Marseille, the first stage of her preaching

Twenty-six centuries of history make Marseille the oldest city in France. Founded by Greeks from Phocaea around 600 BC, a great Mediterranean port open to every world, it is, according to tradition, the first stage of Mary Magdalene's preaching, alongside her brother Lazarus, the first bishop of the city.

The abbey of Saint-Victor, founded in the fifth century on an early Christian necropolis, holds the oldest memory of all: its crypts, among the oldest Christian remains in France, shelter ancient sarcophagi and the Black Virgin of Saint-Victor, honoured each Candlemas. On that day Marseille keeps up one of its oldest traditions: navettes, boat-shaped biscuits, recall the arrival of the Saints on the shore of Provence.

At the summit of the city, Notre-Dame de la Garde, the "Bonne Mère", watches over Marseille and the Mediterranean. The panorama that opens from its forecourt, from the Old Port to the calanques, is one of the finest in France.