Marseille is a city nestled between sea and hills with over 35 miles of coastline, a vibrant history of arts and music, and a 2600 year long reputation for doing things differently. Most Americans still remember Marseille for being the bad-boy city in the movie the French Connection, and, in fact, Marseille has always been pretty wild. Cannons at some of Marseille’s ports actually point in towards the city instead of out towards sea—how’s that for a city protecting itself against itself?

It’s always been a fascinating place of irony and contradictions, and this week Peter Greenberg Worldwide broadcasted from the new InterContinental Marseille – Hotel Dieu, which keeps with that irony as one of the city’s most iconic, but new historic hotels. Before a total renovation, the InterContinental Marseille – Hotel Dieu was a hospital and home for the poor. After a century of service, the building was then abandoned, but has since been renovated into a five start hotel within the last year.

Joining us this past week were Tashina Giraud Moore,  board member of Calanques National Park, who taught us the proper way to pronounce “calanque” and gave us her tips for getting to the best that Marseille’s restaurant scene has to offer; Joe Sharkey, writer for the New York Times, who talked about how airline mergers are going to affect travelers (hint: it’s not good), and Bob Stuart of Hertz, who shared rental car stories and advances in rental car technology.

Check out this week’s guest list, listen to the latest all-local podcast, and stream the full show below.

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