The Travel Pages makes some suggestions if you want to go shopping in Marseille, including buying local specialties like navettes and santons.

Whether you want French fashion or Provençal souvenirs, Marseille is a great shopping city. The main shopping quarter lies just behind the port off La Canebière. To the south, you’ll find designer shops along rue Paradis and its side streets. Chic boutiques and European chains occupy the restored grand buildings of the parallel, pedestrianised rue St-Ferreol. To the north of the boulevard is Centre Bourse, a large indoor mall with a branch of the Galeries Lafayette department store.

Good local shops and markets sell food, drink, olive oil, soap or colourful Provençal ceramics. There are also terrific local specialities such as santons and the local biscuits known as navettes.

SHOPPING IN MARSEILLE

Navettes

Navettes have been made in Marseille at the Four des Navettes bakery since the 18th century, and are as popular today as they were back then. The recipe is, of course, the proverbial closely-guarded secret, but they rely on a particular kind of flour, kneaded in an old kneading trough which has slowly-turning blades, and then baked in the original perfectly round oven, which dates from 1781 and is based on a Roman design. The result is a hard and dry but extremely tasty biscuit, that’s a popular gift locally and also makes a good souvenir.

Four des Navettes
136 rue Sainte, 13007 Marseille
Tel: 04 91 33 32 12

Santons

The idea of having small indoor cribs at Christmas originated in Marseille. At the time of the French Revolution, the churches were closed and so there were no outdoor cribs for the season. People began secretly making their own indoor cribs. In 1798 a Marseille man named  Jean-Louis Lagnel then began making miniature clay figures at his workshop at 13 Rue de Refuge in the Panier district. He was inspired by local characters so that he produced not just the usual nativity figures, but peasants and fishermen to surround the cribs as if paying homage. And so the Marseille tradition of the santon maker was born.

The santons are still made today, and there’s been a Santon Fair in Marseille ever since 1803 when people began selling the figures on the streets in the build-up to Christmas. Today the city still has a few dozen santon makers, though André Robbe (see below) is the only one who still makes them in the traditional manner.

Other santon makers include

Atelier Arterra
15 rue du Petit-Puits, 13002 Marseille
Tel: 04 91 91 03 31

Santons Marcel Carbonel
47 rue Neuve Sainte-Catherine, 13007 Marseille
Tel: 04 91 54 26 58

Ceramics

Serge Moutarlier
7 rue du Petit-Puits, 13002 Marseille
Tel: 04 91 90 68 32

Many artisans have shops in rue du Petit-Puits and the adjacent place des Pistoles in Le Panier. Serge Moutarlier creates wonderful novelty teapots, ceramics, plates, cups and more, all in bright Provençal colours: deep blues, greens, yellows.

La Sardine d’Argile
5 rue du Petit-Puits, 13002 Marseille
Tel: 04 91 90 30 72

Up the same street at ‘The Clay Sardine’, Jean-Marc Saman practices the art of making faïence ware, using traditional methods, colours and motifs such as the eponymous fish.

Food and Drink

La Maison du Pastis
108 quai du Port, 13002 Marseille
Tel: 04 91 90 86 77

If you think you‘ve tasted pastis, the regional aperitif that originated in Marseille, because you have had one of the big-name brands in a café or bar, think again. Here, in a shop that’s unique in France according to its owner, you can taste the products of several dozen local producers, some of whom can take several months to mature their pastis. Some have up to 14 different flavours in them, including coriander, cardamom, anise and two kinds of liquorice.

In La Maison du Pastis you can also try absinthe and other local products such as tapenade, olives, mustard of pastis, pastis terrine and an exclusive pastis OM (the Olympique Marseille brand).

Place aux Huiles
2 place Daviel, 13002 Marseille
Tel: 04 91 90 05 55

This delightful shop next to the Hotel-Dieu specialises in Mediterranean produce, mostly of the edible and drinkable variety. They have a wide selection of olive oils, some of which you can taste, as well as tapenade, mustard, vinegar, honey, cider, the local beer (La Cagoule), olives and anchovies. There’s Marseille soap too, cosmetics and olive wood carvings.

Soap

La Compagnie de Provence
1 rue Caisserie, 13002 Marseille
Tel: 04 91 56 20 94

Marseille has a long tradition of soap-making, and still has a few factories producing the real thing with its trademark Savonne de Marseille stamp on it. It’s made with 72% vegetable oil. You can buy it here at this swish and modern soap and cosmetic specialist, along with perfumes, liquid soaps, lavender soaps and other treats that make great gifts.

Markets

Fish Market
quai des Belges, Vieux Port, 13001 Marseille

Centuries old traditional market, when fishermen from the little fishing villages along the Corniche bring their catch in to sell each morning. It’s not huge but there’s a great atmosphere, a lot of banter and some fascinating sea creatures to look at. Open every morning.

Provençal Market
quai des Belges, Vieux Port, 13001 Marseille

On Sundays alongside the fish market, arts and craft makers set up their stalls to provide colourful displays of good quality gifts, including bright ceramics, napkins and tablecloths, soap, jewellery, paintings and foodstuffs, all of which really zing with the sun of southern France. It is open every weekend and on some weekdays in the summer.

THE SANTON MAKER

André Robbe holds a tiny painted figure in his hands, and introduces him as Bartelemé. Robbe is the only one of the city’s santon makers to use the original method, which is to make a mould of the body of the little model, and add the arms on later. Today all other santons are made in complete moulds. It may be a tiny difference to the outsider, but to Monsieur Robbe it is a question of keeping the tradition alive.

‘This is Bartelemé,’ he says, ‘and his nickname is Pistachio. Every one of the santons has a history, and I create them to reflect the history of that time, and I use the fabrics of that time for their clothing. Bartelemé is always happy, very generous by nature, always dreaming. Every time he goes to visit the crib he carries with him everything he owns. When he heard the angels he dressed very quickly and forgot a few garments. On the way to the crib he chased after the young girls. When he approached the baby his trousers fell down.

‘In Provence to have good pistachios you need one male tree to 40 female trees. If you call an older man a pistachier it’s nice because he has many lady friends. For a young boy it’s not such a good term. It’s the same character as the Greek God Pan, which is why his tunic is green. The santons, you see, are like pillars of our society.’

Le Cabanon des Accoules
1 rue des Moulins, 13002 Marseille
Tel: 06 73 74 77 52