Dreaming of France -- Marseille

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

My husband and I have never been to Marseille, but instead of dreaming of France, we're really both dreaming of Marseille. Mostly, because we are including scenes that take place in Marseille in our current novels. Of course, it is possible to write about a place without visiting it.
It's fiction, so we can make up things. But it's best to actually visit and experience the city, the streets, the individual markets to give real flavor to a place.
We also can visit the very streets of Marseille on Google Maps and move along the streets like the cameras did.
I've been online looking at trips to Marseille. They're very affordable, especially in the winter. We could fly from Columbus to Marseille and spend six nights in a hotel for about $1500 each. That's almost too cheap not to go!
Here's a picture of one hotel that particularly appeals to me.

This picture from Expedia pops up for Escale Oceania Marseille Vieux Port.
I'm not sure if it's the carousel on the left side or the street lamp, the charming old building with the promise of a port behind it from the looks of the open space. The golden light shining onto the pale stones. I just love the idea of staying here and wandering around the streets of Marseille.
I know the city has a bad reputation, which is one of the reason the characters in my book are there, but I would probably want to venture out to visit some charming villages in nearby Provence too.
So for now, I'm dreaming of Marseille.
I look forward to seeing your posts. Thanks for playing along and please take the time to stop in at each other's blogs.