A typical Mediterranean fishing port, situated near the Spanish border on the cote Vermeille in south west France, Port-Vendres is renowned for its numerous fish and sea food restaurants. You can watch the fishing boats arriving with their daily catch. It is also a major marina in the region. Port-Vendres is one of the few deep-water ports in this part of the French Mediterranean coast. It takes freighters and cruise ships, as well as large and small fishing boats.
Also, because of its location, Port-Vendres was a main point of embarkation for French troops going to serve in Algeria.
It's name literally means "Port of Venus", and is the only natural harbour along this stretch of coast. Virtually all the mariners of antiquity knew and wrote of the palce, long before the Romans came and stuck their noses into everything and named it Portus Veneris in sinu Salso. The term "Salty Gulf" may refer to the huge number of Anchoise "Anchovies" that breed in these clear warm waters. These are not like the tiny, almost inedible, Italian anchovies that you carefully remove from your pizza before eating. They are larger and less pungent. They can be eaten like sardines.
In commemoration of the placing of the first stone of the obelisk in Port Vendres, on the orders of the Maréchal de France, comte de Mailly, the Fete de Mailly takes place every September. The day begins with a fancy dress parade through the streets followed by a re-enactment of the placing of the first stone, circus workshops, historical games, rides in a carriage, concert Xim Xim (traditional dance music of central France) sardanes, Catalan ballet, enactment of a pirate fight, jeu de foulard (bandana game), etc.
Count Joseph Augustin De Mailly d'Haucourt was born in April 1707 at Corbiom, Villaines-sous-Lucé, in the Sarthe. In 1726, he entered military service as a musketeer, and in 1749 was appointed lieutenant general for the Roussillon and commander in chief of the province. In true "musketeer" style, he was exiled by the king in 1753 for having "stolen" one of the king's mistresses but in 1758, was reinstated as commander in chief, a post which he continued to hold until 1790.
De Mailly was the driving force behind the creation of Port-Vendres as a port, and followed plans originally conceived by Vauban to open up and enlarge the existing facilities. From 1776-78, land was dug out and quais were created. As a foil to the enormous amount of construction of flat concrete, De Mailly called in Charles De Wailly, architect and painter to the king, to build the obelisk which has now become a focal point of Port-Vendres. The first stone was placed on September 28, 1780, by Mailly's wife, Felicite de Narbonne Pelet, and witnessed by much of the Roussillon nobility.
