The cacophony burst out of nowhere. Dozens of car horns hooted at full blast, a motorcyclist did an impressive wheelie in the middle of the street and wedding guests wound down their car windows and bellowed at the top of their voices. Most bizarrely of all, a man in a sharply cut suit gesticulated wildly from the roof of a Mini as it sped along. ‘Welcome to Marseille,’ laughed my ...keep reading
Three days after the horrific terror attacks in Paris I can’t stop thinking about those who died. Their faces stare out of the front pages – smiling, full of joie de vivre and heartbreakingly young. Like most people, I’ve spent hour after hour listening to the radio, unable to concentrate on anything else at all. The newspapers have done an exemplary job, reporting on the manhunt, interviewing the bereaved with sensitivity and ...keep reading
Spectacular. That really is the only way to describe the Museé de Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerannée in Marseille – or MuCEM for short. A rectangular building on the water’s edge, MuCEM is the stunningly bold vision of architect Rudy Ricciotti, who studied architecture in Marseille in his twenties. Covered in intricately-cast concrete that’s designed to look like a lace veil, Riccioti’s creation not only looks beautiful but ...keep reading