Marseille, Aix, Avignon

Here are our last days in Marseille before we go on the road from the 7th-18th. We took a food tour in the Cours St. Julien neighborhood–think Reeperbahn–thousands of young people guzzling beer and hanging out all night.

We took the train to Aix-en-Provence, a rich, manicured town with shops serving, e.g. truffles or pistachio marshallows, On our return to Marseille, to cleanse the palate, or perhaps restore its bacteria, we went for Tunisian food at Chez Yassine, where we had Leblebi with tuna, Kafteji with Merguez, and their homemade citronnade, a lemonade, all for 20 euros. I loved the spices even if they caused some pain.

A local fellow walked us around town on Monday teaching us about the politics underlying the transformation of the town from French Connection violence to 9 million tourists/year today. Lunch was various fish presented with aioli, a garlic mayonnaise. Aioli + fish soup = bouillabaisse but one can separate the parts.

We had all the parts on Tuesday in a really lovely spot called Peron. Yes, I’m getting fat. We shared:

Pressed tomatoes in jelly w tomato water, basil oil, tomato sorbet

Monkfish, mushroom and sun-dried tomato capeletti, grilled artichokes, thyme jus, black garlic

Bouillabaisse w croutons and rouille

Wednesday saw us head for Avignon, where we visited the old Jewish neighborhood, a temple, a cemetary. I was too distracted by a market called Les Halles to think about art much. Our last night saw me prep a pilaf for one of the managers of Marseille Echecs and his friend. Maurizio is from Colombia and a bit stronger than I. I couldn’t tell if he let me win the first game or if he just blundered but I suspect the former.