instead. Holidaymakers who hire cars …

By aixcentric It’s hard judging a restaurant from the outside. Some look tiny and are tiny….others are deceptive. And the new ‘Marasino’ is one such. The small terrace, next to the Hotel St Christophe near the Rotonde, gives no clue as to the large number of seats inside. It’s a …

Who is Alfred Lombard? I wondered as I visited the Musée Regards de Provence in Marseille this week. It’s a special experience here in the south of France to discover painters, often local, mainly little-known, who turns out to be quite thrilling. And Alfred Lombard is one such. He had …

By aixcentric Another great idea. An aquarium for Marseille to be built beside and in the sea, perhaps on the J1 site. The Marseille Aquarium should be as stunning as the Blue Planet in Copenhagen This has been proposed by the town authorities. The project is being headed by Gérard …

By aixcentric The new show at MUCEM is called ‘Lieux Saints Partagés’ and focuses on the sites where Christianity, Islam and Judaism all find commonality for place of worship. It’s not just Jerusalem – the exhibition takes in other places, even Marseille where, it says, Explore this Post Via:: Aixcentric …