Rugby mad on the French Riviera

The sun sets over the city of Toulon France. Photo / Getty Images

Catherine Masters enjoys a short visit to the gateway to Provence — a city renowned for shipwrecks, marine heroes and footy stars

Toulon is like many parts of Europe, in that it's pretty hard to imagine the level of carnage that has gone on in its peaceful environs.

As the Viking Star makes its way into this historic military harbour and gateway to the Provence region of France early one sunny morning, among the first things to catch the eye are the grey warships. There are frigates to defend against air or submarine attacks, a nuclear-propelled aircraft carrier and six nuclear-propelled submarines, our guide Elena tells us later.

The harbour itself is the largest in Europe — it's 20 metres deep and 30km to drive around.

As an important naval base for centuries, Toulon has seen its share of drama. The Ottomans were here in the 15th century and there have been big battles over the years, including the time a young Napoleon Bonaparte ousted the British.

In the distance is a fortress on top of a hill which was built in the late 1700s to defend the harbour. Elena says as the Viking Star arrived this morning, soldiers were up there watching us, not just to check us out but to protect us.

Aquavit Terrace from the deck of the Viking Star.

There's another fortress lower down, too, which was built with windows for cannons at the level of the sea so the balls would bounce over the surface of the water.

In fact, she says there are 22 fortresses near by, so this has been an important and strategic military position throughout the ages — but what happened here late in 1942 is still hard for locals to talk about.

During World War II the entire naval fleet was scuttled rather than let it fall into German hands.

"It's a very difficult event to talk about here in Toulon because the scuttling of a navy is, ah, like committing suicide."

The Germans were on their way to seize the navy and the sacrifice of the fleet is referred to as "the pride of France".

Those were dark days — Elena says ships were sunk and left to rust on the sea floor.

The city itself was badly bombed, with about 50 per cent of the town destroyed, though much of it has been rebuilt.

While shipbuilding has moved away from Toulon, there are different institutes based here now for ocean research, and it was in Toulon that Jacques Cousteau began his career.

Jacques Cousteau began his career in Toulon.

After the war, the explorer was the first to dive and take images of the scrap iron on the sea floor and he warned the Government about pollution.

"He filmed and filmed and he experimented with his aqualung device here and in the area, and, thanks to his concern, the Government realised they should move the scrap iron.

"They removed it and sold it to the Italian car builder Fiat — so if you ever bought those little cars in the 1950s you were driving a car which originated from the port of Toulon."

Of course, Toulon isn't all military harbour. There are sandy beaches and the city is part of the 250km Cote d'Azur coastline, or the French Riviera.

Riviera means there are mountains together with water which create a microclimate of mild temperatures year round.

The old city is right on the harbour and is made up of alleyways and squares where you can shop or take coffee, and a bustling market runs most mornings. Here you can buy something called a "smash" a kind of toasted sandwich packed full of ingredients which are smashed together then toasted on a griddle.

During the tour Elena announced we were going to stop in front of the "main monument" of Toulon, the Stade Mayol — in other words, the rugby stadium.

"In Toulon we are frantic about rugby. All over Provence everyone is a fan of soccer but here in Toulon we are a fan of rugby . . . we have beautiful rugby players."

Johnny Wilkinson, who played for England, was once one of them and one now Ma'a Nonu is in their ranks — "we love him too," Elena says.

Ma'a Nonu, Toulon. Photo / Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE

The stadium might be a model for Auckland as it's in the heart of the city and not far from the harbour.

Because it's in the city centre the atmosphere, says Elena, is electrifying.

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Getting there: Emirates flies from Auckland to Lyon, Nice and Paris with connections in Dubai.

Viking's 13-day Mediterranean Odyssey cruise, between Barcelona and Venice has six departures in March-May, October and November. With prices from $7,095pp. vikingcruises.com.au