Toulon historical center · Historical center in Toulon
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Historical center in Toulon
Historical center in Toulon
This part of the town was built in the Middle ages. It is called vieille ville (English: old town) because of its age or basse ville (English: low town) because it is the lowest point of the town except the sea). The historical center is located just north of the harbour. You'll see very small intricate streets. Specially recommended wide streets are the Algiers and Lafayette streets (French: Rue d'Alger and Cours Lafayette). These two are bordered by numerous shops and crowded every Saturday. Other small streets feature only old-looking buildings.
Visit the harbour and its promenade. The folk of old Provence, the typical accent of locals, and some wooden boats on the still sea (the folk is better in smaller town along the coast, however). Numerous souvenir shops, coffee shops and fish restaurants. Also on the port square, you'll see the statue of the Spirit of navigation pointing at the sea, locally known as "cul vers ville"for its buttocks are turned toward the city.For the record it might interest you to know that the statue was hidden and thought lost, during WWII , until it was found by chance in a local carpenter's shop who returned it to the authorities.
Tour de l'horloge, a monumental clock a the entry of the naval base (at the west of the port), formely used to ring at the beginning and at the end of the working day.
Just between the harbour and the south of Cours Lafeyette, you'll see the Louis Blanc place with Saint François de Paule church. Built in the XVIIIth Century, it is of typical baroque style.
Traditional markets of Provence, every morning on Cours Lafayette except on Mondays. You'll find all local products of the region there. There are also other smaller markets.
Place Puget, in the historical center, is the ancient center of the town. You'll find a fountain built in 1780. The sculpture showed three dolphins, now completely covered by ivy. You'll enjoy staying in the shade of this place, at a coffee shop, during a hot afternoon.
The Saint Marie de la Seds Cathedral is near Place Puget. Built in the XIth century, it has never been finished, but widened in 1738. There are numerous paintings of the XVIIIth Century.
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Toulon Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.