Meander through Old Marseille

We visit the historic quarter of France’s third-largest city, and gateway to the vast, shimmering Mediterranean...

Fort St Jean

The Vieux-Port de Marseille has provided an atmospheric setting for a long list of cinema classics – some edgy, like The French Connection, while others, including adaptations of Marcel Pagnol’s autobiographical novels, are altogether gentler. Sooner or later, then, you just have to go and discover the reality which inspired the conflicting imagery, and when you do you’ll soon discover a city so culturally diverse that whatever you’re expecting will actually be there somewhere.

The classic place to start exploring is, of course, on the Vieux-Port’s broad quaysides, which provided the setting for Pagnol’s celebrated trilogy, Marius, Fanny and César. Come here in the morning and you’ll find the day’s catches on sale in a celebrated daily fish market, while the fishermen tend their nets nearby. The port is actually much bigger than it’s usually portrayed on screen, so two very different passenger ferries provide a quick and enjoyable service between the southern Quai de Rive Neuve and its northern counterpart the Quai du Port. ‘Le Ferry Boat’ is a modern, electrically powered catamaran bristling with solar panels, while its antique companion ‘César’, which has been making the crossing since 1952, offers a more nostalgic experience.

Further back in time both foot passengers and car drivers were hauled across the harbour entrance on the deck of a huge skeletal pont-transbordeur (just like the example preserved at Rochefort) which was destroyed by German forces in 1944.

César has been crossing the port since 1952

Today road traffic crosses via a tunnel, unseen by the fishermen and leisure sailors whose movements unfold under the benevolent gaze of a huge gilded statue of the Virgin & Child. It crowns the bell tower of Notre-Damela-Garde, a neo-Byzantine basilica completed in 1864 on an elevated site which had been a place of pilgrimage since at least the early 13th century. In order to survive the site’s exposed situation the tough darker stone chosen for its striking polychrome effect was quarried near Florence, and the basilica’s massive foundations are actually the ramparts of a fortress built to defend the town by order of François 1er in 1536. The site’s spectacular panoramic views take in the city, the Mediterranean coastline and various offshore islands, one of which is dominated by the Château d’If, another 16th century fortress and former prison described by Alexandre Dumas in The Count of Monte-Cristo.

Château d’If, located on the Frioul archipelago

The Basilique Notre-Dame-la-Garde

Visible across the port on a site established by the Knights Hospitalier of Saint John of Jerusalem is the Fort Saint-Jean. Originally a point of departure during the Crusades, it was transformed into a military complex to strengthen the Vieux-Port’s defences, and was completed in 1365. Additional construction works included the creation of the prominent Tour du Fanal, which served as a navigation aid for mariners. Today the 30m high stone tower offers panoramic views of both old and new ports, the adjacent MuCEM (Museum of the Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean) and beyond it the 19th century Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille, which shares Notre-Dame-la-Garde’s Byzantine/Roman Revival polychrome architectural style, but on a truly monumental scale.

Le Panier

Read the latest issue of Living Magazine to find out more about the city's history and treasures...