Marseille Little Train

---

Starting from the Old Port (Vieux Port) there is a little tourist train you can take for a tour around the city, instead of the usual Hop-on, Hop-off bus. It takes you up to Notre Dame de la Garde, driving along on the seaside road, past the forts, the Pharo Palace and St Victor’s Abbey.

Along the way up the hill to the basilica, you can see the beautiful “marseillaises” houses perched on the hillside. It gradually climbs to a total height of 162 meters from which the “Bonne Mère”(The Good Mother) watches over the people of Marseilles. This is the only stop where you can get off and you have 30 minutes before it returns to take you back down to Vieux Port.

Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally Our Lady of the Guard), is a Catholic basilica. This Neo-Byzantine church was built by the architect Henri-Jacques Espérandieu on the foundations of an ancient fort. The fort was located at the highest natural elevation in Marseille, a 149 m (490 ft) limestone outcrop on the south side of the Old Port of Marseille. It is an important local landmark and the site of a popular annual pilgrimage every year on Assumption Day, August 15. People from Marseille traditionally see Notre-Dame de la Garde as the guardian and the protector of the city. Local inhabitants commonly refer to it as la bonne mère ("the good mother")

From the basilica, you also have an excellent view of the Château d'If, a fortress (later a prison) located on the island of If, the smallest island in the Frioul archipelago situated in the Mediterranean Sea about a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille. It is famous for being one of the settings of Alexandre Dumas' adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo.

---

Photos

Marseille Little Train
Photo from tourism website