“It is here, in the Calanques, that the history of Marseille was played out”
This sentence pronounced by Thierry Garcia and Jean-Marc Nardini testifies to both the importance and the particularity of this space.
credit: mmac72
In 2014, the two men decided to create the association “Les Calancoeurs” where 60 passionate friends talk about their experiences and everything they know about the Calanques. The testimonies were so numerous that they were the subject of a book: Once Upon a Time in the Calanques .
Thalie knows the Calanques by heart. From her childhood until today, alone or accompanied, she never stops walking there. After coming across plastic waste washed up at sea, Thalie decided to act: CALANQUE was born.
Whether it rains, snows or winds, tourists or locals go to the Calanques of Marseille. They are an emblematic place in the region, if not unmissable.
A place for hiking for centuries, the creeks are today a place to be protected due to their overcrowding which has a direct impact on the biodiversity and quality of our environments. This is why, since 2018, the Calanques massif has become the Calanques National Park.
credit: mmac72
This wild space is endowed with rich biodiversity thanks to its marine and terrestrial landscapes. This is why the CSRPN4 has designated it as an area of strong biological interest both on a national and European scale.
The Calanques are full of stories, real or legendary. Here is one: in 1948, the writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, untraceable for several years, was officially declared “dead for France”. A mystery solved by chance, when on September 7, 1998, a Marseille fisherman named Jean-Claude Bianco found the writer's bracelet in one of his nets! 2 years later, the remains of an aircraft corresponding to the one flown by the artist were found at the bottom of a cove...
The Calanques remain and will forever remain a place well apart from our Marseille landscape.