I suggest you spend a day on the Frioul Islands, an archipelago made up of four islands : Pomègues, Ratonneau, Tiboulen and If, located about 2.7 km off Marseille. Embark on a boat from the old port and discover magnificent landscapes, the seabed but also vestiges of a certain military past.
Shuttle tickets can only be purchased at the ticket office of the old port ferry terminal, from Tuesday to Sunday from mid-September to the end of March and every day of the week from April. The Château d'If is closed every Monday from mid-September to the end of March. Timetables are available here.
On the islands, a fauna composed of maritime birds is present, such as the yellow-legged gull, alias the "gabian" for the Provençals. Many chicks are born on these arid lands belonging to the city of Marseille since 1971.
In 1516, François 1er had the idea of building a fortress on the island of If, during a visit to Marseille. The building then very quickly became a prison because of its isolation, thus making the escape of prisoners more complex. There was also the famous prisoner José Custodio Faria, made famous by Alexandre Dumas, author of the Count of Monte-Cristo. The fortress will lose its prison vocation, before being opened to the general public in 1890.
I advise you to go directly to the islands of Frioul by boat, you will disembark at the Port of Ratonneau and from there 2 directions are available to you: the island of Ratonneau or the island of Pomègues.
Personally I prefer the island of Pomègues, 2.5 km long, it's a 45-minute walk where you think you're at the end of the world, in wild landscapes, away from civilization. I advise you to go there between April and June, when the sun is present but does not heat up too much, the flowers bloom and the gulls build their nest. The path to the island of Pomègues crosses many creeks such as La Crine (pictured below), magnificent for swimming in a snorkel or basking in the sun. The fort and the semaphore, now disarmed, as well as the remains of an old battery also testify to a military past.
The island of Ratonneau is less wild, local residents live there year-round and small shops, bars and restaurants liven up the village in season. 2.7 km long, you can walk, cycle and take the little train in summer (30 minutes, €5 for adults, €3 for children). I advise you to go to the beach of Saint Estève (photo below), taking the paved road or the hiking trails, if you want to go through Fort Ratonneau, a guard post that can hold 200 soldiers. in the seventeenth century.
As for Tiboulen Island, it is not accessible from the old port by shuttle. It is especially well known to divers because the underwater relief, the currents and the fact that the archipelago is sheltered from the east wind favor a wide variety of flora and fauna. Nearby, divers like to visit the wreckage of a German bomber plane from the Second World War: the Junker 88, lying flat on the sand at a depth of 53m. More info on diving < strong>here.
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