I guess Marseille is one of the best places to try seafood in France. Your hand sanitizer encounter with the guy in the alley is unsettling. For some reason, the graffiti on the walls reminded me of certain scenes from the Netflix TV Mystery French Drama called Gone for Good (Disparu à jamais). Although the TV series was filmed in Nice, France, there were certain areas in the film that brought back the same unsafe vibe you have described in your post.
I have never been to Marseille but I always had a similar impression. Thanks for confirming my initial thought.
I have heard that as well. The little that I had was good.
I haven't seen that show. Nice might have some bad areas like any major city but I didn't get the same vibes as I did with Marseille. I'd say you could skip Marseille and not really miss out on anything. There are much better places in Provence and much better along the Riviera.
Will definitely keep that in mind and if for some reason I land there, will keep my guards up. We really enjoyed the show, lots of plot twists.