Today, we see the launch of a new direct train service between Marseille and Milan by thello. It takes just over seven hours, and the train calls in at all major stations on the Cote D’Azur, then Italian centres like Ventimiglia, San Remo, Genoa and Milan. Costs between 30-70€ each …

Booking has opened today for this new service which will be the first time the Eurostar, in its 20+years existence, has gone as far as the Med. It starts 1st May and services will be twice a week, increasing to five times a week during the summer.

If you are in Marseille for the Christmas lights and market, you may like to drop into the new exhibition at the Maison de l’Artisanat which is showing three centuries of seasonal objects from St Petersbourg. Fine china and costumes are arranged in tableaux taking the visitor back to the …

Gilles Conchy describes his birth city of Marseille, as “tense, cosmopolitan, not well-mannered, but it is colourful, generous and sunny all year long.”

Istanbul will be one of the destinations to have increased services in the new winter schedule just announced by Marseille-Provence Airport. There will be a daily flight to Geneva and new destinations include Lisbon, Strasbourg, Jijel (Algeria) and Lanzarote.

Here is a list of 89 flight destinations from Marseille, a useful link. However, now we are moving into November, quite a few of the services are suspended until the spring. For instance, London flights continue, but we will have to wait til March to fly directly to Edinburgh.       

Marseille is changing so so fast. The Terrasses du Port which opened this spring provides a 21st century, glossy, global shopping experience with chic restaurants with white linen-clad tables overlooking la grande bleue. And just steps away, the vaults beneath.       

Marseille has won its bid to become the European Capital of Sport 2017. It was announced yesterday that it had beaten its rival Sofia to become host to an extensive programme of sporting fixtures, building on its experience of being Capital of Culture.

Have you ever cycled in a boat? Through a shopping centre, hospital or station? Thought not. Your chance comes on Sunday 5th October with the 5th annual Vélotour which sounds like the best fun.

Jo Charlton is a self-taught British artist who has recently moved back to England after 20 years in France. She has the great fortune to still have a house in Puyloubier, Provence. Having lived in London and Paris she finds the open countryside much more enriching to her soul. She …