Vieux Port de Marseille

In comparison to the many sports and leisure marinas along the French Mediterranean coast with sheer countless motor-yachts in the port of Marseille I found the highest concentration of sailboats. The day I visited the port winds of 100km/h and more where blowing through the port which caused a loud howling. There where no signs of the meter-high waves out side at the shores. The port is really good protected against freaky storms and the boats are save.

In the dusk the "Vieux Port de Marseille" is a picturesque image and you wonder seriously whether you're at the end of the Ocident, or at the beginning of the Orient is. Left and right of the Vieux Port,rows of houses rising up the hills, culminating on the south at the cathedral Notre-Dame de la Garde on the very top of the hill. To the north side is the old "Panier" district, the oldest part of Marseille.

The head of the Vieux Port is the famous Canebiere relating its name from the fact that in earlier times there was grown hemp, based for the production of ship's rope. At its outlet to the sea the Vieux Port is lined with 2 forts: the Fort Saint-Jean and the Fort Saint Nicholas.

Numerous bars and cafes to sit around the old port, to have breakfast or treat yourself a pastis and sinks into the idea that here at this point once the Phoenician ships came ashore to Marseille. Many restaurants line the Vieux Port, the quality varies considerably, from rip-off through to a fairly priced Bouillabaisse restaurant on a old Bark, the "Le Marseillois" in the port.

Another attraction of the Vieux Port is every morning has fish market, where the fish are offered for sale as freshly caught by the fishermen.