Foça

Did you know that Marseille is the daughter of a small town in Izmir? It may not sound very convincing, but history records it plainly: this great French port city was founded around 600 BC by sailors who set out from today’s Foça, ancient Phocaea. According to Herodotus, the Phocaeans were the first of the Greeks to make long sea voyages; they were the first to reach the Adriatic, the coasts of Italy and Spain… That is why Marseille is still called “the Phocaean city” today.