Photos and Videos

XL Airways launched seasonal nonstop New York-Marseille service in early June, giving tourists easier access to the city that is Europe's Capital of Culture this year and to all the appealing attractions in the area. Nadine Godwin, representing Travel Weekly on the inaugural service, took a look at a fast-evolving Marseille and, in the area, Avignon and Saint-Tropez. Pictured here, an evening view of Marseille's Vieux Port with the city's iconic Notre-Dame de la Garde highlighting the scene. Photos by Nadine Godwin

Photos & Videos

Dispatches from Provence

XL Airways launched seasonal nonstop New York-Marseille service in early June, giving tourists easier access to the city that is Europe's Capital of Culture this year and to all the appealing attractions in the area. Nadine Godwin, representing Travel Weekly on the inaugural service, took a look at a fast-evolving Marseille and, in the area, Avignon and Saint-Tropez. Pictured here, an evening view of Marseille's Vieux Port with the city's iconic Notre-Dame de la Garde highlighting the scene. Photos by Nadine Godwin

XL Airways launched seasonal nonstop New York-Marseille service in early June, giving tourists easier access to the city that is Europe's Capital of Culture this year and to all the appealing attractions in the area. Nadine Godwin, representing Travel Weekly on the inaugural service, took a look at a fast-evolving Marseille and, in the area, Avignon and Saint-Tropez. Pictured here, an evening view of Marseille's Vieux Port with the city's iconic Notre-Dame de la Garde highlighting the scene. Photos by Nadine Godwin

Chateau d'If, made famous by Alexandre Dumas' 19th century novel, ''The Count of Monte Cristo.'' The book's hero was fictional but the fortress, in Marseille's harbor, has been used as a prison.

One of the several trains that take tourists on sightseeing rides in downtown Marseille.

Marseille's modern European and Mediterranean Civilizations Museum (referred to everywhere as MuCEM). The structure's black exterior has a surprisingly light and airy texture when seen up close.

The newly debuted MuCEM building, at left, linked to the historic Fort Saint-Jean, both part of Marseille's European and Mediterranean Civilizations Museum.

The M Pavilion, at right, a temporary building providing tourist assistance, including information and booking services associated with Marseille's year (2013) as Europe's culture capital. The InterContinental Marseille-Hotel Dieu is visible in the background.

Exterior of the InterContinental Marseille-Hotel Dieu.

The lobby of the InterContinental Marseille-Hotel Dieu, very modern interior space for a hotel that was an 18th century hospital.

Historic walls surrounding the old center of Avignon.

The 14th century papal palace in Avignon, saved from the depredations of 18th century French revolutionaries because it was too big and difficult to knock down.

A close-up view of the palace.

The basement kitchen at Avignon's La Mirande Hotel, where visitors may take cooking classes or even have dinner.

The Pont d'Avignon, Avignon's bridge of legend and song.

Chanel's location in Saint-Tropez.

Rooftops in Saint-Tropez, seen from the height of the village's 16th century citadel.

View of the colorfully painted houses that line the Saint-Tropez harbor where yachts moor by the hundreds.

Some of the visiting boats moored in the harbor at the edge of Saint-Tropez, a fishing village gone upmarket.

Picture-postcard view of Saint-Tropez from the top floor of the village's Hotel de Paris.

Exterior view of the Hotel de Paris in Saint-Tropez.

Lobby bar at the Hotel de Paris in Saint-Tropez.

Exteriors of some of the ''houses'' that comprise the Hotel Byblos in Saint-Tropez.

The author's suite in the Hotel Byblos, Saint-Tropez.

In the photo above, a celebratory spray showers an XL Airways aircraft at Marseille. This was not the plane that carried the author, but the celebratory experience was the same. Photo provided by XL Airways