Page 152 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

the Knights Hospitaller ence. It’s a mishmash of cinema’s most prestigious
of St John of Jerusa- lanes hiding artisan shops, event on a 1½-hour guid-
lem. A vertigo-inducing ateliers (workshops) and ed tour run by the tourist
footbridge links the latter terraced houses strung office (%04 91 13 89 00;
with the stunning Musée with drying washing. www.marseille-tourisme.com;
des Civilisations de The Drive » To get from 11 La Canebière; h9am-7pm
l’Europe et de la Méditer- Marseille to Cannes, take the Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm Sun).
ranée, (MuCEM; www.mucem. northbound A52 and join the
org; 7 Promenade Robert Laffont; A8 toll road just east of Aix-en- 54 p172
adult/family/child €9.50/14/ Provence. It’s 181km and takes The Drive » Weave along
free; h10am-8pm Wed-Mon just under two hours. the D6007 to Nice, taking in
Jul & Aug, 11am-7pm Wed-Mon cliffs, turquoise waters and the
Sep, Oct, May & Jun, 11am-6pm yachties’ town of Antibes. It’s
Wed-Mon Nov-Apr) the icon of 9 Cannes 31km and, on a good day, takes
modern Marseille. Its vast The eponymous film 45 minutes.
anthropological collec- festival only lasts for two
tion is housed in a bold, weeks in May, but thanks
contemporary building to regular visits from cele- a Nice
known as J4, designed by brities the buzz and glitz You don’t need to be a
Algerian-born, Marseille- are in Cannes year-round. painter or artist to appre-
educated architect Rudi The imposing Palais ciate the extraordinary
FRANCE 10 ATLANTIC TO MED
Ricciotti. des Festivals et des light in Nice. Matisse,
From the Vieux Port, Congrès (1 bd de la Croisette; Chagall et al spent years
hike up to the fantastic guided tour adult/child €4/ lapping up the city’s
history-woven quarter free) is the centre of the startling luminosity and
of Le Panier, dubbed glamour. Climb the red radiance, and for most
Marseille’s Montmartre carpet, walk down the visitors to Nice, it is
as much for its sloping auditorium, tread the this magical light that
streets as its artsy ambi- stage and learn about seduces. The city has a
number of world-class
sights, but the star at-
traction is probably the
seafront Promenade des
DETOUR: Anglais. Atmospheric,
AIX-EN-PROVENCE beautiful and photogenic,
Start: 7 Arles (p147) it’s a wonderful place to
stroll (p200) or watch the
Aix-en-Provence is to Provence what the Left Bank world go by, so make sure
is to Paris: an enclave of bourgeois-bohemian chic. you leave yourself plenty
Art, culture and architecture abound here. A stroller’s of time to soak it all in.
paradise, the highlight is the mostly pedestrian old
city, Vieil Aix. South of cours Mirabeau, Quartier 54 p151, p172
Mazarin was laid out in the 17th century, and is home
to some of Aix’s finest buildings. Central Place des
Quatre Dauphins, with its fish-spouting fountain
(1667), is particularly enchanting. Further south still
is the peaceful Parc Jourdan, where locals gather
beneath plane trees to play pétanque.
From Arles it’s a 77km (one-hour) drive down the
A54 toll road to Aix-en-Provence. To rejoin the main
route take the A51 and A7 for 32km (30 minutes) to
Marseille.

150