Fish market in the Old Port of Marseille

25 January 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit, Shopping Reading Time:  5 minutes

© flickr.com - smallkaa/cc-by-2.0

Bouillabaisse fishes © flickr.com – smallkaa/cc-by-2.0

The fish market in the Old Port of Marseille is a small fish market made up of around ten stands located in the middle of the Quai de la Fraternité, at the exit of the “Vieux-Port” stop of the M1 metro line. Since Marseille-Provence 2013 European Capital of Culture, the fish market is partially covered by the Ombrière du Vieux-Port de Marseille, an immense mirror ceiling reflecting the activity of the quay.   read more…

Barcelona Royal Shipyard

29 April 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Lluis Ferrer

© Lluis Ferrer

The Barcelona Royal Shipyard (Catalan: Drassanes Reials de Barcelona, Spanish: Atarazanas Reales de Barcelona) is a shipyard and former military building of Gothic architecture placed at the Port Vell area of the Port of Barcelona. Nowadays it houses the Barcelona Maritime Museum. Construction started during the 13th century under the rule of Peter III of Aragon. During excavations in 2012 it was discovered that in the late 16th century a new building was constructed on top of the old medieval dockyard, giving the building its current structure. This excavations also uncovered a Roman graveyard. The shipyard’s restoration was finished in early 2013. The museum was reopened in 2014. The construction of the dockyards was done in several stages, spanning over four centuries:   read more…

Old Port of Montreal

30 March 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Clock Tower © Concierge.2C/cc-by-sa-3.0

Clock Tower © Concierge.2C/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Old Port of Montreal (Vieux-Port de Montréal) is the historic port of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Located in Old Montreal, it stretches for over 2 km (1.2 mi) along the Saint Lawrence River. It was used as early as 1611, when French fur traders used it as a trading post. In 1976, Montreal’s Port activities were moved east to the present Port of Montreal in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.   read more…

Theme Week Marseille – Old Port

2 March 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Jean Pascal Hamida/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Jean Pascal Hamida/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Old Port of Marseille (Vieux-Port de Marseille) is at the end of the Canebière, the major street of Marseille. It has been the natural harbour of the city since antiquity and is now the main popular place in Marseille. It became mainly pedestrian in 2013. In 600 BC, Greek settlers from Phocaea landed in the Lacydon, a rocky Mediterranean cove, now the site of the Old Port of Marseille. They set up a trading post or emporion in the hills on the northern shore. Until the nineteenth century the Old Port remained the centre of maritime activity in Marseille. In the Middle Ages the land at the far end of the port was used to cultivate hemp for the local manufacture of rope for mariners, which is the origin of the name of the main thoroughfare of Marseille, the Canebière. The great St. Victor’s Abbey was gradually built between the third and ninth centuries on the hills to the south of the Old Port, on the site of an Hellenic burial ground.   read more…

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