This is not postcard coastline. The route leaves Saintes-Maries through flat Camargue ground: canals, reeds, horse pastures and salt flats. Around Salin-de-Giraud it gets rougher and more industrial; the Rhône crossing at Bac de Barcarin marks the shift from marshland to working coast. Port-Saint-Louis and Fos-sur-Mer bring harbour cranes, wind, concrete and open water. Martigues adds colour again with canals, bridges and boats. Before Marseille, the road climbs from the north-west, with L’Estaque as the first clear signal. Then Marseille arrives: dense, loud, real.
