Plunge Into An Underwater World

This part of the world goes rather quiet in November. But, judging by my visitor numbers and demographics, there are a fair few people coming down to Provence at half-term and looking for things to do with the family -- in not necessarily clement weather. The perfect answer: the World Festival of Underwater Pictures in Marseille, a very long-established and prestigious fest of films, photographs and artwork, accompanied by children's workshops and all sorts of other things to keep them happy.

Marseille, à la Peter Mayle

In Peter Mayle's new novel set in - well, you guess - the main character attends a rap concert, necks a few beers with Joey Barton after an Olympique de Marseille match, buys a rather out-there shirt from Marseille's hottest young new designer on the Cours Julien and enjoys a slap-up meal of couscous in Belsunce... only joking. In fact, Mayle's comedy thriller takes you on a tour through the usual tourist attractions and upscale restaurants of the Old Port area and contains few surprises -- except, perhaps, in his choice of villain. All the same, The Marseille Caper is an easy, breezy entertaining holiday read. Click here to read more.

A New Classical Music Festival in Aix en Provence

So I've now reached as far as March with my diary of events in the South of France in 2013, when Marseille-Provence (that's the whole region, not just the town) will be European Capital of Culture. And I wanted to flag up, in particular, the brand-new Easter Festival of classical music which will be launched for the first time next year in Aix en Provence and will be a sister-event to the city's long-established and prestigious Festival of Lyric Art in July. The full programme is now online, and the online box-office also opens today, so get in early to play your trip! Click here to read more.

France's First Metropolitan Long-Distance Footpath

A new hiking trail seems at first an unusual project for the European Capital of Culture's programme. But the Grande Randonnée 2013, or GR2013, is a long-distance footpath with a difference.

Mapped out by a collective of artists who are also keen ramblers, it doesn't just pass through some of the magnificent countryside and familiar tourist attractions for which Provence is justly celebrated. The Grande Randonnée 2013 also takes hikers to unusual, little-known places: disused factories, industrial trading estates, odd graffiti, Marseille airport and Aix TVG station.  It's being described as "the first metropolitan hiking trail".

And if you think that hiking isn't really a cultural activity, think again. Those crazy artists are lining a packed programme of events and activities all along the route throughout 2013. Click here to read more.

Marseille-Provence 2013 European Capital of Culture

In between a fabulous mini-break in Italy, I've started my complete guide to this enormous jamboree. The European Capital of Culture is not confined to Marseille - it sprawls all over Southern Provence, as far east as La Ciotat, as far west as Arles and the Camargue and as far north as Saint Rémy de Provence. There's an enormous amount going on, it kicks off on the weekend of 12-13 January 2-13 and I'll be keeping a close eye on all the news. Here's my events diary for January 2013 - watch this space for further developments.

Casting the Anchor

 It's been a busy ten days, as I've been building a website for my local restaurant, L'Ancre (The Anchor - there's a huge one just in front of it -- goodness knows how it originally got there). This intimate place is right at the entrance to Niolon, with an outdoor terrace overlooking the bay towards Marseille and a cosy indoor dining area with an open fire.

It has gone through successive waves of bad or apathetic management and last year got a truly terrible review in the restaurant guide Le Bouche à Oreille. But it has been take over this summer by a family from the village and I can testify that the mother is an excellent cook. So, when you have a moment, take a look at the (my!) website for L'Ancre. And, of course, do visit the restaurant itself if you're ever down Niolon way.

An Extraordinary Trip Round the Bay

I love September in Provence. Well, I love Provence at most times of the year, but right now the dog days of August and its sweltering heat are over, the weather is mild, the tourists are gone (mostly) and there's a ton of exciting things to do. Septembre en Mer (September by the Sea) is a case in point: this festival (which actually sprawls over a good six weeks from late August to early October) encompasses hundreds of marine-related events, from an introduction to scuba diving to a gastronomic fish barbecue overseen by a top local chef or a visit to a lighthouse or shipyard. Yesterday I opted for a boat trip to the Riou Archipelago, a cluster of islands off the coast near Marseille's calanques. This nature reserve is an amazing lunar landscape and eco-system that's normally closed to visitors throughout the year except for four days in September. Click here to see my photo gallery on Facebook.

In the Footsteps of Churchill and the Aga Khan

I'm continuing my survey of places to stay in Aix with a visit to the Grand Hotel Roi René, whose illustrious guests have included Winston Churchill and the Aga Khan. I love grand hotels, especially when there's a bit of history, intrigue and romance attached - the Beauvau in Marseille (which once housed Chopin and George Sand) and the Hotel d'Europe in Avignon (Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning) both spring to mind. So how did the Roi René stack up? Click here to read more.

Food, Glorious Food

I was recently invited to a preview visit of the Camp des Milles, a huge former brick factory just outside Aix en Provence which was used as an internment camp at the beginning of the Second World War and opens to the public as a memorial early next month. Over 10,000 people were locked up here: political dissidents, "enemy aliens", artists, intellectuals and Jews - sometimes all five categories at once. Visiting the camp could have been depressing, but in fact it's thought-provoking and, in a strange way, inspiring - mainly because the artists holed up there found extraordinary ways of transforming their experience. On near-starvation rations, they covered all the walls of one room with surreal frescoes celebrating a superabundance of food.... Click here to read more

The Black Pavilion of Dance

I've been doing a little exploring outside the immediate centre of Aix around the Cours Mirabeau and have made some fascinating discoveries. Like the mysterious and dramatic Pavillon Noir, designed by the starchitect Rudy Ricciotti, which rears up on a a tiny strip of ground on a side-street just off La Rotonde. This is the home of the world-famous dance company Ballet Preljocaj (it's performing at the Edinburgh Festival next week) and hosts a packed programme of activities, including open rehearsals, dance classes, workshops and apéro-performances at which you can chat to the dancers over a drink after the show. And the building itself, which offers regular free guided visits once a month, is intriguing in its own right. I went on one of these tours backstage to take a look. Click here to read more.