Côte Vermeille
From Argelès-sur-Mer to the Spanish border via Collioure, Port-Vendres and Argelès-sur-Mer, the Côte Vermeille is the name given to the Albères coast south of the eastern Pyrenees. This wild coast is home to numerous rocky creeks and small fishing ports, far from the seaside resorts with their fine sandy beaches.
In 1912, the Tourist Club of Canigou was looking for a name to qualify this stretch of coast, born from the meeting of the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees. Several names are proposed: "Côte de Rubis", "Côte de Saphir", "Côte d'Amour" or even "Côte Elysénnes", but it is ultimately "Côte de Vermeille" which the Board of Directors has chosen as a tribute to the fertile land of Roussillon and its products.
"The Côte Vermeille is the coast which, at dawn, awakens under the vermeil-red blaze of the Canigou peaks and sees the great blue, in its purple halo, the Eastern sun which will soon drown under its rays reviving the Roussillon plain, to gild with its fires the wheat of Cerdanya, Capcir and Vallespir to disappear under the vaporous fringe of the Catalan Pyrenees in an apotheosis that the Côte d'Azur envies and is sometimes happy to make its own."
Amethyst Coast
The Côte d'Améthyste covers a large part of the coasts of the Occitan region, from the rocks of the Racou to the Camargue and the Rhone Delta. This very touristic region is home to many seaside resorts such as La Grande-Motte, Palavas-les-Flots, Cap d'Agde or Port-Barcarès. It is also called the Radiant Coast in its Roussillon part.
Camargue Coast
The Camargue and its regional park are located on the Mediterranean coast, inside the Rhone delta. It forms a triangle between Arles, Le Grau-du-Roi and Fos-sur-Mer. Its coastline is sandy and its soils are home to an exceptional fauna and flora, including horses and pink Flemings.
Blue Coast
The Côte Bleue covers a portion of the Mediterranean coast between Marseille and Martigues. Known for its limestone creeks, ports and beaches, its name refers to the colour of the water bordering the rocky massif of l'Estaque.
Moorish Coast
The Côte des Maures owes its name to the Massif des Maures, located in the department of Var, between Hyères and Fréjus. Several hypotheses explain this name. From the Latin Montem Maurum, which means "Mont Noir" then the Maura which means "The Black" in Provençal.
The Moorish term which means "brown, dark, dark" is common in Provençal as well as in old French and therefore has nothing to do with the Moors. Other sources explain that it would be so called because of the Saracen presence north of the Pyrenees in the 8th and 9th centuries.
Esterel Coast
L'Estérel is in the east of the department of Var and includes the communes of Saint-Raphaël, Fréjus and Roquebrune-sur-Argens. Between land and sea, the landscapes alternate between forests, rocky massifs, lakes, beaches and creeks. Above all, the Esterel coast owes its name to the volcanic mountain range it shelters, and its red-brown rocks.
Riviera Coast
The Riviera covers part of the Mediterranean, from the east of Nice to Italy, including Cannes, Menton, Sainte-Agnès and Monaco. But it is mainly in Italy, in Liguria, in the Gulf of Genoa, that most of it can be found.
The word Riviera, of Italian origin, refers to a region where the mountains suddenly meet the sea.
French Riviera
Initially called Riviera until the 19th century, the French Riviera, of which Antibes, Sainte-Maxime, Saint-Tropez, Saint-Raphaël or Cannes are the worthy representatives, owes its name to the Côte d'Or.
Indeed, Stephen Liégeard, is a Dijon lawyer, prefect then parliamentarian, loyal to Napoleon Bonaparte. Originally from the Côte d'Or, in 1887 he published a book in homage to this beautiful southern region which he called the Côte d'Azur and which drew its inspiration from the author's native region, transposed to the blue Mediterranean sky.
