Port-Vendres

Description

Port-Vendres is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. A typical Mediterranean fishing port, situated near the Spanish border on the Côte Vermeille in south west France, Port-Vendres is renowned for its numerous fish and sea food restaurants. Port-Vendres has been in existence since Iron Age times, when it was used as a harbour connected with the Iberian settlement of Illiberis. The geomorphology of Port-Vendres meant that it developed in a different way from the nearby port of Collioure. Whereas Collioure has two beaches which slowly descend into a relatively shallow sandy-bottomed harbour, Port-Vendres is deeper and rockier. Collioure and Port-Vendres have therefore been used for different purposes, Collioure for small commercial ship and Port-Vendres for larger vessels and military transports