Les meilleurs hôtels à Marseille

The most populated city in France after Paris, Marseille has all the sights and sounds of a Mediterranean melting pot, which it has been ever since the Phocaean Greeks invaded around 600 B.C., and none of the tourist traps of the rest of the coast. Marseille is the largest port in the Mediterranean. Its industrial docks rub shoulders with the picturesque old harbor, the Vieux Port, founded by the Greeks 2,600 years ago. Packed with colorful fishing boats and yachts, the Vieux Port is the heart of Marseille. The city is divided into arrondissements, sixteen in all, which spiral out from the Vieux Port. Two fortresses guard the entrance to the harbor. It's said that Louis XIV built one of these, Fort St-Nicolas, with the guns facing inland to keep the citizens in order. The spirit of Marseille is probably best seen in its bustling streets and markets, but the city's museums are numerous and worth a visit. The Mus?e de la Vieille-Charit?, in Le Panier (the basket) -- a grid of narrow, tumbledown streets -- houses permanent archaelogical collections and excellent art exhibitions. At the Jardin des Vestiges, a public park that holds the excavated ruins of Greek and Roman fortifications, is the Mus?e de l'Histoire de Marseille, featuring exhibits related to the city's history and a 60-foot Roman boat. Marseille's nightlife and its largest concentration of restaurants and caf?s center around the Vieux Port. Many restaurants feature the city's specialty, bouillabaisse, and Proven?al dishes, such as tapenade, a delicious paste of capers, anchovies, olives, oil, and lemon juice, best smeared on chunks of garlic-rubbed bread.