Views from one of the rooms of the Tuba hotel
"A bar lived here." If they wanted, they could place a plaque with such a phrase in this magical place that, in fact, has evidence of its past as a bar and restaurant. back in 1908.
At that time there were few who spent the summer in Marseille, many more who fished and had a drink in the sun, so it was not until 1946 when, after repairing the damage suffered by the bombings of the Second World War, the joint became the hotel Les Roches Blanches. Yes, in a small hotel of those idyllic ones, of those of dreaming with divine times.
Atmosphere and hammock area in Tuba, on a cliff on the coast of Marseille
In the 70s a pizzeria was added; later, the tourist development divided it into two spaces, the l'Escale restaurant and the Kon Tiki club, and, since In the 80s, it lived its golden age, becoming a phenomenal diving club. with partners like the great freediver Jacques Mayol, called “the dolphin man”, and Albert Falco, captain of Jacques Cousteau's legendary Calypso. Almost nothing.
Tuba, from a mythical diving club to a tiny hotel by the sea
This prologue, rather a quick trip to the past, was necessary to better understand what happened just a few weeks ago and what in Condé Nast Traveler we tell you in scoop for Spain because that is how its creators wanted it: Tuba, the emblematic hideout of Goudes , located on the Marseille coast and in front of the photogenic Calanques –those glittering cliffs that collapse into the sea–, has come back to stay. But don't tell anyone.
Grégory Gassa, from the world of fashion, and Fabrice Denizot, film producer, decided to anchor here with the emotion of someone who knows they have found a treasure. The architect Marion Mailaender, A childhood friend of Greg and Fab, she had the task, not an easy one, of bringing these 350 square meters back to life without losing sight of the reason for all this: the extreme sublimation of Mediterranean life, disconnection and, why not say it, laziness.
The little houses of Goudes
To do so, he could not –or rather, he did not want– to avoid the memory of E-1027, the house that Eileen Gray and architect Jean Badovici, editor of L'Architecture Vivante magazine, built at the end of the 1920s in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and that LeCorbusier, as a thank you after staying there for a few days, decorated with murals that horrified Gray to the point that he never set foot there again. The villa –and its murals– is today an icon of modernism that has managed to remain standing because art on the Côte d'Azur rarely fades.
One of the five rooms of Tuba
And yes, we have jumped into the past again, the place makes it inevitable, when we have come here to talk about the present. The one in this shed, because a shed is after all, with only five rooms and a lot of art, the one they would police Thomas Mailaender –His is the idea of inviting the plastic artist Julien Bertier, whose work love love it is a boat that seems to be shipwrecked in the sea – and Emmanuelle Luciani, whose collective of artists, Southway Studio, he has created a large fresco on the front steps and decorated a clay tile for each bathroom. One nothing else. Touch.
The decoration, although we do not want to say the word "minimalist", it is. Let's agree better than it is about simplicity, about purity, they even speak about “honesty”: sea grasses, iodized carpentry, snowy white sheets, wooden headboards with boat-type plywood, small paintings and souvenirs and pipe coat racks by the artist Elvire Bonduelle coexist with the Mediterranean joy of the restaurant, for 80 people and with two terraces that you will never want to leave.
you will never want to leave
The chef Bruno Bousselmania works the local product, what else, to make it very clear where we are and why, while Mika animates the bar after having passed through the Bachaumont hotel bar under the baton of Experimental Group. Everything stays in France, that is.
Corner with pieces of local crafts, books and souvenirs
No, do not expect to find in Tuba the bathrobe at the foot of your bed. Instead of the typical, because here nothing is as typical as it seems, a mask, fins and a snorkel await you in your room to remind you that this was once a diving club and that you will be able to emulate Mayol and his gang together with the instructors of Beuchat Diving.
Those who prefer to enjoy the sea from the surface also have it within reach: two boats offer visits to the island of Maïre and the Friuli.
It will be by islands, it will be by sea. The same one that, damn, we throw away more than 600,000 tons of plastic every year, that's why you won't see a single disposable here, neither a wrapped soap nor a straw to put in your mouth. A "green card" welcomes guests and reminds all the gestures to adopt for a stay as ecological as possible.
Otherwise, do nothing. Let laziness invade you.
*This report was published in the number 141 of the Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (September) . Subscribe to the printed edition (11 printed issues and a digital version for €24.75, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website). The September issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available in ** its digital version to enjoy it on your preferred device. **
Mediterranean light entering a room