Marseille · Food

The Noailles market at 5 rue du Marché des Capucins in the 1st, open Monday to Saturday 08:00–19:00 and closed Sunday. Spices, North African and Comorian groceries and the cheapest fruit and vegetables in the centre; it is a market people shop at rather than photograph.

Fishermen sell the morning's catch straight off the boats at the head of the Vieux-Port, most mornings and finished by early afternoon. You are unlikely to cook any of it, but it is where the fish in the expensive bouillabaisses comes from and it costs nothing to walk past.

At 140 rue du Vallon des Auffes, a tiny fishing cove wedged under the Corniche, serving bouillabaisse daily 12:00–14:00 and 19:00–22:00. This is the sit-down, two-service version of the dish rather than a bowl of soup, it is priced accordingly, and you need to book.

The bakery at 136 rue Sainte has been making navettes since 1781: hard, dry, orange-flower biscuits shaped like little boats, traditionally eaten around Candlemas but sold all year. A bag of twelve is €13.50, and they keep for weeks, which makes them the one edible souvenir here that survives the trip home.