Located on a picturesque stretch of the sea coast of Marseille – a very beautiful city, and truly ancient – a settlement in this place was still in the ancient Greeks. But, walking on the streets of Marseilles, you should be alert – not all areas of the city are considered safe, especially with the onset of darkness.
Marseille is the largest port not only in France, but throughout the Mediterranean.
According to legend, Marseille was founded by the daughter of a Ligurian king and a Greek seafarer, whom she fell in love with at first sight. The girl’s father approved this marriage and gave the newlyweds a part of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, where Marcel appeared.
His flourishing Marseille is obliged to the Crusades, which turned it into a major trans-shipment point.
In the middle of the 18th century, Marseille practically died out of the epidemic of bubonic plague.
The hymn of France is called “Marseillaise” in honor of Marcel, who spoke in support of the Republicans.
One of the most important city sights is the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde with a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary with a baby in her arms 11 meters high at a twelve-meter high bell tower. Marseilles lovingly call the sculpture “A Good Mother”. This is the most visited place in Marseilles.
A few kilometers from Marseille, on the rocky island is the castle of If, in which Alexander Dumas concluded the character of his novel “The Count of Monte Cristo”. The castle for more than two centuries was a place of detention of political prisoners and a stronghold of torture, until it was turned into a museum.
Marseille – the oldest of the cities of France, whose history began about 2500 years ago.
Thanks to the mixture of cultures and peoples, Marseille is often called the “gateway to the East”.
A traditional Marseilles dish, which must definitely try – a thick soup of sea fish, seafood and vegetables called “buyabes”. It is served with garlic sauce rui.
The Cathedral of Marseille is the largest of the temples built in Europe in the 19th century.
In Marseille there were filming of the cult film of the 1990s “Taxi” and its sequels.
Another attraction of Marseille – the stadium “Velodrome”, which took two mundialya and the same European championships in football. Now it is the home arena of the football club “Olympic”.
In 2013, by the decision of the European Commission, Marseille was chosen as the cultural capital of Europe.
The thickness of the walls of the oldest Marseilles church – the Basilica of Saint-Victor – is three meters, as it was outside the city walls and had to defend itself against enemies.
During the war, the German troops completely blew up a whole region of Marseilles, not responding to their notions of the beautiful. This sad event, however, also had its positive side – under the ruins archeologists discovered the remains of Roman port warehouses.
The main street of Marseilles, La Canebières Avenue, was named because of hemp, which once grew in this place and was the raw material for making ropes.
Lonshan Palace in Marseille has never been a home for noble persons – a luxurious building built in honor of the opening of the canal, which solved the problem of supplying the city with drinking water.
