Two things gave my day a huge boost: Sunny Mediterranean weather and having a GPS with me, an invaluable tool. You definitely need one when you have to navigate your way through ancient roads in the heart of Marseille.

It was kind of hard driving on these roads because of the road construction going on, with improvements being made to all the roads and highways, and it was especially difficult to drive around the old part of the city. Most of the roads are one way lanes passing through homes or stores, I could literally reach them from my car window, it wouldn’t have mattered how long my arms were.

Marseille had just won the bid for hosting the European Cultures Festival in 2013, so they are in a rush to shore up the roads in an attempt to boost up their city, to uplift their community and restore ancient buildings.

Between Rues Rodillat and Pistoles you’ll see the Vieille Charité, Marseille’s architectural gem. Built between 1671 and 1749 to care for the city’s down-and-outs, this former hospice is the work of the Puget brothers.

I admired the Vielle Charité chapel and its ovoid dome (egg-shaped), a masterpiece of Italian Baroque. The place, a haven of peace and silence, groups many museums such as the Mediterranean Archeology Museum; an African, Oceaninan, and Amerindian arts museum (MAAOA) with its’ Francois-Reichenbach collection.

I met Jean-Marc Saman, Deaf owner of a ceramics shop called La Sardine D’argile. When he opened the old gate and opened the inside glass door, it gave me goosebumps since he has a shop in a community started in 1500’s.

A day earlier, Saman told me that he is understocked with items because he recently sold a lot of them.

I entered the shop, and I stood there for a minute and realized I underestimated him. He had high quality of work with lots of creative details, and had an adequate supply in stock after all.

“Wow you have a good number of items at this moment,” I said to Saman.

Saman said, “Yeah, most busy months are from November to December and from May to July,” explaining “that’s why I consider myself understocked right now.”

He needs to make more ceramics after my visit to keep up with the demand, you will see why his ceramics are heralded in Marseilles as you follow today’s action with “No Barriers with Joel Barish.”

I followed him going downstairs. I continued being in awe over his shop. Visiting Europe certainly takes me back in time when people show me authentically ancient surroundings, it is one thing that will stick with me always — I live in modern housing, so when I visit these places, it really gives me a glimpse of what life was like before our great-great-great grandfathers were born, by seeing how they lived.

The basement is a truly ancient cellar with curved stone, all brick. I learned that it used to be an underground canal and a series of water wells. There are lots of molds, clays, paintings and artwork in the workstation where he and one other employee works.

We went back upstairs as there are two ovens to heat the ceramics. Saman showed me how he makes tiles, vases, unique arts and crafts. He mentioned that he used some stencil images that has been used for many generations. He won’t adapt to the younger generation as he wants to keep things the same from the old ancient days. People who come to buy ceramics want that kind of rare originality.

Some customers came in so I moved aside to watch him serve them, observing that he could speak French very well.

He has a hearing wife of 35 years. His family came from Mediterranean Sea; Turkey, Greece, Italy and Lebanon. His wife’s family came from Argentina. Both families have been well known in Marseille for many years.

After my video work with him, he wanted to take me and Seth to his village of Puyloubier.

Puyloubier is conveniently located at the foot of the green pastures leading up to the top of the Sainte-Victoire Mountain, a limestone mountain ridge in the south of France. The mountain is renowed for its many appearances in the paintings of artist Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), who had a strikingly close-up view from his house.

With vast woods and rocky landscapes, Puyloubier offers a beautiful array of wild and preserved landscapes. Puyloubier is one of the points on the Cézanne trail which starts at Aix-en-Provence, where the communes in the Aix area can be found near the places where Cézanne lived and worked at.

Trying to park my rental car in the most narrow street ever, barely squeezing in, I shook my head. Stepping out of the car, I saw only three restaurants in the village.

Walking up the very old steps, I went through an ancient looking door and saw five tables outside. The restaurant had only one waitress. I could see a wooden menu board. They make fresh food everyday from scratch, which made the entrees very satisfying along with local French wine. I sat, watching as Jean-Marc shared his interesting stories.

Said Saman, “I grew up in a high class family, having four brothers and one sister. I used to go to the Deaf school in Paris, too.”

He remembered old days riding on steamed trains filled with white smoke. He signed it very proficiently, clearly illustrating the image of smoke billowing from the train, saying that “It chugged for 16 hours one way from Marseille to Paris.”

Back then, he flew in an old airplane with two heavy propellers for 4 hours at low altitude to get there. Saman says, “It’s now only 3 hours on TGV or only 70 minutes of flight time,” laughing.

Life changes over time. It would be interesting to see what life was like 50 years ago, there are big advances in such a short period of time, it is scary to think how far advanced technology would be in the next 100 years.

He also mentioned that once he joined his family to Argentina on an old plane, taking a 36 hour trip from Marseille to Buenos Aires, with stops in Canary Island, a small unknown island in the Atlantic ocean, the Caribbean islands, Venezuela, a village in Brazil, and finally Rio De Janeiro and Buenos Aires.

Said Saman, “In the old days the airlines were at their best, they gave the passengers high class service with really good food and huge chairs,” reminiscing, “I never forgot about riding in that plane that flew so close to the water and I could see the water from a very close distance, the plane was flying under the clouds, and it was a very shaky ride at times and a smooth ride during the trip.”

Admitted Saman, “Nowadays the airlines are like a cattle machine,” moving his hands and bending erectly, “once you are inside of the plane they tell you to sit still on your seat!”

He had traveled to 70 countries in his lifetime and even rode on an old cruise liner filled with people being wild in the night, continuing their folly until early morning. He went on a cruise in recent years and couldn’t believe how a cruise liner can hold 6,000 passengers nowadays.

We enjoyed chatting together, he was a very colorful personality with a smirk in his face as he boasted of the old days as it was compared to today. It would have been nice to be in his shoes seeing what it’s like to travel in airplanes in the old days when airlines weren’t struggling financially, when they had original airline service which somehow has evolved into a more of a soda and crackers experience today.

He still loves to travel, because it keeps his sanity.

Did I think he was a ceramist all his life? He actually used to work for the denture industry for thirty years before retiring. But that still wasn’t enough for him, he decided to study the art of ceramics and shortly opened his business thereafter. He preferred opening a small business because he loves to meet people everyday instead of having to work for a boss without any customers to talk to.

After an appetizing lunch, we drove a few miles away from the village through the gravel road to Saman’s home.

The home he just purchased three years ago, he couldn’t have picked a better location that had a beautiful view of Sainte-Victorie Mountains. It is a place where we could stay for hours drinking French wine, watching the unique shapes of the mountains. “I chose this location to get away from the city noise, not that I can hear it, but the quagmire of a crowded population was too much for me to bear,” noted Saman.

I am sorry to say, but nearly every exotic place I have gone to had either a coffee farm, or a winery vineyard. I want to bring to life the coffee and wine that most civilization can only see on the store shelves and share how they are processed from the time they are picked and the time checkout cashiers ring those items up for you. It’s fascinating to follow the trail of something that was picked out as ripe and distributed into the mainstream.

Saman lived next to a wine farm from his backyard, it would be so awesome to be able to rise from your bed and walk outside to pick some grapes to add to your breakfast plate.

If I had my own wine farm, I would make my own wine, and perhaps put on the label “Straight from the Barish Vineyards,” I thought with a chuckle.

He had built a homemade pond putting in 300-plus small fishes and created a lily pond for frogs. His wife will continue adding more plants around their land. I would love to have a home like his because that kind of environment will help reinvigorate me with renewed energy every morning.

Time was up for me to drive to Marseille airport for Paris’ Orly airport.

It was amazing day spending time with him indulging in his experiences in business and with his travels around the world.

He admired the fact I travel to meet Deaf people in the most remote of places. Conceded Saman, “I never thought about it throughout my travels with my wife, we were more of tourists and did a lot of sightseeing.”

“You do a lot of off-beat and unique travel stories,” a smiling Saman exclaimed, “giving the viewers what they want to see.”

Make sure you stop by his shop in Marseille!

La Sardine D’argile
5, rue du Petit Puits
“la Vieille Charite”
13002 Marseille