Marseille

Marseille is two thousand six hundred years old, the oldest city in France, founded by Greek sailors who wanted a sheltered harbour. Everything still begins at the Old Port of Marseille, where fishermen sell the morning catch and the terraces stay full until night. Boats leave the quay for the Château d'If, the island prison of the Count of Monte Cristo. Just behind, the lanes of Le Panier climb in steps between ochre walls and washing strung across the windows. Then the city stops dead at white cliffs: Calanques National Park begins inside the city limits, with turquoise inlets reached on foot. Notre-Dame de la Garde watches over all of it from its hill. Bouillabaisse has to be ordered a day ahead: the rock fish arrive whole, the broth on the side.