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A great city to be discovered behind the port
You could easily cruise past without stopping. If you decide to slip down between Cap Sicié and the Porquerolles passage to make a stopover in Toulon, prepare yourself for a fifteen-mile round trip. Although Toulon has its detractors, it is well worth a visit.
Once you have got over the thought that a nuclear submarine might surface by your boat, or that you might come face to face with a warship or Corsican car ferry, the Bay of Toulon is a great place to discover.
So let's imagine that you've made it. You've found yourself a mooring in the Old Docks, a friendly, rustic place after all the snooty yachters' haunts elsewhere on the coast. From your moorings, not far from an even more modest old fishing port, you get a stunning view.
The two hills you would have seen as you approached the harbour are Mount Faron and Mount Coudon, two limestone ridges of 550 m (1,800 ft) and 700 m (2,300 ft) high respectively. Coudon is the taller of the two, on the eastern edge of city, on the way towards Hyères. Locals here prefer Mount Faron. They think of it as the backrest of the geological 'throne' the city is built on. People have long built their homes on the slopes of Faron, ensuring they have a sumptuous view. Why not get a reverse angle on the views you would have seen when sailing into the port? You can take a cable car up to the top of the hill to admire the scenery. Or take a trip along Corniche Marius Escartefigues, if only for the name!
Another striking feature, which will horrify those who like a nice clear view, is the dock-front apartment block complexes on Quai de la Since and Quai de Constradt. They were built during the post-war housing crisis (1953), and certainly reflect their era. Maybe people will find this architectural style attractive one day in the future. They stand as a reminder that nearly half the city was destroyed by Second World War bombings. The other advantage is that they soundproof the docks from the roar of Boulevard de la République behind.
Walk to the end of the quay to find the dockyards, the Maritime Prefecture and National Maritime Museum, symbols of the city's age-old activity as a naval port. But there are other stories here, too (see p. 9). Take a pause by the Quai d'Honneur, not to eye up the luxury yachts that seem to be less at home here than elsewhere, but to have a look at the statue, entitled Le Génie de la Navigation, whose finger points somewhere out to sea. It is the work of local sculptor Louis Joseph Daumas, to honour seafarers in general, and in particular, Vice-Admiral de Cuverville, commander of the Mediterranean fleet in 1895. The statue's buttocks are bared in the direction of the city, but the prudish locals prefer to nickname it Néverlo (sounds like 'nose out to sea), rather than the original Cuverville (sounds like 'arse to the city')!
Cross the street, past the apartment blocks and head north to Chicago. The nickname seems a bit over the top these days, as the neighbourhood is not a shadow of its former self - the Red Light district, as the American sea dogs called it, after they'd had a few too many. The neighbourhood used to swarm with sailor's wenches - and the honest city dwellers would not have been seen dead there. These days, although there may still be one or two sleazy clubs and sex shops, the neighbourhood is being renovated, as part of the city's efforts to attract tourists. The area was miraculously spared by the bombings, and is now the genuine original Middle Age heart of the city.
Why not go out exploring beyond the ancient confines, just as the city itself once did? Head further north to the former covered market, the Cours Lafayette, a fortified enclosure, and then on to Place Puget and the Opera House. These are the bourgeois suburbs built, in the time of the Empires, by ship owners and noblemen. Wend your way through the streets away from the harbour, before dropping back down to the dockyards via Place d'Armes. You're never far from the Royal Navy in Toulon.
If you want a tip (this one's for free!), pop into the discount bookstore Mona Lisait on Quai de Constadt, close to your moorings. A great book about the city is Toulon Découvre son Patrimoine by Rémi Kerfridin, published by Extrème Eden. It suggests a series of gentle walking tours that take you past Toulon's architectural highlights, letting you soak in the culture some more.
Christophe Naigeon
