Marseille is the oldest and second largest city in France and the next destination that I'm going to talk about in this little travel blog that I have going on.
It's located in the southern part of the country along the coast of the Mediterranean sea within the Gulf of Lion.
It's situated in the Provence Côte d'Azur region, which means that it is technically part of the French Riviera. However I personally wouldn't consider it to be a part of that destination hot spot.
It just doesn't have the same sort of romanticism or vibe as many of the other towns and cities that are located in that part of the country.
To be honest, neither I nor my wife were all that thrilled by the city and I would say that there are many more, much better places to visit if you're traveling to France and have limited time in the country.
Maybe it was because the weather was poor and the skies were cloudy and overcast, but the city was definitely lacking in appeal for us.
Many parts were run down or just very blah and I've come to learn that the city has a very large divide between the rich and poor which may explain some things.
It is estimated that 40-50% of it residents live below the poverty line.
We've been to a lot of places in France at this point and we have never at any point felt unsafe during our time here, day or night.
But in Marseille we definitely had vibes of not wanting to be caught out in certain neighborhoods after dark.
Some areas were somewhat dirty feeling and others were all out sketchy.
It was the first time we had ever felt that way really, other than one other city somewhat near our home that is a real shit hole.
But that spot isn't a tourist destination either, so in my opinion it doesn't really count.
Nothing happened in Marseille mind you, and we really enjoyed our time there, it was all just a feeling we had.
Well actually there was one odd thing. It was dark out and we were walking back to our hotel after dinner and a young man about our age approached us and asked if we had any hand sanitizer.
"Hand sanitizer???...No sorry. We aren't carrying any at the moment."
He might have seen that our guards were up or something because he responded kindly "It's no problem. There's no problem."
The gears were seriously turning in my head as we walked away though. "Hand sanitizer? Why would he want hand sanitzer at 9pm when it's dark and all of the shops are closed?"
I was like Jennifer Lawrence's character in Don't Look Up when she couldn't let go of the fact that the general had charged them money for the free snacks.
"Hey honey, what do you think he wanted that Hand sanitizer for? Do you think he wanted to get drunk off of it? I heard that's a thing that some folks do."
She replied: "I really don't want to think about what he wanted it for. Actually, I'd rather not talk about it at all."
Me not letting it go: "Maybe he just went to the washroom outside somewhere and really wanted to wash his hands? Or maybe it was to clean and sanitize a needle or something?"
She gave me that look like, please stop talking about it.
20 minutes went by. "Maybe he was using it as an excuse to get close to us so he could try and rob us or something? Or like, put a knife in my rib cage or something?" Often times my mind goes dark pretty quickly.
We went hiking the next day and I think I ruminated on it for a solid hour or so.
"Hand sanitizer!? At night...from a stranger. Maybe he picked something off the ground that he regretted immediately...? No it had to be that he wanted to drink it or clean a needle.... but surely he wouldn't drink it or lick it out of his hands in front of us... Would he?"
It went on that way for quite some time. Actually I'm still thinking about it now, weeks later. But anyhoo back to the city.
So in researching Marseille I stumbled upon some pretty interesting information about the city's shady past, so I've decided to lean in a little on the bad.
Apparently the city is currently working hard to change its persona but some remnants of a more violent history may still be seen and felt there to this day.
Of course I didn't know any of this before our visit and to be honest, I probably would have just avoided it if I had. But anyway, let's take a look at some of the shady aspects of Marseille.
The city has exceptionally high crime rates compared to the rest of the country, a large drug problem, increased gang related violence and one of the highest murder rates in all of Europe.
But before you get scared over Marseille I should mention that murder rates are high by European standards but still nothing compared to some cities in North America.
For instance, Marseille had a murder rate of 2.7 homincides per 100 thousand people in 2012-2015 whereas Chicago had a rate of 28.
Baltimore's rate was 50 at that same time according to the Guardian newspaper, so "high crime" is very much a relative concept here.
But then again, to put the drug related problems into perspective, one source that I read stated that the city supplied 85% of the United States heroine supply at one point and a judge who identified the culprits of the heroin's production ended up getting murdered for it.
The event, was actually the catalysts that brought change to the city.
At the time most of the heroin was produced in the Le Panier district, which brings us to probably the most interesting spot to see in the city.
Le Panier
Le Panier is located close to the old harbor and is a very old part of the city.
It was once a sort of ghetto with a lot of drug and gang related crime taking place there but a lot had changed in the district over the last few years.
The neighborhood is currently going through a sort of re-branding phase and is slowly becoming gentrified. At this moment it now has a very "hipster" and trendy sort of vibe about it.
It feels young and hip and artsy.
It has a lot of cool shops and unique little restaurants as well, and a ton of really cool street art.
Actually, spray paint is literally everywhere throughout the neighborhood...
even on the plants - which was a bit weird in my opinion and probably a bit too far.
There were also a ton of tags on practically every corner and every wall there.
Normally I'd say that tags are ugly and dirty looking but they actually work in the district and add to its overall character.
They're like an additional pop of color here and there. Or something to that effect.
I'd say that Le Panier was our favorite spot in the city to see really, though I would still recommend getting out of there by nightfall.
Vieux Port
Another decent spot to hang around in is the old harbor.
In the center are all of the boats and sailboats and around the perimeter are a large assortment of nice cafes and bars.
The area is bustling with people during the day and some people even sell live fish that they caught, in a make-shift open air market along the edge of the water. That was interesting to see and quite different.
On the last day of our visit we came out of a bar and were walking through the harbor towards the train station and we couldn't believe how many police officers we saw.
There were at least 20 vans with 4-6 officers in each all parked in the center of the busy street.
I figured that the city was hosting a football game that day and they were getting prepared to put an end to any roudy celebrations. I confirmed later that this was exactly the case.
Food
Seafood is popular in Marseille but one specialty dish to try is called Bouillabaisse. It's a fish chowder that incorporates 3-5 different types of fish and seafood. I had it at a fish restaurant and thought that it was quite good. I also had oysters for the first time in France as an appetizer and those were also pretty excellent.
My Takeaway
We actually really enjoyed Marseille and were glad that we went there. We had fun in the Le Panier district and didn't feel unsafe at any point during our stay. That being said I wouldn't recommend wandering the city at night and would suggest being aware of the people and your surroundings at all times if you do happen to visit. Overall, I think that the city can be skipped though and would suggest many other locations to visit in area instead of Marseille.