What are 5 important facts about Marseille?
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What are 5 places of interest/ sightseeing/ monuments/ festivals in Marseille? lol thanks for answering guys second-largest city of France and forms the third-largest metropolitan area, with 1,516,340 inhabitants at the 1999 census and 1,605,000 inhabitants in 2007 (Paris and Lyon are larger). Located on the south east coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, it is France's largest commercial port. Marseille is the administrative capital (pr茅fecture de r茅gion) of the Provence-Alpes-C么te d'Azur region, as well as the administrative capital (pr茅fecture d茅partemental) of the Bouches-du-Rh么ne department. Its inhabitants are called Marseillais.
le Vieux Port (old harbour): watching fishermen selling their stock by auction is a must. Arriving to Marseille in the Vieux-Port on a summer evening is something you will never forget... You can watch this show by going to Frioul islands or Chateau d'If and going back late in the afternoon. there is also a nice view on the harbor from the Palais du Pharo (Pharo casttle). The famous Canebi猫re avenue go straight down the harbor. However the Canebi猫re is not that intersting despite its reputation.
Notre Dame de la Garde: the big church which overlooks the city. Old fishermen used to have their boats blessed in this church. You can still see many boat models hanging around in the church. From there it is one of the nicest view of the city.
Mus茅e des Docks romains (Arch茅ologie-Graffiti-Lapidaire) (the old harbour from Phoenician and Roman times), Place Vivaux, 13002 Marseille. Tel: 04 91 91 24 62
Mus茅e d'Arch茅ologie m茅diterran茅enne (Arch茅ologie-Graffiti-Lapidaire), Centre de la Vieille Charit茅, 2 Rue de la Charit茅, 13002 Marseille. Tel: 04 91 14 58 59, Fax : 04 91 14 58 76
le Cours Julien and la plaine: a hangout area with bookstores, caf茅s, fountains, and a playground for the small ones (metro stop Cours Julien/Notre Dame du Mont). It is THE trendy area of Marseille. La Plaine is the local name for Place Jean Jaur猫s close to Cours Julien. Every Thursday and Saturday morning the Plaine market is the place to shop. If you are there early enough you can make very good deals, even if what you'll find there is sometimes "tombe du camion" (fallen off the truck) as one says in Marseille.
la Corniche: a walkway and a road by the sea that provides lovely views of the sea, the Chateau d'If to the south, and les Calanques to the east.
la Place Castellane: a roundabout with a grand fountain/column/sculpture in the center, with excellent cinemas and caf茅s surrounding. There is another place called La Castellane : it is a poor suburb of Marseille where Zinedine Zidane the famous football player was born. Be careful not to confuse the two places.
Boulevard Longchamp and Palais Longchamp (Longchamp casttle and avenue). From the R茅form茅 church (up the Canebi猫re) you can follow the Boulevard Longchamp where you can see nice example of old upper-class buildings to arrive to Palais Longchamp.The palais is worth visiting though it wont take you long. You can visit the "musee des beaux arts" as well as the natural history museum.
Parc Bor茅ly (Borely park). A large and great park, 300 meters from the sea. After a siesta in the park go have a drink at Escale Borely (a place with numerous restaurants and bars on the beach) to see the sunset.
Le Panier. Panier means basket in French, but in Marseille it is the name of the oldest area of the town. In the middle of this area there is the Vielle Charit茅, a wonderful old monument, now hosting museums and exhibitions.
Let's be honest, beaches from Marseille are not always great. Depending on the weather, they can be polluted. However the small beaches between La Pointe Rouge harbor and La Madrague harbor are cleaner, nicer and usually slightly less crowded.
La cite radieuse: "unite d'habitation" designed by Le Corbusier. The building is called "la maison du fada" (the house of the foolish) by indegenous people. The building contains a shopping street, a church, a children's school and housings. You can get to the roof and enjoy the breathtaking view of Marseille between hills and sea.
Stade Velodrome: the stadium where the local football team "Olympique de Marseille" plays. Football matches are one of the highlights of Marseilles life. Whilst L'OM have fallen on rather lean times the former champions of Europe are the biggest football team in France. The atmosphere at the stadium is fantastic and whilst visitors are unlikely to get tickets for the popular Virage Nord or Sud seats in the Tribune Ganay offer an excellent view and a chance to soak up the atmosphere. Best games involve teams with some travelling support such as St Ettienne, Lens or the grand-daddy match of them all against the evil Paris St Germain. Tickers can be bought (ideally several days before the game) either on-line or from the L'OM shop at the Vieux Port.
Noailles: The area around the Noailles sub-way station is one of the citys most interesting. Lined with Arabic and Indo-Chinesse shops some of the streets could be part of a bazzaar in Algeria. A fascinating area.
more info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille
http://wikitravel.org/en/Marseille Maybe no one is answering because they've never been. I know I haven't. But would love to go to France.
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It is Mediterranean
It is warm
It is romantic
It is French
It is cosmopolitan what is that??? I've never been to France...Sorry. But I am answering your question because you asked :) Hope you have a good one hon! How are you? The time in California is8:15 PM. I live in Northern . French rivierra right? Was there a long time ago I remember more the friendly people I met than the places. I am fine this evening and it is 10:15 p.m. here. 1. Second largest city in France.
2.Third largest Metropolitan area in France.
3. It is France's largest commercial port.
4.During World War II, Marseille was bombed by the German and the Italian forces in 1940.
5. After the oil crisis of 1973 and an economic downturn, Marseille became a haven for criminal activity,
1.The Old Port-the main harbour and marina of the city. It is guarded by two massive forts (Fort St Nicolas and Fort Saint Jean) and is one the main places to eat in the city.
2.The Mus茅e de la Mode, a museum of modern fashion which displays over 2000 designs from the last 30 years.
3.The Abbey of Saint-Victor, one of the oldest places of Christian worship in France.
4.The nineteenth century Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde.
5.The Museum of Contemporary Art, devoted to American and European art from the 1960s to the present day. WetDream08 answered your question pretty well about what touristy things to do in Marseilles, but I thought I'd add a couple of things from personal experience (I've lived there for about two years).
If you're looking to go out, I would recommend Cours Julien or Vieux Port. Both are filled with "happening" bars and restaurants. At Vieux Port avoid touristy restaurants that serve bouillabaisse for 15 euros, but I would recommend trying tapas at a little restaurant near by the Opera (on rue Moliere). Very good and inexpensive tapas, and the guy also makes his own flavored rhum, which I would also recommend trying after the meal.
If you're into shopping you should go to rue Saint-Ferreol (near the Vieux Port) and Centre Bourse (which is opposite from this street). For cheaper stores I'd also recommend walking down rue de Rome from Vieux Port to La Place Castellane.
La Place Castellane isn't very exciting to tell you the truth, however I would recommend walking down avenue du Prado from Castellane if you appreciate architecture. Actually, I'll tell you something even better, if you don't mind walking of course. When I lived in Marseilles, every other weekend (or whenever I felt stressed out) I would take the metro to Vieux Port, then walk down Quai de Rive Neuve (the side of Fort St. Nicolas, not of Fort St. Jean), continue past Parc Le Pharo (the quai becomes boulevard Charles Livon at that point), and then turn left on the Corniche (full name Corniche du President Kennedy) and continue along the Corniche for the most astonishing views on the Mediterranean sea until I reached the statue of David. There I would go to a cafe and have "un demi-peche" ( a beer mixed with peach syrup, very refereshing, though sweet). At the statue of David I would turn onto avenue du Prado, continue past Parc Borely until Metro du Prado. It's a very very long walk (about an hour and a half, two hours), you can take a bus too if you don't feel like walking (the bus 83 takes you from Vieux Port to Metro du Prado along the same path, so you can always catch it whenever you're starting to feel tired). But trust me, it's worth it!
WetDream didn't mention it but if you have the time I would also recommend that you visit Les Goudes. It's a neighborhood of Marseilles, but it looks more like a little Mediterranean village rather than a neighborhood of a large Mediterranean city. Also I would recommend going to the iles de Frioul, that is if you enjoy hiking or swimming. Their beaches are much cleaner than the main Marseilles beaches (and less dangerous too), however, there are no trees on the Iles de Frioul (and therefore almost no shade), so if you're going in July / August, you better be very careful.
And finally, but very importantly, be really really careful. Marseilles isn't exactly the safest city of France. Hold on to your bag at all times, never leave your phone / wallet / bag on a table if you're sitting at a cafe terrace, especially at Vieux Port and Cours Julien. Also avoid the gypsies, they can get very clingy, but just try to walk by as quickly as possible and don't make eye contact. Don't let them grab you, unfortunately I had to learn my lesson the hard way :(
But I hope you do enjoy yourself in Marseille. People tend to either hate or love it. It's a very multicultural and diverse city and I hope you'll find that there are more things to love rather than hate. |
