About our region
We are pleased to offer for holiday rental a penthouse apartment built in 2004, part of a small select development on a hillside overlooking l'Obelisque in the town square with magnificent views of the harbour and the sea from its large terrace( 48 x 18 ft).
The port with shops, restaurants, church and a secluded bathing cove are only five minutes walk away from the apartment.
Charles Rennie Macintosh (CRM), the famous Scottish architect and artist, lived and painted for four years in Port Vendres from where he wrote charmingly in the 1920s to his wife about events there.
In June 2004 a local CRM society was formed and the Lord Provost of Glasgow inaugurated a CRM Trail depicting some of his water colours and unveiled a plaque at the hotel where he lived.
Port Vendres, a deep-water working port with a population of 5000, has a large wholesale and retail fish market complete with a customer seafood bar serving excellent wines.
The palmlined yachting harbour has shops, cafes and seafood restaurants and the Place Castellane provides a venue for open air dances and other cultural festivities.
There is a market at the Place de l'Obelisque on Saturdays. It is an excellent year round location for visiting the many other places of interest, such as Ceret, Carcassone, Montpellier, Toulouse, Barcelona, Girona, Andorra and Perpignan which is only 20 miles away.
There are excellent bus and train services, a ferry between Port Vendres and Collioure (a delightful little town where the painter Matisse and many other artists worked), as well as a weekly ferry to Tangier in the summer.
Sheltered by the Pyrenees, this part of France has an exceptionally mild climate and more than 300 days of sunshine a year.
The Tramontane wind comes from the North West and chases away any rain clouds.
Port Vendres lies in the foothills of the Pyrenees, on whose steep slops are grown some excellent wines, notably the delicious fortified wine of Banyuls.
You can walk the many mule tracks through the vineyards or along the cliff tops and experience breathtaking coastal views of the Corbiere mountains to the North and the Costa Brava to the South.
There are small beaches in Port Vendres itself, restaurant-bedecked beaches at Collioure and Banyuls, a nice family beach by a vineyard with a bar and restaurant at Paulilles ( five minutes by car or can be reached on foot along the cliff tops) and long sandy beaches four miles to the north at Argeles sur Mer.
In summer, a little yellow train runs from Port-Vendres to the historic town of Collioure, passing through the vineyards.
Famous for its clock tower and ancient castle, where many artists can be seen at work around the harbour.
The region is steeped in history and many interesting excursions can be made to its medieval villages, fortresses and beautifully restored Romanesque abbeys.
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