Harbour

L'Estaque

3.2L'Estaque, FranceMarseille and the Calanques

Maximum length: 13 m
Maximum draught: 1.8 m

A 600-berth harbour on the northern shore of Marseille bay, in the L'Estaque district at the foot of the Nerthe range.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

South-facing entrance with lateral marks at the pier heads. Maximum draught 1.8 m, one of the shallowest in the northern roadstead. The mistral funnels in from the NW and raises a short chop at the entrance.

Practical

600 berths and a diesel fuel berth on site. Water, electricity and sanitary blocks on the pontoons. Market on Tuesday and Saturday mornings on place de l'Estaque 200 m away. L'Estaque railway station 400 m away, Côte Bleue line to Martigues and Marseille Saint-Charles.

Ashore

Waymarked painters' trail through the village marks the viewpoints painted by Cézanne, Braque, Derain and Dufy between 1870 and 1910. Coast path to Niolon and the Côte Bleue starts at the harbour. Panisses and chichi frégi sold at the seafront stalls, local specialities.

History

L'Estaque was the testing ground of the Fauves and then the Cubists. Paul Cézanne painted there from 1870 onwards, and in 1908 Georges Braque produced the canvases now seen as the start of analytical cubism. The district was then a village of fishermen and tile-works labourers.