MARSEILLE: Visit to La Castellane district and the Prado Street Market

Bonjour Family & Friends. Today, Friday (Vendredi), we decided to take the tram to the neighborhood of La Castellane, which is in the 15th arrondissement of Marseille. I didn't realize this district was built in the 1960's for refugees from the Algerian War of 1954-1962. If you read about Castellane on line, you will read that it's an area plagued by unemployment, drug trafficking, prostitution and arms smuggling. We had no idea about any of this. When walking around as a tourist in the daylight, with many other people - you certinly don't get a this sense of darkness at all. We stopped in La Castellane a few days ago to transfer to a bus which would take us to Cassis. It was at this time we thought La Castellane looked so very interesting. So today we took a different mode of transportation there. Instead of the metro, we took the tram. We received the nicest surprise when we approached the main street. There was a market! I won't list again all the things that are available at these markets. Suffice it to say, I've never seen a street market so extensive. On one side of the street, the market went on for 4 long blocks, but that's not all! If you crossed the street, the market continued on the other side for another 4 blocks. Today I am posting mainly pictures. The pictures tell the story about how inspiring, stimulating and important these markets are to the locals as well as the tourists. It was so pleasant to take our time and admire the beauty that is so apparent in the simplest of things!

More breads! More olives...

If you love fresh seafood, you would really enjoy coming to see what could be available to you everyday:

Not only did this market have all the usual fruits and vegetables, but there was clothing, table linens, pots and pans, shoes, kitchen gadgets (of which I bought a few), and all kinds of underwear. The mall comes to the people, and the market here in La Castellane is a DAILY occurrence!

Here is a lovely lady who still has it all...

On the other side of the street there were spectacular, healthy varieties of flowers and plants. Imagine this for a distance of 4 blocks.

If I lived here, I would have a lemon tree in my yard..

Ron tries to order coffee and orange juice in French. The waiter looks bewildered..

We couldn't help but notice this lady in bright red. She turned out to be a card reader.

When we left the market, we decided we would have lunch in the town, before going back to our own Vieux Port area. The restaurant we chose was called "Massena Café. It turned out to be an excellent place and had such a pleasant ambience. It was very crowded. My meal was a "Salade de chevre chaud". (This is the warm goat cheese salad which I am getting way too attached to)...

Ron ordered a hamburger. The paddy was as large as the bun! Apparently it was delicious, but Ron thought it lacked a little seasoning.

So, that's how we spent a good part of our day today. Before we got back to our own place, we stopped by the neighborhood Tunisian bakery and purchased a few things so we could have a dessert later tonight. I think our eyes were bigger than our stomachs.

Today is our last day in Marseille. It's been a very interesting place to spend some time. There has not been one moment that either of us has felt unsafe. Like any big city, it's always wise to keep your eyes open and stay off of isolated streets at night, and out of certain neighborhoods. Marseille is loud, I would say. Also, we had to remind ourselves about how to be a wary pedestrian wo we could stay alive. Here, even though you are crossing the street on a green light, you will still have a car inching up to your knee caps. You just have to be careful all the time. It can be exasperating. Another thing - there is a lot of graffiti. I've never been an admirer of graffiti, but I must say, some of it is quite creative...

So, I will post this picture, which to me, will always bring to mind the city of Marseille. It is old, but beautiful...

This evening, we will be walking down by the water and soaking in the scenery of the boats and the setting sun! There will be talented street muscians singing and playing guitar. There will be the ubiquitous homeless who sadly sit in doorways, and of course lots of people strolling around. Tomorrow, we leave by train to our next destination which is the city of Nice. We are really looking forward to Nice! Au Revoir... Karen