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Home Page > Travelogues > France > Marseille > L'Îsles du Frouil Other Chapters in the Marseille
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This chapter of the Marseille travelogue
represents one of the more physically challenging this I've done during the
travels represented in this website. L'Îsles du Frioul was a hiker's dream,
or nightmare,
The fact was, most people visited these islands not for hiking but for boating. While the tiny companion island of Isle d'If attracted the tourists, these islands took on the boaters looking for places to hide away. This was because of the way the islands formed. The French word was catanques, the hundreds of inner bays and lagoons formed around the moonscaped edges of these islands. These catanques harbored crystal blue Mediterranean lagoons that ware popular with yachtsmen and swimmers, as seen the so-named Catanque Morgiret in the second photograph.
I started with the Ratonneau side, which seemed to be the more
popular of the two -- judging from the numbers of other hikers and the boats.
I took The Isle of Pomegues was a French national wildlife reserve, so the island was
left undeveloped. Like Ratonneau, scattered about were are several old
forts and landmarks, such as the Tour de
But breathtaking it was, and I admit I did not bring nearly as much water as I should have for this walk. By the time I returned to the harbor area, I was badly overheated and dehydrated. Thankfully, the harbor area and strand were fully developed and all too happy to take care of thirsty customers. A long view of the strand is shown in the fifth photograph. At the time
I visited it was both very new and very nice. Roughly a half-mile long as
I recall, the strand was filled with outdoor
restaurants, cafés, bars, and glaciers (ice cream shops) The round trip from the Old Port of Marseille, including the stopover Îsle d'If, was very reasonably priced. Based on limited time, I had to rush things in order to hit as much of the islands as I did. But, this was not necessary, both islands were doable in a leisurely day, and I think one could wander only a short distance along Ratonneau to the first sets of catanques to get the flavor of the islands. It depends on how one wants to do. I was satisfied that I saw as much of them as possible, but I sure as heck wouldn't do so much on such a hot day ever again! Trip taken 28 July 2001 -- Page Last Updated 26 September 2006 -- (C) 2001 Tom Galvin Other Chapters in the Marseille
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I devoted the better part of an hour and a half scaling them under the intense
heat of a sunny southern French summer afternoon. With their steep
rocky cliffs, raw gravel pathways, and more nooks and crannies than a chunk of
Havarti, these islands offered breathtaking views that required a lot of breath to
reach!
Although an archipelago of
numerous small rocky islands, the L'Îsles du Frioul that received visitors were two
main islands of Ratonneau and Pomegues. They were connected together by an
artificial earthen wall that held the ferry harbor from Marseilles -- typically
the ferries reached Frioul via If. The first photograph showed the marina
from the top of a cliff on the Ratonneau side. The small gray and orange
building was a hotel, one of few commercial structures on the islands. Not
far from the harbor, the islands became barren and
rocky, with sheer cliffs, jagged walkways, and topped with old (and new) ruins.
There were maps posted that pointed out several of those ruins, so I thought I
would follow the paths up and down both islands to see what I could find.
the high path leading along the top of the island, which allowed me to capture
the beautiful scenes of the first two photographs, which were on the city side
of the island. Much further along, on the island's seaside, was far fewer
people and boats. This was the part that held the intense heat.
There were several abandoned forts I encountered, with the best preserved one
being the Fort de Bregentin that was in use until fairly recently. But
there were other little forts like the one in the third photograph at the
furthest end of Ratonneau. It held a terrific vantage point over the sea
and toward several other smaller islands that were part of the archipelago.
The island in the background was topped by a large green monument that looked
like a sculpture of a saint but I could not tell. Along the ground was a set of tracks, probably to truck ammo to the gun positions beyond
this portal where cannoneers engaged invading forces. 
Pomeguet shown
in the fourth photograph. But Pomegues was much longer, much steeper, and much
hotter a walk than its twin. Although difficult to see in the fourth
photo, the walking path up to the Tour was at an eight to twelve degree angle.
Later on, there was an observatory, which appeared to still be active (I
imagined that the nighttime skies near Marseille were wonderful for any sort of
star gazing). Towards the end of the island was a full fortress left
abandoned known as Cap Cavel, whose fighting positions were still intact.
These were at the top of a twenty-meter tall cliff overlooking the sea...
breathtaking.
. After
such a long afternoon of hiking in the hot sun, a huge dish of ice cream went
down really well! The one structure that bore pointing out was the
Parthenon-like building in the center. I am not sure what the structure
was or what it represented, but it held its own position on a little hill
overlooking the strand, as if it were the spot of some old temple of days gone
by, but it was marked with a Christian cross. The catanques also formed a
swimming hole near the strand but separated from the harbor. It had
crystal blue waters and no intrusions from boats.
