771km (479 miles) S of Paris; 187km (116 miles) SW of Nice; 31km (19 miles) S of Aix-en-Provence
Bustling Marseille, with more than a million inhabitants, is the second-largest city in France (its population surpassed that of Lyon in the early 1990s) and France's premier port. 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, much elegance and charm is found here as well. The Vieux Port, the old harbor, is especially colorful, compensating to an extent for the dreary industrial dockland nearby. Marseille has always symbolized danger and intrigue, and that reputation is somewhat justified. However, the city is experiencing a renaissance, and because it is now so easily reached by train from Paris, there is much hope for its economic future. Since the 1970s, a great deal of Marseille's economy has revolved around thousands upon thousands of North and sub-Saharan Africans who have poured into the city, creating a lively medley of races and creeds. One-quarter of the present population of Marseille is of North African descent. These Africans have flocked here to find a better life than what they had in their own shattered lands.
Marseille today actually occupies twice the amount of land space as Paris, and its age-old problems remain, including a declining drug industry, smuggling, corruption (often at the highest levels), the Mafia, and racial tension. Unemployment, as always, is on the rise. But in spite of all these difficulties, it's a bustling, fascinating city unlike any other in France. A city official proclaimed recently that "Marseille is the unbeloved child of France. It's attached to France, but has the collective consciousness of an Italian city-state, like Genoa or Venice."
