To you and me, Marseille soap is a quaint artisanal product.
But a century ago it was a huge international industry. And the center of the craft was Salon-de-Provence. The trade slumped a few decades later when washing machines and detergents arrived, but there are two old-school factories in the city, plying their craft as they did a century ago and happy to receive curious visitors. Soap doesn’t tell the whole story of the city, as there are a princely medieval castle and some sights relating to the enigmatic Nostradamus who lived and died here. The cute squares with airplane trees and coffee tables, and the rocky countryside of wild herbs, vines, and olive trees are all Provence photo books. Discover the best things to do in Salon-de-Provence.
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1. Savonnerie Marius Fabre
Marius Fabre soap is sold worldwide and has been produced at Salon-de-Provence for four generations since 1900. The factory is a rare vestige of an industry that led the world a century ago.
Free guided visits are offered in French or English, explaining all the traditional knowhow that still goes into this olive oil soap, from the first step to the completed product. There’s also a museum with antique boxwood soap stamps, molds, crates, and wonderful old packaging.
2. Château de l’Empéri
Surveying the Crau plain from cannabis on Rocher de Puech is the medieval castle Salon-de-Provence. The towers are a symbol for the city and cap a noble property formerly inhabited by the Archbishops of Arles and Holy Roman Emperors.
The castle has a museum inside dedicated to the French military up to the First World War, so among many things, you’ll notice how uniforms and small arms changed over the course of hundreds of years.
There are some awesome showpieces too, like the gloves worn by Napoleon during the Egyptian campaign and a leather pouch belonging to Louis XV.
3. Fontaine Moussue
Salon-de-Provence would be the same without the eerie mushroom fountain on Place Croustillat. The fountain has been here since the 1500s, at a place where the town’s residents have sought coolness and shade for much longer than that.
But it was only in the 20th century that concretions formed on the limestone, fusing the fountain’s two basins together. And since then moss and other vegetation have conquered the monument and caused its strange, fungus-like profile.
4. Tour de l’Horloge
Something else to admire while you sip coffee or aperitif at Place Croustillat is a beautiful Baroque tower that marks the northern entrance of the old city. This went up in the 1630s and replaced the old fortified gate.
There’s a lot of workmanship to run your eye over, from the gargoyles and quoins to the clock, moon phase chart and the elegant iron campanile.
Just above the pediment that caps the portal is a crest reading “La Loi” (The Law): This is an interesting remnant from the Revolution, as it is exactly where the King’s crest would have been.
5. Porte du Bourg Neuf
The hulking eastern entrance to the center of Salon-de-Provence is more how Salon-de-Provence’s ramparts would have looked before the 1600s. It’s a hardy crenelated gate, with an arrow loop on the front and machicolations under the battlements.
There’s a coat of arms just above the archway, and as you go through you’ll pass a medieval statue of the Virgin with Child. It’s a Black Madonna, and, as is usually the case, has turned this color because of the build-up of residue over hundreds of years.
6. Savonnerie Rampal Latour
On summer mornings the city’s other old soap factory is happy to show you its century of know-how. Rampal has been in running at this site since 1907 and, because it sticks with time-honored methods, makes a soap that is both kinds to your skin and the environment.
Although this quaint old factory is from the early 20th century you’ll learn how the craft runs much deeper in the Rampal family, to at least 100 years before that. If you are impressed by what you see here, or already know about Rampal Latour, you can buy this handmade soap in bulk at the factory's store.
7. Maison de Nostradamus
This 16th-century prophet, born Michel de Nostredame, still has the power to fascinate people for nearly half a millennium after his death.
At Salon-de-Provence, you can go to the house where he lived from 1547 to 1566. His most famous book, Prophecies was written while he was at this address today is Rue Nostradamus.
There aren’t any artifacts from Nostradamus’ time; instead, you’ll get a 40-minute audioguide tour that frames the man as a Renaissance humanist, devoting himself to learning and science in the risky days of the Inquisition.
8. Église Saint-Laurent
This church was built beyond the city’s northern walls in the 14th and 15th centuries. It’s a Gothic edifice, but there are also hints of the Romanesque: You can see this earlier style in the lack of ornamentation on the outside, and how narrow the window openings are.
This might also have been a way to counter the mistral and fierce summer sun, and keep the inside cool. Either way, the interior dazzles with some of its décors. Things to hunt down in here are the 16th-century polychrome sculpture of Mary cradling Jesus’ body, and the tomb of Nostradamus in the Chapel of the Virgin.
9. Town Hall
More of sight to take in as you pass, the Hôtel de Ville still merits a stop and a photo. Like the Tour de l’Horloge close by, it’s from the 17th century and bears a lot of similarities in its Baroque style.
At ground level what will catch the eye is the fine wooden lintel, carved with Salon-de-Provence’s coat of arms. On the building’s front, two corners are turrets, while the building is capped with a stately balustrade.
On the square in front is a statue of the 16th-century engineer, Adam de Craponne. He was credited with opening up the town to agriculture by digging the canals that brought water from the Durance.
10. Zoo de la Barben
Give it 10 minutes on the Route de Saint-Cannat and you’ll be at the gates of this highly-rated zoo. You’ll visit to see hundreds of animals from 120 different species, but also to see some more of the bucolic countryside on the plateau just east of the city.
The park is in 30 hectares of holm oak forest, while if you’re concerned about animal welfare you might be happy to read that it channels profits to international animal protection projects.
Kids will be happy just to see elephants, giraffes, tigers, hippos, various bears, wolves, and jaguars.
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