Vieux-Port (Old Port)

The Vieux-Port is the original harbour of Marseille and the place where the city began. Around 600 BC, Greek sailors from Phocaea, in what is now Turkey, landed in a sheltered inlet that the local Ligurian people called Lacydon and founded a colony they named Massalia. The inlet, a long narrow creek cutting into the limestone coast, became the centre of a trading city that was one of the great ports of antiquity, and Marseille is regarded as the oldest city in France. Over the centuries the port grew into one of the major harbours of the Mediterranean, before most of the modern shipping moved to the larger basins to the north.

Today the Vieux-Port is a rectangular basin filled with pleasure boats and fishing boats, and it is the social centre of the city. The quays are lined with cafés, bars and restaurants, with the Quai des Belges at the eastern end, where a lively fish market is held each morning. Fishermen sell the day's catch directly from their boats, and the stalls are a good place to see the Mediterranean fish that go into Marseille's most famous dish, bouillabaisse. On the south side, the Ombrière, a large mirrored canopy designed by Norman Foster in 2013, reflects the crowd and the boats, and it has become a favourite place for photographs.

At the harbour entrance, the forts of Saint-Jean and Saint-Nicolas stand on either side, and the first of them now forms part of the MuCEM. Behind the north quay, the old Panier district climbs the hill, and the Cathédrale La Major stands near the water. Much of the district beside the quay was destroyed in 1943, when German forces dynamited it, and the apartment blocks that now line the north side were built after the war by the architect Fernand Pouillon. The seventeenth-century Hôtel de Ville stands among them as a survivor. The Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins, at the head of the port, is a further landmark.

From the quays, boats leave for the Château d'If, the Frioul islands and the Calanques, the limestone inlets along the coast, and a small ferry crosses the harbour. The port can be crowded and noisy, particularly on match days for Olympique de Marseille, when supporters gather. It is free and open at all times, and one to three hours is enough for a visit.

The Vieux-Port suits anyone arriving in Marseille, food lovers, photographers and families. Cours Julien, the Musée Cantini and the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde are within walking or short transport distance.