8 May 29, 2022The Sunday Times
Travel European escapes
CAVE CREATIVES
IN MARSEILLES
Mankind has waited about
19,000 years to see once again
the Cosquer Cave paintings;
Marseilles has waited almost
ten to find a purpose for Villa
Méditerranée, a waterfront
pile redundant since its
construction — for both, the
wait is over. A diver discovered
the entrance to the cave 115ft
below the Med’s surface in
1985, and now the 500
paintings within have been
reproduced in a prehistoric
extravaganza colonising the
villa. In a country more
blessed with parietal art than
most (Lascaux and Chauvet
caves), the opening of Cosquer
this Saturday is a significant
cultural development (£13;
grotte-cosquer.com).
Details Room-only doubles
in the chic converted
townhouses of Hôtel Maison
Montgrand from £89 (hotel-
maison-montgrand.com).
Fly to MarseillesGAINSBOURG’S PARIS
Opening this spring is a groovy
departure from the hyper-
serious Parisian culture — the
former home of the popmusician-cum-polymath
Serge Gainsbourg. He lived
at 5 bis Rue de Verneuil from
1969 — the year that he and
Jane Birkin scandalised
delicate folk with Je t’aime... moi non plus — to his death
in 1991. Recreated as he left it,
down to the cigarette butts,
the house stands opposite a
museum and café that turns
into a piano bar at night
(maisongainsbourg.fr).
Details Room-only doubles
at the simple, central Hôtel
Tourisme Avenue from £110
(hoteltourismeavenue.com).
Take the Eurostar to Paris
The Cosquer Cave paintings will open to visitors
next month — one of many highlights on the
French cultural calendar, says Anthony Peregrine
CULTURED
FRANCE
HERVÉ LENAIN/ALAMY; MAXIME DUFOUR; SERGIO GAUDENTI/GETTY IMAGES