Marseille is a very, very special place. It is a city that stays with you long after you’ve left it — it’s raw, it’s real, it’s full of provocative contrasts. It whispers things like ‘freedom’ and ‘fire’ in your ear and asks you, gently but urgently, to step up to be the person you were always meant to be.

The winding seaside avenue, ‘La Corniche’, is minutes away from the space - the evening light is magical and seeing this great natural beauty juxtapositioned so closely against the neon glare of human city life always brings me to my knees - there is a tenderness in this city, here you can feel the great fight of life, you can feel the protection of individuality here in a world where the expansion of wings is becoming harder and harder. This city still lets you fly.

When I first moved to the south of France after living for many years in Paris, I was worried I wouldn’t like Marseille. In fact, the first couple of times I visited this city, I found it quite off-putting to use polite terms. Now, I can honestly say this might be the best city in the world. The light, the proximity to nature, how it seems to be oblivious to the onward march of world-wide homogeneity in garish pop culture. It’s a rebel.  I love the feeling of freedom you can find here.

For a weekend or a week or a month (which may turn into forever if, like me, you fall in love with this one-of-a-kind city) - Le Self Retreat in Vauban is the perfect, perfect spot from which to explore the city. You are up high, you see the skies vast and clear, there is everything you need a stone’s throw away, including some of the city’s best restaurants and fitness studios, and you feel out of the fray but still in the mix. 

-Julia