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A hundred per cent salt port
Even the name of Palavas les Flots is evocative: paid leave, post-war seaside holidays, the scenic train and the crazy cartoonist Dubout... A cliché? Don’t be so sure.
Located at the Lez estuary and the natural opening of the Méjean and Le Grec lagoons, the port of Palavas les Flots may have been won back from the sea, but it’s independent from it. It’s a clear water port (except when the wind and the sea force the course of the Lez inland), a deep water port (deep enough for boats with a draught of 4 to 5m) and sometimes a choppy port – when entering – when the Marin wind blows.
It’s also a port which is easy to recognise, with its long, powerful stone jetty, but mostly thanks to a remarkable marker: Le Phare de la Méditerranée. Formerly the town’s water tower, transformed into a panoramic restaurant, it’s like a kind of flying saucer in changing colours, topped off with a flashing rocket, which looks lovely at night...
A UFO AND A TRAIN
Despite this futuristic appearance, the site is ancient. Pavallanium could mean “Papilus’ lands” (Papilus was a rich Roman). Others think the name is more likely to be derived from palus, meaning marsh in Latin, as in the French words paludier [salt worker] and paludisme [malaria]... No great surprise there.
Initially just a few fishermens’ huts, the town became a fashionable bathing resort well before the Popular Front government introduced paid leave. The proof? The famous Scenic Train between Montpellier and Palavas was declared of public interest by Napoleon III in 1872, 64 years before the introduction of paid holidays!
It ran until 1968. Its story is told next to the Albert Dubout museum, which is based on a local celebrity who immortalised a population of cheeky holiday makers in his humorous cartoons. An allusion to history: a brand new tram is due to arrive here in a few years... Will it do as well as its predecessor, which attracted two million passengers per year at the height of its success?
Certainly, because this village is full of charm and lively all year round, with 6,000 permanent inhabitants (add a zero to that number in the summer) and with a lifestyle which is still, above all, influenced by the sea, the canal and the lagoons.
The local authority has adopted the legacy of this popular image and, in adopting it, has even revived its colours and identity, promoting the town’s architectural diversity, which students of architecture come from afar to see close-up. If your boat is small enough to go up the Lez, take advantage of it to go a bit further.
A MUSEUM 
AND A TOWER
Another unusual feature, which is less well-known: the little fort which houses the Dubout museum, on the way out of town towards Carnon, used to be the water tower, and used to be on the site of the current lighthouse. Faced with regular pirate attacks, the government of Languedoc decided to build eight watchtowers between Le Grau du Roi and Cap D’Agde. The one at Palavas, the Ballestras redoubt, was built in 1743 on what is now the site of the “Lighthouse”.
A fishing community settled at the foot of it, forming the first embryonic Palavasian population. In the 20th century, as demand for water grew with the population, the tower was initially converted into a water tank, before being buried in 1943 when a large, concrete water tower was being built. At the end of 1980, the local authorities became interested in redeveloping the water tower and restoring the Redoubt. So it was dismantled stone by stone by the “Compagnons du Devoir” [professional association which trains young people and carries out public interest work], then put back together a few hundred metres away to house the Dubout museum.
THREE HARBOURS
There are three harbours in Palavas. The first is the fishing harbour. As you go up the Lez, which cuts the town in two, you’ll see that the banks are very busy with people and are cluttered with fishing nets: tourism hasn’t killed the traditional jobs here. In fact, they find an outl
et for their products here every morning. Why bother selling it at the fish auction, when you can go to the customer direct!
The second is the Paul Riquet river harbour, named after the creator of the Canal du Midi, which is a little further upstream and equipped for 250 small motor boats which can go under the bridge. On the Canal du Rhône à Sète, which runs behind it, there is a river harbour for ”pénichette” barges, which completes this city stopover at the crossroads between the sea and the canals.
And finally, the yacht harbour is at the heart of the town, amidst the restaurants and casinos, for the enjoyment of the tourists sitting on the terraces. Not to mention the pleasure of seeing, on the side nearest the harbour master’s office, the brightly coloured “lateen” rigged skiffs, which remind you that this port, where old-fashioned rigging is popular, is very active in terms of traditional sailing.
