Mount Faron in Toulon, Var, France | Cable Car

From the Cable Car that runs up to Mount Faron, the bay of Toulon reveals itself in bite-size below: its buildings, little beige boxes around the bay, its cranes on the port like toothpicks, its ships that weave into the mouth of a navy blue Grande Rade, knitting streaks of white in their wake. Beyond Toulon, the peninsula of Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer curves into the sea.
Called Faron from the word 'Pharos', which is greek for lighthouse, the crowning mountain lives up to its name.
Off the Cable Car and onto solid ground on Mont Faron, paths of pebbles pull visitors into a world of crackling white limestone rocks, of forests of Aleppo pines, bushes of gray-leaved Cistus that bloom in purple at springtime. The paths pass by ancient forts and batteries once part of the city's intricate military defense. Beaumont Tower, one of the fortifications on the Faron hill, homes the Memorial Museum of the Allied Landings in August 1944.
Mont Faron even homes a zoo that specializes in breeding large cats such as Bengal tigers.