About Toulon

While archeology shows that the area around Toulon was inhabited as far back as the Paleolithic age, it was not until the Romans created a settlement at what was then known as TeloMartius around the 2nd century BC that Toulon as we know it today began to take shape. With its sheltered location from the main part of the Mediterranean Toulon soon became a popular port, but this also led to its downfall in the early to middle ages when it was forever being attacked either by the Saracens or pirates. It was Louis XIV who decided France should become a major sea power, thereafter fortifying Toulon with the construction of a new battery and substantial arsenal. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the town’s population had halved after suffering from the black plague which had spread along the coast from Marseille, while at the end of the century and after the French Revolution, the town’s Royalists welcomed the arrival of the British fleet, only to see them defeated at the Battle of Toulon by a young French captain, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Mount Faron, at a height of 584 metres dominates the backdrop to the city. There are two ways to access the top, either tranquilly by cable car, or more scarily by one of the most precipitous and narrow roads in France! With a wealth of history, the city has plenty of museums, including the Museum of Asian Arts, which is housed in the former home to the son of the author, Jules Verne and which is filled with artifacts brought back to Toulon by French sailors who had visited the Orient. Toulon is also home to the Memorial Museum of the Landings in Provence which retells the story of the allied invasion of the area in 1944.

The Hôtel des Arts was first opened in 1998 and now holds five separate exhibitions every year to celebrate some of France’s finest modern painters. There couldn’t be more diversity within the city as far as events are concerned with a Festival du Country from June to July celebrating all that is good about American Country Music, together with an Estival de Musique de Toulon, which concentrates on music slightly closer to home. From July to August there is a Jazz festival which runs throughout the city at a number of indoor and outdoor venues, while September is the month for Voiles de Legend which sees Toulon being visited by some of the oldest and most stunning three masted schooners in the world.

With such a multicultured city, restaurants range from traditional French to Asian and also African. As with most of the resorts on the Riviera, seafood and fish play a great part in local cuisine, but not to the exclusion of some local Toulon dishes including the ‘cade Toulonnaise’ which is a pancake made from chickpea flour and ‘chichi frégi’ which is a type of Provençale donut. Alternatively, there is always fine dining, and Le GrosVentre (which sounds better than the English translation – ‘The fat stomach!) together with Le Pointilliste are two of the finest in Toulon.