Marseilles Facts

Marseille is a wonderfully diverse place composed of 16 arrondissements or districts and a total of 111 different quartiers or neighborhoods. Each one is self-contained and has its own distinct features.

Le Vieux-Port

The old port is one of the best-known parts of Marseille and its streets are lined with restaurants and cafés. In the mornings, fishmongers ply their trade in the fish market opposite the boats. This is where Louis XIV moored his fleet. You will also find galleries here. Next to Cours Estienne d'Orves you will find Place Thiars, the liveliest part of this district. Good quality restaurants stand side by side with tourist traps. The Theatre National de la Criée is very popular....

...It's been called France's New Orleans. A crossroads of world traffic -- Dumas called it "the meeting place of the entire world" -- the city is ancient, founded by Greeks from the city of Phocaea, near present-day Izmir, Turkey, in the 6th century B.C. Marseille is a place of unique sounds, smells, and sights. It has seen wars and much destruction, but trade has always been its raison d'être.

Perhaps its most common association is with the national anthem of France, "La Marseillaise." During the Revolution, 500 volunteers marched to Paris, singing this rousing song along the way. The rest is history.

Although in many respects Marseille is big and sprawling, dirty and slumlike in many places,...