Toulon is not Toulouse

Toulon is the capital of Var. It is the largest military navy base of France, home to the aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle, nuclear submarines, and many more war, battle and navy ships. Its long history is filled with names such as Napoleon, Louis the XIV, Vauban and Pierre Puget.

First encounter with Toulon

I have a love, hate relationship with Toulon. When I first met her 15 years ago, I didn’t get it. It’s like the first time you visit Brooklyn. What’s all the fuss about? But when you understand its history, why plazas and streets are named after certain people, when you walk where greatness has walked, where tragedy lays, where beauty was carved, and when you finally write your own history within a city, you are forever her captive.

Sometimes you are angry at her, for betraying herself, for constructing eyesores, for giving you a parking ticket, for not having public toilets. But then you forgive her, when by miracle you find a parking spot, when a cool waiter let’s you use the toilets in his café without insisting “it is for customers only”. When the wind blows in the right direction as you raise your sails.

Toulon: Port and Mistral

Today is a typical autumn day in Toulon. The mistral wind is blowing, sunny blue skies. I park my car far in the free lot next to the train station and descent my way to the port. People with real lives in skirts and suits hurry past me to catch a train somewhere. I cut down to Blvd. Strasburg, loud and wide, full of traffic. I wait for the light to turn green. I turn and give a nod to Place de la Liberte, the huge square flanked by Haussiman buildings ordered by Napoléon III. Light turns, I cross the street and continue to roll instinctively down to the port.

Today I want to feel the people of Toulon so I decide to take Cours Lafayette with its loud daily market. You don’t find tourists here, but only locals food shopping, merchants screaming, men in coffee shops, women pushing strollers and haggling over prices. Ah! A real city. No souvenir shops. No fancy cheeses. A good old fashion boulangerie, with correctly priced baked goods.

I arrive at the port and stop to smell the sea. The port, or what I can see, is only the vieille darse. It is the yacht port. Behind, a huge yellow monster dominates the skyline, a ferry to Corsica. That was a fun trip, I remember. What I see is maybe only 10% of the Toulon port, the rest is a closed military zone housing the French navy fleet.

Though is it calm today with typical port life of boats coming and going, I know of different times. Of English and Spanish attacks, of sieges, of Nazis. The inevitable sinking of fleet in 1942, a scar carved in the history of Toulon I am not sure they ever got over.

Guided visit in Toulon

I carry on, I am in a bit of a hurry to meet my clients. I give a nod to the famous Genie of the Navigation statue and behind him the humble and exquisite Puget masterpiece. In 1942, the entire port was razed, the fleet destroyed, but the Atlantes des Puget survived. It is such an incredible work of sculpture that it alone can be a sole reason for visiting Toulon.

I meet the lovely British retired couple who arrive like clockwork. I need to switch my brain from Hebrew to English and off I guide. As luck would have it, the couple is quite interested in French history and architecture and maritime life. I take advantage and convert dry facts into incredible stories of courage and honor. Ah! People knew how to fight back then… I think, my father would be proud to see me now, how I share his love of the sea and for history. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Of Opera and Maritime War

We are in for a special treat today. It is national heritage day in France, and as such the famous Opera House of Toulon is open to visitors. The couple is awestruck by the lavish structure, with its stupendous fresco, still featuring creaking wooden benches. We go back in time to the 19^th century to imagine the grand opening of this venue, the first one in France, 13 years before the Opera House in Paris. Again, compliments of Napoleon III.

Carrying on, thanks to heritage day, the Musée de la Marine is free to the public. We take advantage. Inside, we observe incredible models of old Royal Ships and Galleys, reconstructed to the minute details, some the size of half a room. We observe artifacts and statutes from these richly decorated ships, from an age where people wanted to sail in luxury and art, not just for functionality. We climb up to the top floor, to the modern era to have a closer look at navy ships, the Charles de Gaule, submarines, and to view photos of some of the 20,000 navy conscripts residing in the Toulon base today.

I bid the clients goodbye and leave them to explore the museum at their leisure. I traverse the quay and stop to look across the bay to Fort de l’Éguillette. Still, I prefer history, and imagine the young Bonaparte launching his attack on the fort, leading the wave in person. Amid fierce hand-to-hand fighting, his horse was killed under him, and he was bayoneted in the thigh, a wound he carried from Toulon for the rest of his life.