GO! - Capital of Culture Opening Weekend 12/13 January

The moment you've been waiting for! If you can't make it to Aix for the Air Force Flying display, go into Marseille and take a look at work in progress on the new buildings. On 12 January you can go into the old Station Sanitaire and see what is planned for the new Regards de Provence gallery as well as admiring the work of Georges Rousse, Dominik Barbier and Anne Van Steen. There are also exhibitions in J1 in the docks area. You can download a programme from the site. On 13 January you can visit the MUCEM building, due to open in June.

J1 La joliette

If you're after sound and light go to the upper car park of the Grand Littoral at 5:30pm on 12th to see the start of the light parade the march of the machines, mechanical diggers and agricultural machinery as you have never seen them.

Get Set - Capital of Culture opening weekend 12/13 January

On Sunday 13 January there are treasure hunts all over the place, 112 routes in 20 Communes. Find our how much you know and learn lots more about the Marseille Povence area by taking part on one (or more) of the hunts. They are free. They take place between 10am and 3pm and there are prizes too! You can register for them on the MP2013 site.

If you use the interactive map you will find some hunts in English and some accessible for people with reduced mobility and some for people with children in pushchairs.

On your marks - Capital of Culture opening weekend 12/13 January

It's time to plan where you want to be for the grand opening of the Capital of Culture year. There are major events in Marseille, Aix and Arles and smaller ones in Aubagne and Gardanne. The Grande Clameur (the Big Noise) is at 7pm on Saturday in Marseille. There will be people performing music, dance and generally making a noise all over the city.  There's a Google Map of all the events.

Try a concert of bicycle bells by the bandstand at the top of the Canebière, organised by Vélos en Ville (No. 22 on map), or a concert in sign language on the Vieux Port, organised by the Collectif Langues des Signes et Culture Sourde Marseille Provence 2013 (No. 26 on map) .

The Clameur lasts five minutes. After that there are events until the early hours, in the streets and at various venues. Get out there and celebrate.

New Year Concert 6 January 2013

Looking for some entertainment before the big Capital of Culture opening weekend? This concert will offer a varied mixture of popular and classical music to start the new year. It's at the Basilica Sacré Coeur on the Prado (No 81, near metro Perier). It starts at 4pm and it costs 10€ (free for under 13s).

The performance includes extracts from Haydn's Creation, Tchaikovski's Nutcracker suite, Bach's Magnificat, The Merry Widow and West Side Story. The singers are Murielle Tomao and Jean Christophe Born, with Christophe Guida playing the organ.

Descent of the Shepherds 24 December

Allauch, always good for Christmas atmosphere, has a live performance of the revelation of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. It's entertaining even if you dont speak Provençal. It starts at 10:15 pm in the hills above the city and ends with the shepherds herding their sheep down the street to a living creche in the church for midnight mass that starts at 11pm. Just the ticket.

If you have young children aged 6-12 years, there are activities in the village on 24 December between 2 and 5pm.

Circus Performance by Cirque Eloize 8 December

The Montreal circus troupe Cirque Eloize has a a new production, Cirkoplis, which pays tribute to Bandes Desinées (cartoons). They promise to be as impressive as ever with their spectacular choreographed acrobatic performances.

They're at the Silo, an impressive venue for an impressive troupe, on Saturday 8 December at 8pm. Tickets are from 33€ to 44€, available on line from the Silo website.

Christmas Market Allauch 8 and 9 December

Get into the mood by visiting Allauch's Provençal Christmas market, Santa will be there (of course), there are stalls selling food (marrons glacés, chocolate and local nougat) and drink and you'll find those elusive perfect Christmas presents. There will be activites for children of all ages. It starts on Saturday afternoon and is open Sunday from 10am.

You can also go to the Vieux Bassin to see Gilbert Orsini's animated creche. The whole gallery is filled with images of Provençal villages inhabited by santons spinning yarn, making bread and celebrating Christmas - definitely worth a look.

To get to Allauch from central Marseille take metro line 1 to La Rose and bus 144 from there.