South West Coast of France

The harbour at Marseille's city centre is crammed with yachts and other tourist boats. Vieux Port has had ships docking at it for more than 26 centuries. Bas Fort St-Nicolas and Fort St-Jean, built in the 1200s by the Knights Hospitaller, guard the harbour (top right). You can see the domed 19th-century Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde (top left) at the high point of the city. The church’s bell tower has a 9.7m-tall gilded statue of the Virgin Mary above it on a 12m-high pedestal.