Every design for La Ciotat

La Ciotat is where cinema found one of its first audiences: the Lumière brothers filmed a train pulling into the town's station in 1895, and shot several of their earliest films, among them the first known screen comedy, at their summer villa here. Twelve years later, in 1907, Jules Le Noir invented pétanque in La Ciotat, and the first tournament followed in 1910.

The Palais Lumière and the Monument Lumière keep that story in view, but everyday life happens closer to the water. Families spread out on the Grande plage, people wander the Jardin botanique du Mugel, and the Bec de l'Aigle rises behind the town like a guardian. The Maison de la Construction Navale remembers the shipyards that once built vessels to export olive oil, wine, wheat and soap, and brought back spices, silks and porcelain. Trains between Marseille and Toulon stop here, and the town sits at an equal distance from both, which makes it feel a world of its own.

Look west and the Falaises Soubeyranes climb towards Cap Canaille, among the highest sea cliffs in Europe, dropping straight into the blue water below.