Marseilles - Marseille Sites, Tours, Excursions Also for Marseille: [ main page | Areas | Fish Market | History | Museums | Parks | Sites/Tours | Shopping | Transportation ] Photos: The Garden of Ruins (29 k) Longchamp Palace (26 k) Notre Dame de la Garde (28 k) La Major Cathedrals (21 k) The Ferryboat crossing the Old Port; the Hôtel de Ville behind (25 k) Below: [ Sites/Tours | Excursions ] Sites and Tours Arc de Triomphe or Porte d'Aix     - Location: [St. Charles] This triumphal arch was built in 1833 to commemorate the Revolution and the First Empire wars. It's located at the Place Jules Guesde (Porte d'Aix), where the autoroute A7 arrives in the city. The arch can be seen from along the main avenue (with many names) including the Rue de Rome. Accoules Bell Tower - Clocher des Accoules     - Location: [Panier] This 12th-century bell tower, behind the "Maison Diamantée, is all that's left of one of the oldest churches in Marseilles. Garden of Ruins - Jardin des Vestiges     - Location: [Old Port] This pretty archaeological park in the very center of the city (overlooked by the huge "Centre Bourse") has the ruins of the 1st-century docks and the 4th-century entrance to the fortified Greek town. Other remains include drainage pipes used to drain the swamp here at that time, an underground aqueduct, and various walls and towers. The stone used here 2000 years ago was the same "Couronne" pink limestone used for the Vieille Charité in the 17th-18th centuries. Longchamp Palace - Palais Longchamp     - Location: [Longchamp] The Palais Longchamp, built in 1862-69, stands at the entrance to the Longchamp park. Guarded by four stone lions, the entrance is a magnificent fountain complex, with raging bulls trying to clamber out of the top and flanked by wide stairs going up either side. This fine fountain is, in fact, a cunningly disguised water tower. The water tower and buildings that make up the Palais were built as a commemorative monument to the arrival of new canal bringing water from the Durance river. The final section of the canal passes across the Longchamp Park in a stone aqueduct. The Fine Arts Museum is located up the stairs on the left, and the Natural History Museum is up the stairs on the right. Loubière Caves - Grottes Loubière     - Location: 13 km northeast of the center; 2 km northwest of the Chàteau-Gombert. The Grottes Loubière contain beautiful five galleries, extending about 1500 m, with translucent draperies, columns stalactites and stalagmites. Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde Basilica - Basilique de N-D-de-la-Garde     - Location: [South] The 19th-century Romano-Byzzntine style basilica is located on a hilltop with a fantastic view -- where the town's lookout post once stood. A chapel was built on the hilltop in the 13th century, and became a priory for the monks of St Victor. In the 16th century, the church was fortified, to defend against a threatened invasion by Charles V of Spain. In 1853, work started on the basilica, that was completed in 1899. The basilica is topped by a huge gilded statue of the Virgin, who is standing on top of basilica's 60-m high belfry. It's about an hour's walk from the Old Port or the Pharo Park, and all up-hill. You can take the number 60 bus from the Cours Ballard, at the corner of the Quai des Belges of the Old Port, or there are parking lots at the top if you want to drive up. For walking, going directly from the Old Part is probably the easiest, arriving by the Montée; de l'Oratoire. If you arrive from the east side, however, you go up the Montée Valentin; we counted 251 steps, but frequent stops give you a great view out towards the sea. La Major Cathedral - Cathédrale de la Major Old La Major Cathedral - Ancienne Cathédrale de la Major     - Location: [Old Port] North of the Old Port near the new docks. The large Romano-Byzantine style cathedral, with its spectacular domes, was built in 1852-93. The smaller Romanesque-style "Old Major" cathedral, huddled down at the side, was built in the middle of the 11th century. Part of it was chopped off during the 19th century to make room for the new cathedral. Old-Port Ferryboat     - Location: [Old Port] A picturesque little ferry crosses the Old Port, between the Hôtel-de-Ville and the Place des Huiles, made famous by Marcel Pagnol's stories. In the movie Fanny it looks about the same, although it was steam-driven then. That's the Hôtel de Ville on the far side right. Open: 8h00-12h30, 13h30-18h30 Entry: one-way 2 F; round-trip 3 F St Victor's Basilica - Basilique St Victor The original site was a quarry, dug down into the stone, that became a necropolis in the 3rd century. A monastery was founded here by Saint John Cassian in the 5th century, housed in a fortified Abbey known as the "key to Marseilles harbour". The abbey was destroyed by barbarian invasions in the 7th and 8th centuries. The abbey became one of the most famous religious centers in Gaul. It passed to the Benedictines in the 10th century, and was rebuilt and fortified in 1040. It was renovated in the 13th and 14th centuries, and the monastery was destroyed during the Revolution. Although about half the abbey is gone, the remaining church, walls and Tour d'Isarn are pretty impressive. Some of the many items inside reveal the presence of a Greek quarry, and a Hellenistic necropole from the 2nd-c-BC. In the crypt are several exceptional sarcophagi, dating from the 3rd century on. The February 2nd Candlemas procession begins at St Victor's.     - Location: [South] A couple of blocks south of the Quai de Rive Neuve, just before the Fort St Nicolas. Open: daily, 8h30-18h30 Tour - Little Train     - Location: [Old Port] The "Petits Trains Touristiques" makes a circuit of the center of Marseille, with commentary. It starts from the end of the Old Port (Quai des Belges, where the Office de Tourisme is located) Train 1 - Notre-Dame de la Garde via Vieux Port and Abbaye de St-Victor   - 50 min trip; Jan-Nov, from 10h; every 30 min during the summer Train 2- Vieux Marseille, via Cathedrale, La Vieille Charite, Quartier du Panier   - 40 min trip; Easter-Oct, from 10h15; every hour during the summer From 12h-14h the trains only run if there are at least 10 passengers. Cost: 1 circuit 30 F; children 15 F. 2 circuits 45 F; children 20 F. Tel: 04 91 40 17 75 Tour of the Port The outer breakwater (Digue du Large) is open on Sunday afternoons and holidays for visitors. Entrance is through gate 2 (Arenc). Guided tours of the port are available on the normal open days, but you must reserve at least two weeks in advance: Direction du Port Autonome, Service des Relations Publique 23 Place de la Joliette, 13002, Marseille Tel: (33) 491 39 47 24 Cost: free Walking-Bus Tours "Marseille en 31 Circuits" - Thematic tours of Marseille are arranged by the Office de Tourisme. Reserve ahead of time to join groups of at least 12 people. Most are walking tours, and take about two hours. Some are bus tours, and can be from two hours to all day. Tel: (33) 491 54 91 11; Fax: (33) 491 33 05 03 Tours: 1 June - 30 Sept Departure: 10h00 and 14h30 A "red-line" tour of Marseilles begins at the Office de Tourisme, following a painted red line around the city. [ Top | Sites/Tours | Excursions ] Excursions The Calanques For the Calanques de Sormiou and Sugiton, the steep rocky bays on the peninsula south of the city (about 15 km) are only open to road traffic from 1 Oct to 15 June. The Calanques de En-Vau, Port-Pin and Port-Miou (4 km further east) are accessible only by hiking trails. These 4-hr boat trips visit all five Calanques, including the Calanque de Port-Miou, beside the village of Cassis. Tel: (33) 491 55 50 09 Open: July-Aug, afternoons From: Quai des Belges, at the end of the Old Port Cost: 70 F Chàteau d'If The Chàteau d'If is on the little Island of If (barely larger than the castle), 3 km off the Old Port and in front of the Frioul Islands. The Chàteau d'If was built in 1524-28 to protect the port of Marseilles, and was the first line of defense for the southern coast of France. By the end of the 16th century, the chàteau was no longer needed for external defense, and it became a state prison, mainly for political prisoners and the losers of the Wars of Religion, the Huguenots. One famous prisoner was the Man in the Iron Mask, who was also emprisoned on the Iles de Lérins. The Chàteau d'If became widely known because of two fictional prisoners, The Count of Monte Cristo and Abbé Faria, from Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. Boat trip to the island with tour of the chàteau. Leaves from the Quai des Belges, at the end of the Old Port. Tel: (33) 491 59 02 30 Departures: Summer - on the hour; Winter - variable Cost: 35 F, boat and chàteau Chàteau Visit Open: Apr-Sept 9h-19h; Oct-Mar 9h30-13h, 14h-17 Groupement des Armateurs Côtiers Marseillais 1 Quai des Belges; 13001 Marseille Tel: (33) 491 55 50 09 [ Top | Sites/Tours | Excursions ]