La Camargue

I visited the camargue region on thursday,the 21st of march. I took the bus a50 in Arles at 7.38am( bus stop "lamartine" near the railway station,the bus a50 also stops there) and arrived in Saint-Maries-de-la-Mer around 8.30am.First I went directly to the church "Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer which is a place of pilgrimage for France's gypsies/gitanes as saint sarah also known as "sarah the black " is the patron saint for that ethnic group. 

The church was open at that time and quite interesting to pass 10-15 minutes there.The interior of the church is full of devotional items, pictures, objects left behind by pilgrims... the opposite of bare or baroque and not at all the typical Catholic church you would expect to find. Every year, on the 24th of may, the small town of Saint-Maries is full or better overcrowded with gitanes/gypsies from all over france and even from other european countries honouring Saint Sarah by carrying her statue down to the sea to re-enact her arrival in France.

After that short visit there I went to a bike rental shop named "the bike saintois" which is just a stone's throw away from the church.They had just opened their doors when I arrived.Within 5 minutes I had my bike and was on the way out of town towards the so-called "digue a la mer".The bike shop employee had given me two maps, one showing the various bike routes through the Camargue and one focusing on Saint-Maries and the surrounding area.

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La Camargue (Grande Camargue) is the landscape between the two arms of the Rhône delta, the Grand Rhône to the east and the Petite Rhône to the west or between the cities of Arles, Salin-de-Giraud and Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. However, the T-list entry describes the Carmargue only as a natural site, comprising 20.000 hectares of the nature park and biosphere reserve. This area consists mostly of very shallow lakes (French: étang), reed-covered marshlands, and a long sandbank on the seaside. The Camargue is the habitat and breeding area for several bird species, the best known is the flamingo, and many migratory birds overwinter in the Camargue. Therefore, large areas are not accessible to visitors.

We started from Arles with our rental car and drove on the Route de Filouse (D36B) along the eastern side of the Etang de Vaccarès, the largest of the Camargue lakes. The road passes close to the shore of the lake and flamingos can be seen even from the car, usually in groups of up to ten birds. You can stop at various vantage points and watch the birds, e.g. at the information centre La Capellère.

In Salin-de-Giraud we rented bicycles and we cycled on the Digue à la mer towards Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (about 30 km). In the first section along the Étang de Fangassier we saw a lot of flamingos and other birds, later the path leads close along the coastline. It is not allowed to walk on the dunes, but there are marked trails to …

When compared to other European natural WHS, I believe that Camargue has a great chance of being included in the list. However, as a truly WORLD heritage site I don't feel it offers a universal value. A great place to admire pink flamingoes, herons, stilts, terns, etc. in Europe.