Toulon in southern France

Tuesday, 14 August 2012 - 01:34 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, French Riviera
Reading Time:  5 minutes

Tall ships in the old port © SiefkinDR

Tall ships in the old port © SiefkinDR

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence. It is the fourth-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille, Nice and Montpellier. Toulon is an important centre for naval construction, fishing, wine making, and the manufacture of aeronautical equipment, armaments, maps, paper, tobacco, printing, shoes, and electronic equipment. The military port of Toulon is the major naval centre on France’s Mediterranean coast, home of the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle and her battle group. The French Mediterranean Fleet is based in Toulon.

The old town of Toulon, the historic centre located between the port, the Boulevard de Strasbourg and the Cours Lafayette, is a pedestrian area with narrow streets, small squares and many fountains. Toulon Cathedral is located here. The area is also home of the celebrated Provençal market which takes place every morning on the Cours Lafayette, which features local products. The old town had decayed in the 1980s and 1990s, but recently many of the fountains and squares have been restored, and many new shops have opened. The Old Town of Toulon is known for its fountains, found in many of the small squares, each with a different character. The original system of fountains was built in the late 17th century; most were rebuilt in the eighteenth or early 19th century, and have recently been restored.

The upper town, between the Boulevard de Strasbourg and the railway station, was built in the mid 19th century under Louis Napoleon. The project was begun by Baron Haussmann, who was prefect of the Var in 1849. Improvements to the neighbourhood included the Toulon Opera, the place de la Liberté, the Grand Hôtel, the Gardens of Alexander I, the Chalucet Hospital, the palais de Justice, the train station, and the building now occupied by Galeries Lafayette, among others. Haussmann went on to use the same style on a much grander scale in the rebuilding of central Paris.

Tour royale © Jodelet Lépinay Port of Toulon © Mercklé Place de la Liberté fontain © Pinpin Opera House © Baptiste Rossi Toulon Panorama © David.Monniaux Tall ships in the old port © SiefkinDR
<
>
Tall ships in the old port © SiefkinDR
Le Mourillon is a small seaside neighbourhood to the east of Toulon, near the entrance of the harbour. It was once a fishing village, and then became the home of many of the officers of the French fleet. Mourillon has a small fishing port, next to a 16th-century fort, Fort Saint Louis, which was reconstructed by Vauban. In the 1970s the city of Toulon built a series of sheltered sandy beaches in Mourillon, which today are very popular with the Toulonais and with naval families. The Museum of Asian Art is located in a house on the waterfront near Fort St. Louis.

Mount Faron (584 metres) dominates the city of Toulon. The top can be reached either by a cable car from Toulon, or by a narrow and terrifying road which ascends from the west side and descends on the east side. The road is one of the most challenging stages of the annual Paris-Nice and Tour Méditerranéen bicycle races.

Read more on City of Toulon, Toulon Tourism, Toulon Information, University Toulon, Toulon Airport and Wikipedia Toulon. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center - Global Passport Power Rank - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

Dubai Gold Souk

Dubai Gold Souk

[caption id="attachment_219124" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © flickr.com - Joi/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Dubai Gold Souk or Gold Souk, is a traditional market (or souk) in Dubai, UAE. The souk is located in Dubai's commercial business district in Deira, in the locality of Al Dhagaya. The souk consists of over 380 retailers, most of whom are jewelry traders. Some of the shops are as old as four decades, while some are as new as a year. The major items of mall includes Gold, Platinum, Diamonds and sometimes also d...

[ read more ]

Portrait: Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America

Portrait: Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America

[caption id="attachment_183135" align="aligncenter" width="590"] US President Barack Obama taking his Oath of Office © defenseimagery.mil - Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017. The first African American to assume the presidency, he was previously the junior United States Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008. Before that, he served in the Illinois State Senate fro...

[ read more ]

Birka, Sweden's first city

Birka, Sweden's first city

[caption id="attachment_151167" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Reconstructed Viking houses © Holger.Ellgaard/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]During the Viking Age, Birka, on the island of Björkö (literally: "Birch Island") in Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö. The archaeological sites of Birka and Hovgården, ...

[ read more ]

Williamsburg in Brooklyn

Williamsburg in Brooklyn

[caption id="attachment_165471" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Bedford Avenue © flickr.com - LWYang/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick, East Williamsburg, and Ridgewood, Queens to the east; and Fort Greene and the East River to the west. Since the late 1990s, Williamsburg has undergone gentrification characterized by hipster culture, a contemporary art scene, and vibrant nigh...

[ read more ]

The Orient Express

The Orient Express

[caption id="attachment_169245" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Orient Express Restaurant car © Epistola8/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). The route and rolling stock of the Orient Express changed many times. Several routes in the past concurrently used the Orient Express name, or slight variations. Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the na...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Georgia - Sukhumi

Theme Week Georgia - Sukhumi

[caption id="attachment_216004" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © panoramio.com - Владимир К/cc-by-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Sukhumi is a city on the Black Sea coast, on the Soviet Riviera. It is the capital of the unrecognised Republic of Abkhazia, which has controlled it since the 1992–93 war in Abkhazia, although most of the international community considers it legally part of Georgia. Sukhumi's history can be traced back to the 6th century BC, when it was settled by Greeks, who named it Dioscurias. During th...

[ read more ]

Theme Week County Galway

Theme Week County Galway

[caption id="attachment_226172" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Connemara National Park from Diamond Hill © Karie Kuiper/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]County Galway (Irish: Contae na Gaillimhe) is a county in Ireland. It is in the West of Ireland, taking up the south of the province of Connacht. There are several Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county. The traditional county includes, and is named for, the city of Galway, but the city and county are separate local government areas, administered by the local au...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Laos - Pakse

Theme Week Laos - Pakse

[caption id="attachment_213848" align="aligncenter" width="590"] River bank of Don Khon with stilt wooden houses and leaning Arecaceae at golden hour from Don Det© Basile Morin/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Pakse is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak, making it the second most populous city in Laos. At the confluence of the Xe Don and Mekong Rivers, it has a population of about 88,000. It served as the capital of the Kingdom of Champasak until it was unified with the rest o...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Iran - Mashhad

Theme Week Iran - Mashhad

[caption id="attachment_162634" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Imam Reza Shrine © Usef/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Mashhad is the second most populous city in Iran and capital of Razavi Khorasan Province. It is located in the northeast of the country, close to the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Its population was 2,749,374 at the 2011 census and its built-up (or metro) area was home to 2,782,976 inhabitants including Mashhad Taman and Torqabeh cities. It was a major oasis along the ancient Silk Road conne...

[ read more ]

Fort Lauderdale in Florida

Fort Lauderdale in Florida

[caption id="attachment_184679" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Fort Lauderdale Beach © Xanxz[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Fort Lauderdale is the county seat of Broward County, 28 miles (45 km) north of MiamiMiami, with a population of 180,000. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which is home to an estimated 6,2 million people. Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people. Since the 1990s, ...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top
© Chithiraiyan
The congress and university city of Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the capital city of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn...

© stolpersteine.com
The Stolpersteine

Stolperstein is the German word for "stumbling block", "obstacle", or "something in the way". (The plural form of the word...

City Center (Oberer Markt) © J.-H. Janßen
Ibbenbüren in Tecklenburger Land

Ibbenbüren or Ibbenbueren is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on position...

Schließen