Marseille, life's more beautiful?

Marseille, plus belle la vie?
(life's more beautiful?)

In Marseille I lived in the 7th district named Endoume in Rue des Barbus, located just below the Corniche that borders the sea.
From the house there was a magnificent seaview, some Islands (one of them with the famous chateau d'If) as horizon and the sunset as a bonus! All this while having meals on the terrace until October(dinner) or even November(lunch) and on days where the mistral (Mediterranean wind/storm) was blowing a guaranteed show on the water and the laundry dry in 10 minutes. In fact a dream location to stay forever,
But as the people I lived with were unhappy and wanted to share it with me by the instability of their mood, the day came that I didn’t notice the beautiful seaview anymore and couldnt enjoy any longer a fresh croissant from the baker early in the morning. When that day came I decided to leave this house......and to look for a new place in Marseille.

On the Internet I received three offers for a room; one at a headmistress house who hosted three foreign students; the second in the apartment of a girl of my own age who's boyfriend was abroad (both still located in Endoume) and the last near Castellane in the city center in a large house with an elderly person and another student. After a series of visits I chose the room in Vallon des Auffres with the roommate of the same age , still in the 7th arrondissement and still close to the sea. A cozy apartment with a lot of small houses around with a look on the roofs and a cliff next to us. On the other side the same cliff going down in the direction of the sea with a church at the extremity. Nobody who can see us, or maybe a bird if he takes a break on an electric wire between us and the neighbor! Shit!



Marseille is ....

The 2nd city of France. Big and... Spacious with its wide avenues like the Prado(in city center) or the Corniche that borders the sea. You can discover it all by watching the movie Taxi.

Natural with the sea always at hand for a swim until November if you are courageous enough ;) or a walk at the Calanques (Mediterranean fjords).

Historic with its old Port and the old town districts (see the French series on TV plus belle la vie) The islands close to the coastline,famous by a novel of Alexandre Dumas 'The Count of Monte Cristo'.

Special with its magnificent Cathedral Notre dame de la Garde, which is situated on the top of Marseilles highest hill and can always be seen from anywhere.

Tasteful with the Bouillabaisse fish dish, Navette (orange taste) cookies, Pistou Soup, l’Aoli (vegetables with garlic mayonnaise) and the liqueur drink Pastis! (the only drink that can make me a party girl) or a pizza, fresh made in a track on the street!

Famous because of the regional 'Hollywood' movies directed by Pagnol: , and .

And if we have to believe everything that is said about Marseille and its inhabitants in the rest of France: Marseille is very dangerous (which is forced upon by the movie French connection or Borsalino) and the people just like to sleep and to sunbathe as much as possible (sommeil et le soleil) ... they always use bad excuses or exaggerate in all circumstances, well-known example; the history of the sardine (small fish) that had blocked the port entrance.
The only thing I can add to this: long live the Exaggeration of the exaggeration!


Sun the whole year! Marseille is for me sun all year long ... when it's cold and gray everywhere else here I still enjoy the sun: mid- October still in swimsuit on the terrace until sunset, end of November still without jacket during the day. Last month when it snowed in the rest of France & Europe I discovered the pleasure to look for rosemary and thyme in the countryside. And what's more beautiful than the first days of the year with the windows wide open at noon and the winter jacket already being too warm on January 21st. The Mistral, the master of the weather (Mediterranean stormy wind) Like we in the Netherlands always complain about the rain, I complained here about the mistral in autumn: it might be pleasant in summer by high temperatures, in autumn it is a bit cold and it became a real nightmare in the winter: in November we had 19C but with the mistral blowing it went down to 5 C!!! It was the Mistral that forced me to buy a winter jacket, at last, just before Christmas. But anyway, lucky me, the mistral is less present now than he was in the autumn.
Also here a sign of climate change: while it rains 5 days maximum normally in January this year it rained almost every day! And in such quantities that we had a waterfall in our street!


Right now I live my life with my roommate and my neighbour across the street (I just need to open the window, say his name and he is already there) The neighbour surprised me always at the last moment by knocking loudly on the door to share his dinner when he failed to cook for just one person. Or he startled me of the couch because of drawing small money coins against the window (which makes me also rich;)) to invites me for a coq au vin french dish or one of his uncountable improvisations. He also flabbergasted me by his creativity: each furniture in his house is made by himself. And while he plays his guitar to find a new track, I enjoy a 'yellow' or a glass of wine (which the bottle is opened with his drill driver and multipurpose tool) and observe his two (sort of) lovebirds in a nest of a blackbird, free to fly in the whole house.
And when his lamp doesnt work anymore, why not using the lamp of the sewing machine? I must admit that he inspires me to use simple things for great use . Right now I use a clothes pin to dress my hair for example.
What seems almost impossble to me will be possible if one morning I open the door and find a big big Djembe left, by him. (once I told him that I probably would like to take some djembe lessons here in Marseille!)
He teach me the local language/slang but especially his speed while talking prepared me hopefully to survive everybody, after him.


My roommate Marion still surprises me with new places to discover in or near Marseille, to meet her friends at marvelous locations: cracked home on a top of a hill with a beautiful view on Marseille or with 10 people all together in our living room to eat the delicious pizza. We also discover new dishes in the kitchen or exchange dishes from here, the Netherlands or from somewhere else to share it with the neighbour afterwards.


And not to become to chauvinistic ;) I have my friends from the USA (I met during my French classes) to discover other dishes in the kitchen or to visit destinations in region PACA during weekends: Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur.


While becoming the queen by eating the right part of the three kings cake during one of the evenings all together , the only thing I can say is< Ik ben gelukkig> I am happy to have met them, also the first sentence they wanted to learn to say in dutch.