Part 4 will be available soon.
Part 4 will be available soon.
Aquatic Monuments
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Part 4 will be available soon.
Audenge, home to Europe's largest seawater swimming pool
Feature'Aquatic Monuments' (3/6). Le Monde brings you to French public pools with exceptional architecture. In the Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park, a former 19th-century hunting basin has become the largest seawater swimming pool in Europe. Since the 1920s, residents of Audenge and neighboring towns have come here for swimming lessons, to enjoy oysters, and to relax in the shade of towering trees.
A concrete pool, with no tiling, mosaics, diving boards or smell of chlorine. This large rectangle of water – a strip 170 meters long by 17 meters wide, divided into three basins ranging from 30 centimeters to 1.90 meters deep – is fed by the tide and is set in a magical environment on the eastern shore of the Arcachon Basin on France's southwestern coast, near Bordeaux, within the Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park.
Aligned with the channel leading to the marina, the largest seawater swimming pool in Europe offers a spectacular perspective. For decades, residents of Audenge and nearby towns have learned to swim in the calm waters of the Emile-Ortel basin, which, as a bonus, is completely free of charge.
Flanked by a wooden walkway and areas covered in sand and grass, the edge of the swimming basin is designed for relaxation. Picnic tables beneath tall tamarisks and a children's play area invite visitors to settle in for the day. A discreet, spiral-shaped wooden changing room with showers allows for rinsing off and changing in privacy, while a large permanent lifeguard station – where swimming is monitored from May 29 to September 14 – stands next to the kayaking school.
The setting is ideal for kids from recreation centers, families, groups of friends, solo swimmers and strollers alike. In peak season, there are of course plenty of people in the water. But it's nothing compared to the crowds that fill the more famous and sought-after neighboring towns, such as Arcachon, La Teste-de-Buch or Lège-Cap-Ferret.
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