Top Things to Do in Marseille

Road corkscrews between terraces vines, Med glittering like beaten silver. Bandol Mourvèdre tastes of black fig and leather; Cassis cliff-top whites collect salt flakes from sea spray.

Meet by David's bronze on Canebière. Descend into 1960s blocks where washing lines sag like prayer flags. Taste Vietnamese nem, sniff the last soap maker slicing cubes with brass wire, end on a hidden rooftop, basilica to container port.

Chauffeured north past olive groves into Rhône Valley. Galets, pizza-sized stones, bake Grenache by night. In a 12th-century papal cellar the guide scratches the wall, revealing fossil oysters: seabed turned desert.

Minibus climbs cedar forests, air cools ten degrees, smells of resin and thyme. Gordes terrace stones warm your soles while Luberon valley unrolls like cracked ochre. June purple rows buzz with honey-drunk bees.

Driver waits beyond baggage, tablet in Helvetica, no queues, no ticket machines. 25 minutes flash past sunflowers and Aix aqueduct. Car air-con carries faint lavender scent.

Mainsail cracks like a wet towel leaving the Old Port. Diesel fumes swap to iodine breeze. From trampoline netting If Castle shrinks to Lego while skipper spoons sea-urchin roe onto buttered baguette.

Gangway to vineyard in 30 minutes. Driver tracks docking, routes you to family estates where cellar doors open with skeleton keys smelling of iron and last year's marc.

Cold zipper meets spine as you back-roll into water so clear you count chromis at 12 meters. Guide hands you a croaking brown meagre, then a sea urchin, living hedgehog. Deck lunch: tomato-shallot tart still warm from Pointe Rouge bakery.

Stone-vaulted shop off Cours Julien, sommelier dims lights to cellar amber. Blind flights, card asks "mineral or butter?", delivered. Cedar shelves, lavender bug repellent in air.