True to his reputation as a smart strategist, Caesar built a place for the inhabitants of the maritime town of La Ciotat to retreat to in case of invasion. Virtually invisible from the coast, the village of “Césarista” (the ancient village of Ceyreste) still lies tucked away at the foot of the hills… Wood from Ceyreste forest – home to one of the finest Aleppo pine woods in the Bouches-du-Rhône – was used for many years by La Ciotat’s vast shipyards. This forest is now a genuine marvel of nature, where walkers can enjoy delightful walks and beautiful sea views.

Very close from Marseille, you will enjoy here nice view on th bay of Marseille to the South and Alps to the North.

Etoile and Garlaban have been damaged by many fires. As a matter of fact, the landscape is mostly composed of bushes (Guarrigue). Many fire roads have been built to fight this risk. So this access to the mountain is quite easy. You will climb most of the time on fire roads and go down on single tracks or large tracks.

Pichauris park, especially is a protected area with marked tracks for moutain biking.

There are also some small roads for road bike riders that permit to discover the little towns around : Mimet , Allauch, Simian, Cadolive,…

This area is also well know to be the scenery of the stories of french writter and film maker Marcel Pagnol.