Our only plan for this entire trip, besides dog sitting Chocho Choco in Spain, was to see Italy. Other than a day trip to Trieste from Croatia, Patricia had never been. But to get to Italy from Valencia we needed to go through France. We always seem to just see the edge of France: Calais, Strasburg, and Metz. So Marseille fit our pattern of peripheral France, plus it was halfway between Spain and Italy and there was a cat sit with four cats, so Marseille it was. Turned out to be a great choice. We didn’t do anything different than we do in other cities, we just walked around. Usually we’ll go in and see churches (mainly because they are everywhere, they’re big, and they are recommended), we’ll walk up to a museum or an attraction and debate if we should go in. Usually, it’s a no, and so then we’ll walk around some more.
Coming to Marseille, we entered a radically different sphere; from a large, bright apartment with one old dog on the edge of Valencia to a somewhat dark, city centered apartment where you could not open the windows for fear of a cat jumping out (we were told that two of the cats had done it). Four cats; Brothers Sterling and Poopie, rescue cat Fruit and her son Pickle; on the 2nd floor in a classic Haussmann apartment ( that is the how the cat owner described the apartment, explained here https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-haussmann-architecture-5180196. )
clockwise from bottom left: Fruit, Pickle, Sterling, Poopie
Patricia, trying to minimize the cat allergies she decided to ignore when we accepted the sit, slept in the freezing bedroom, while Nick slept in the freezing living room or tried to sleep as the nocturnal cats vied for position on the favorite chair or used Nick as a launching or landing pad. But Marseille was great, despite or partially due to the cats, apartment and well, Marseille.
Marseille is an ancient city with it’s Africa-facing port attracting a revolving door of settlers, starting with the Greeks and Phoenicians who left their mark by establishing Marseille’s still-in-place street grid. Each subsequent conquerer destroyed, remodeled and built (well, like most European cities). This background coupled with the constant wave of immigrants, creates a very eclectic, vibrant and chaotic city. We heard a world of languages as we walked through narrow cobble-stoned streets and wide Haussmann designed Paris-style boulevards, dodging dog poop which was everywhere.
We walked along the windy Mediterranean and climbed the Calanques on the east end of town.
Passed trendy chain stores, tiny stores selling cheap knock offs, through flea markets lining boulevards of beautiful buildings, and iconic buildings including Le Corbusier’s Unité d’habitation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unité_d%27habitation . (far right)
We encountered huge monuments and statues, some traditional, some a bit confounding, like a 13 foot David located in the middle of the Le Prado roundabout, for the full view but with the risk of getting rear ended? “Not far from the beaches, it is the landmark that announces the sea, the beach, swimming but also surfing sessions....” according to tourism Marseille. Well, now we don’t need to see David in Florence.
A high point was stumbling on the zoo. This zoo was created in 2013 (by a 4 year old?) from the abandoned zoologic gardens that had been in existence from 1854-1987. While this zoo looked a bit pathetic, it was pretty fun being surprised by it.
We walked up to the ritzy area overlooking the city and down to the old port and adjacent Le Panier area, the traditional and current home of new immigrants.
It’s hard to pin point why we like one city, Marseille, more than another, Valencia. It is just a gestalt. Marseille kind of felt like San Francisco (Hello Lisbon!) it was kind of familiar-a port, hilly, an abandoned prison on an island in the Bay, great diversity, and even very good sourdough French bread. Wish we could figure out the algorithm, might make it easier for us to find a house.
Chosen Fugue 
One thought on “San Frenchisco (?)”