The underlying theme of this 'second city of France' has always been ‘independence’. It fell out of favour with Julius Caesar when it sided with Pompey and was defeated and demoted in favour of Arles and Aix-en-Provence. Its fortunes returned under the ‘Counts of Provence' during the 10th and 12th Centuries. When Provence joined the Kingdom of France during the 15th century, it managed to retain its separate administration and continued its revolt against authority.
Marseille is the biggest commercial port of France and with the development of the Fos-sur-Mer, has become a Mediterranean rival to Rotterdam as the transit port for container traffic and other goods for the whole of Europe.
Old Marseille (Vieux Marseille) is well worth a visit and the two-hour walk around it has been planned to take you to all the places worth looking at. This area of Marseille represents some 26 centuries of history. It is no historical graveyard of buildings and ruins, but a thriving residential area which retains its character and atmosphere.
Marseille has a plethora of museums and art galleries covering such diverse subjects as American Indian objet d’art, maritime economy, fashion, Roman remains (Dock), Mediterranean archaeology, plus history and earthenware museums. Galleries include Contemporary art and a transport gallery which shows the public transport of Marseille over the centuries.
The famous, or infamous, Château d’If was mmortalised by the writer Alexander Dumas in the ‘The Count of Monte-Cristo’.
For more tourist information and history, see Premier Pages (Wine Regions, Places of Interest)