If you’re into military history you’ll be riveted by the presentations of the different operations and battlefields around Toulon, elaborated with maps, models and photography.There’s loads of contemporary uniforms, weapons and field equipment to inspect, and outside there’s hardware, with an American tank and German anti-tank and aircraft guns left behind after the battle.Street markets are a way of life in Provence, and if food provenance means something to you, it will acquaint you with all the local produce and delicacies.Cours Lafayette is a long pedestrian street stretching down to the harbour and worthy of your time whenever you come.But on every morning of the week except Monday there’s a market running the length of this street.Arrive in the morning for a freshly baked pastry and squeezed orange juice, and browse stalls selling seasonal fruit and vegetables, cheese, olives, fish, preserves, local lavender, flowers and herbs.Excluding the harbour, Toulon is on a network of coastal walking trails that begins at Six-Fours in the west and continues all the way to Hyères in the east.This is known as the Sentier des Douaniers, which was laid down in the early 19th-century during the First Empire to make it easier for customs officers to discover smugglers.By turns you’ll be hoisted up on natural balconies, or descend to craggy coves with crystalline waters.The 300 hours of sunshine a year in this part of France allows many of the plant species by the path to remain in bloom, even in winter.Hardcore walkers will want to test their mettle on the gruelling course between Pointe de Cap Vieux and Cap Sicié.On the Sentier des Douaniers is a pair of small coves with a blend of sand shingle.The walls of the fishing cottages come right down to the beach, and behind them are steep rocks with cypresses, palms and pine trees.Furthest from Toulon is Anse Magaud, a snorkeller’s paradise as a cluster of large rocks in the middle of the cove form a natural barrier to currents and conceal lots of underwater life.Lunch is taken care of at the restaurant on the headland dividing the two coves.Toulon’s main square is the city’s transport hub and nerve centre, and warrants a brief stroll or a stop at one of the cafe terraces on the sides.Holding court over the north side of the square is the neoclassical Grand Hôtel, a stately symbol for Toulon built in 1870. This league pays some of the best wages anywhere, so if you come and see a match at the Stade Mayol, right by the harbour, you can be sure you’re seeing some of the best players the game has to offer.Watch like a true Toulonais, and get one of the cheaper seats in the north or south stands.You’ll hear their famed Pilou-Pilou rallying cry, and if you’re fortunate you’ll experience the full ire of these fans when bitter rivals Toulouse show up!You can buy a combined ticket with the cable-car for this military museum on a terrace on Mont Faron.The museum and memorial commemorate the Allied invasion of the coast of Provence on August 15, 1944.