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La Pointe Rouge-A beach, little cabins, a world of its own.
La Pointe rouge actually consists of two worlds: the beach and the port. The beach is home to two distinct groups: enthusiasts for sports, and the people who live in the cabins. In the port, there are three distinct groups: yachtsmen, divers and sailors. And, it must be said, this is a particularly lively area of Marseilles.
When you arrive from the sea, la Pointe Rouge is a port with 1,200 tightly-packed mooring places with few passing places, so when there’s a strong Mistral blowing, it’s not easy to manoeuvre. The Communauté Urbaine Marseille Provence Méditerranée's concern to create new guest moorings will no doubt bring to fruition a long-standing expansion plan. This would be particularly good because la Pointe Rouge is a far more interesting stopping place than the nautical guidebooks would lead you to believe.
If all you go by is the size of the port, then it's true that there's nothing to write home about. It's a place that fits the purpose, full stop. Seen from the sea, there are only ships chandlers, staging for boats, sheds for diving clubs and stacks of sailing dinghies for the sailing schools. It is bounded to the South by an industrial zone which, although there has been visible progress on the cleanliness front, is still a boatyard where the hulls are too tightly packed to be able to work on them comfortably. But, even though there’s a shortage of mooring places here, people are really pleased to find a boat-repair facility (the nearest are in l’Estaque or in le Frioul).
The best advice is to leave the port area and make your way to the beach. During the day, as long as there is a good North-west wind, you will see kite-surfing experts training, enjoying this safe stretch of water with le Prado cove and la Bonne Mère in the background. Or you can very often watch high-level matches of beach-volleyball or sand-soccer. And that's the world of exhausting activities.
On the other hand, those who are real enthusiasts for the sports of chatting, Pastis-drinking and doing-nothing-whatsoever will find exactly what they need on this beautiful, sandy, crescent-shaped beach where the show never stops. Everyone from cosmopolitan Marseilles, families and groups of friends meet there, in a place that has remained popular without managing to become the "in place" to be, we are very glad to report. Do not imagine having a quiet siesta here with a rented parasol and airbed, massage on demand and slices of cucumber on your eyes, that's not the sort of place it is. It's more the sort of place where you can enjoy a quiet lunch with your feet in the sand (pizza with anchovies!) while you watch the kids swimming (safely), have a picnic in the sand with Granny and Granddad (and the blue cold box). You can also sip an aperitif in front of the cabins lined up in style all around the beach while (of course) you envy the happy occupants of the cabins.
But the mornings and the evenings are the really special times in Pointe Rouge. In the morning, rather than staying in your cockpit with only your fellow creatures to gaze upon, walk a hundred yards or so to the first café that opens onto the beach (there's a newsagent above it) and order your first coffee of the day. Enjoy the view of the bay while it is still deserted, and as it gradually fills with people, the warm light that gradually turns blue and the cabins that come to life.
In the evening, when the crowds have left in their coaches, and night is falling, that's when they organise dinners on the beach, midnight swims and little parties. Sometimes there's a "Ricard Pastis happy hour" evening in the cocktail bar on the beach. If that's not for you, continue a little further towards the corniche. Five minutes away, at the beginning of l’avenue de la Pointe Rouge, there are some really nice restaurants and night bars.
It's not as easy to find a table there, and it's not as highly rated as le Frioul, but it is by far a more welcoming place, with more variety and friendlier traders.
- C.N.
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