The town is about 15 kilometres north east of France's third biggest city Marseille, 30km or so from Aix-en-Provence, about 10 km from the popular beach towns Cassis, La Ciotat and Cuges les Pins, and 5km from the towns of Carnoux en Provence, Roquevaire, Gémenos and Roquefort la Bédoule.

Aubagne can be traced to Roman times, although almost no known buildings from the town's early history remain. The town is partially built on a hill topped by a church, and in this area the buildings are three stories high at least, the streets dark, cool and narrow, most too small for cars. Little open areas suddenly appear as you round a corner, with a bench and fountain or a café. There are little shops selling excellent food underneath the colourful residential buildings. The town has a pleasant natural feel to it and is extremely pretty, some more like Spanish and Italian houses than the grim grey stone ones found in the rest of France.

This steep and winding area forms about half the centre of the town. The large town square is located at the base of the hill, occupying the wide centre strip of a grand tree-and-cafe lined main street, leading to the SNCF and bus stations, the autoroutes to Aix-en-Provence and Marseille and other smaller towns. The town square is home to different markets on different days, and features fountains and benches under the rather enthusiastically pruned plane trees. This is also the main shopping area, the streets which encirle it are lined with all sorts of shops. There are also several other open areas in the town, which are used for markets and performances during festivals.

The countryside around Aubagne is beautiful dry and dark green forest and scrubland, as well as some farms which are slowly disappearing and being replaced by houses as the area has in recent times become popular with young urban professionals. The area is hilly and rocky, incredibly picturesque in summer especially if you can ignore the freeways and other concrete monstrosities imposed upon the landscape. The beautiful semi-wild hill known as Garlaban, entrenched in local legend and history, forms a backdrop to Aubagne. Some of the beaches, especially the calanques at Cassis, are stunning. In summer the cicadas sing constantly.

Aubagne has been expanding greatly in recent years and the outlying areas have had several blocks of high-rise flats built. Aubagne adjoins several towns, such as Gémenos. Since the land all the way to Marseille is for the most part built upon, Aubagne could pretty much be considered an outer suburb.

Aubagne is extremely pleasant and peaceful but admittedly a bit boring for young people. There's a bowling alley, sporting fields and a McDonald's, or there's Marseille, Frioul and the various beach towns, where most of them spend their time in summer. As with everywhere in the south of France, the youth consume hashish quite regularly as a way to bide time. Long lunch hours and siestas are still the norm in this quiet, sunny town, schoolkids and parents alike often go home for lunch, or alternately eat in the cafeteria or nip across the road for a demi. There are two small cinemas in the town, as well as a swimming pool and the pleasant Parc Jean-Moulin. Concerts are sometimes held in cafs. Other ways to pass the time include playing petanque, drinking pastis and having a quiet beer or coffee in a bar somewhere. Football (aka soccer) is of course the most popular sport and Marseille's OM is enthusiastically supported at the expense of the local club (if indeed there is one).

The weather in Aubagne is beautiful, in summer generally very warm but almost never more than 30 degrees C, and when I was there for four months it rained perhaps twice. In winter it can reach below zero but snow falls rarely. The fierce hot wind which blows over the Mediterranean from Africa is known as the Mistral.

The locals of the town are generally very friendly, as are most in this part of France. The racial hatred and support for the Front National which is often associated with the south of France is generally absent in Aubagne, and the town council is generally quite leftist although the town does have its fair share of retired soldiers as well as a Foreign Legion museum. All one has to do is avoid the bars they frequent.

The Provencal language is still spoken by a few older residents of Aubagne and it is possible for students to learn it at school. The people of the region take pride in their sing-song accent and mock the harsh tones of the northern French, and there is a jocular rivalry between residents of this region and Paris, especially manifesting itself in terms of football - Paris St Germain versus OM.

The cuisine of Provence is based on the fish of the Mediterranean, fresh vegetables and the herbes de Provence, and the bouillabaisse is particular is highly recommended. Naturally, since Provence has been influenced by every other Mediterranean culture, the food is generally excellent and greatly varied, far better than in the rest of France which I reckon is overrated. Also located in Aubagne are several Tunisan and Algerian restaurants, more than one Chinese restaurant and a sushi bar, as well as many pizzerias. Pizza from Provence is amazingly good.

Marcel Pagnol, author of novels such as Cesar, Marius, and Le chateau de ma mere many of which have he adapted to film, was born in Aubagne on the 28th of February 1895. Garlaban featured heavily in his childhood and consequently in his books and it is largely due to Pagnol that the place should be so dear to the natives of Aubagne.

Just like every other town in the region, Aubagne lays claim to having invented santons, little clay figurines produced around Christmas time to be painted and used in nativity scenes or whatever. Each year the town council makes a giant nativity scene using santons (made by local santonniers), who also sell then in the town square as part of a Christmastime market. A local attraction is "Le Petit Monde de Marcel Pagnol", another santon display featuring the characters from Pagnol's books. The house in which Marcel Pagnol was born is on the main strip, next to the square.

All over this area, hitchhiking is a safe and reliable means of transport. It's illegal on the autoroutes but fine on local and national roads, and teenagers regularly hitchhike between small towns rather than use the infrequent and expensive buses (Paris and the TGV aside, French PT is appalling). These buses run once an hour on average end as late as 11pm but more often around 7-8pm, though one can catch them to all the towns and cities mentioned above and a few others in the area, and to Marseille they depart every half hour. Trains run to Marseille frequently too, and taxis are also a possibility, though very expensive. Many young people have mopeds/scooters, and if you are visiting the area it might be worthwhile renting or even buying one. Until recently a license was not required for anyone over 14 years old, however a permit system was introduced in 1998 or '99.

The University of Provence established a Sound and Image school in Aubagne in 1988. The town also has several kindergartens, primary schools and colleges, and two highschools. I was privileged enough to attend one of these for a period of six weeks in 1999, just before the end of the year and the three month summer holiday those lucky bastards enjoy. I found the standard in all subjects to be much higher than at my school; in maths and chemistry particularly, not my forte anyway, I found myself about a year behindand as this the terms for mathematical symbols seemed to differ in especially confusing ways. I ended up wagging these classes. Respect for teachers seemed much lower and with about 1/3 of all students doomed to repeating the following year, many classes were chaos. The English teacher suffered especially and would often cry in class.

A wonderful event held annually all over France is la fete de la musique. People in Aubagne and indeed everywhere in the South get especially into this festival, with thousands of people carrying drums and whatever instrument they can or can't play into the streets and doing the best they can. Southern France is quite multicultural and you will consequently hear a huge variety of music.

Aubagne's official website is found at http://www.aubagne.com/
This website is called Webcam on Garlaban: http://www.lcm.fr/garlaban.htm