OCTOBER 2023 · ESCAPE
Marseille's waterside
Vieux-Port, Marseille
The fish market at Quai des Belges runs in the morning. Vendors standing behind overflowing blue crates, boats unloading into the quayside, the catch already in the boxes before the tourists have had breakfast. A vendor beside a full crate of fresh fish, gesturing. That's the market: the gesture, the product, the indifference to being photographed.
The Vieux-Port is a working harbour that also happens to be scenery. Sailboats crowd the inner basin from end to end — ochre and cream apartment buildings reflected in the still water at the far end, the hillside above stacked with historic structures and a church spire above the fortification walls. From the elevated position at the north end of the harbour the density of the city is visible: orange-tiled roofs running back from the waterfront as far as the eye gets.
It sat in October sun on the concrete with the complete confidence of something that belongs exactly where it is.
Vieux-Port — October 2023
I was working from multiple vantage points. Ground level at the quayside, framed through an archway looking south toward the cathedral dome, elevated at the edge of the fort. Each position gives different information. The arch cuts the harbour into a compressed view. The elevation shows the city as mass.
Then: a vintage white car on the waterfront, laden with an improbable quantity of cargo. Not a market vehicle. Not obviously functional. The load was larger than the car in every direction. It sat in October sun on the concrete with the complete confidence of something that belongs exactly where it is. Part of an art exhibit, as it turned out.
On the far side of the harbour, dark smoke rising from buildings. Fire crews were there. The city didn't pause for it.
The modern museum building — cantilevered concrete over the water — in black and white: the geometry holds without the distraction of the stone and sky.
Fish market vendor gestures beside overflowing blue crate of fresh fish at Quai des Belges
Street cafe with white awning and green umbrellas, diners seated at small tables
Historic apartment buildings clustered on hillside with church spire and fortification walls
Vintage white car piled with oversized cargo on sunny concrete waterfront
Fishing boat moored at Vieux-Port quay with multi-story buildings behind
Aerial view of Vieux-Port crowded with sailboats and fishing vessels
Sailboats moored at waterfront with ochre and cream-colored historic buildings reflected in calm harbor
View through arched doorway framing Vieux-Port, boats, cathedral dome, and city buildings
Dark smoke and fire erupting from buildings across the harbor at Vieux-Port
Modern concrete museum building with cantilever design overlooking harbor in black and white
Weathered seaside cliffs and terracotta-roofed buildings along Mediterranean coast
Elevated view of harbor waterfront with apartment blocks and sailboats
Aerial cityscape of Marseille with dense orange-tiled roofs and Mediterranean sea
Wide expanse of apartment buildings with distinctive orange roof tiles across Marseille