FULL DAY TOUR OF MARSEILLEFrance's premier port and oldest major city is in a surprisingly attractive setting, centred on the Vieux Port (the old harbour). People have leaved here for 26 centuries, its mixture of cultures being so varied that Alexander Dumas called it "the meeting place of the entire world"
This tour gives you the chance to spend time in Marseille, and to discover several faces of the second-largest city in France :
- View on the "Vieux Port". All streets lead to this place, where visitors tend to congregate. In this creek where the Phocaeans landed in 600 BC, now we can see thousands of yachts and pleasure boats
- Stroll in the old area named "Panier", stopping in front the Old Charity, a former hospice composed of beautiful three-tiered arched balconies surrounding the lovely domed Chapel in the center
- View on the huge and somptuous XIXth century cathedral
- Spendid panorama from the highest point of the city, to take time to admire the unique site on which the city was built
- Visit of the basilica Notre Dame de la Garde, overlooking the city, presided over by a golden Madonna on a 150 ft bell tower. Its inside decoration made of mosaics and unusual votive offerings will impress you
- Corniche : picturesque road cut into the cliff and following the coast for more than 3 miles. It offers wonderful sights on the Frioul Islands, among which the Château d'If Island, that served as the setting place for Alexander Dumas, writing the story of the count of Monte Cristo
- Colourful fishing village of Vallon des Auffes, one of the most characteristic places in Marseille
- Picturesque creeks where fishermen and city dwellers built very amazing cabins, in order to have a sheltered place during their week-end passed on the sea shore
- St Victor Basilica is a religious fortress fonded in the Vth century and enlarged from the XIth to the XIVth centuries. In the crypt, you can visit the catacombs, sarcophagi and the cave of St Victor (entrance fee not included)
- Free time for eating and shopping (shops closed on sundays and mondays)
- You can take a boat to go and visit the Château d'If, a fortress built in the XVIth century that became a famous prison (closed on mondays) (in case of bad sea, the landing is not possible) (boat and entrance fee to the castle not included)
- View on the Longchamps palace, a monument only dedicated to the arrival of drinking water in Marseille
- AND MUCH MORE...If you want to include a Bouillabaisse lunch (local dish made on a wide variety of fishes and a fish stew), see the part "special tours"