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Many years ago, about three centuries
BC, legend has it that Hannibal's elephants,
heading to the Alps, walked over the sands
of the Lido.
From the middle ages, fishing families lived
here during the summer. When winter arrived,
they retreated to the village of St Laurent
de la Salanque.
In this way "El Barcarès",
noted on maps from the 18th century as "the
boat refuge" for the commune, where civil
deeds with mentions such as "born at
Barcarès in this commune" are
still found on former registers. "The
boat refuge" sheltered fishermen caught
in storms out at sea and docking in a hurry
to wait for the calm to return.
It was only during the last two centuries
that real maritime trading was able to establish
itself in the commune. Improved security in
the Mediterranean and the altering of the
mouth of the Agly provided a shelter for fishing
boats. The balancelles and lateen sail tartanes
could thus transport Rivesaltes wines and
Salanque potteries to Sète and Marseille.
This increase in maritime traffic led to the
installation of a customs fleet from 1800.
Brick housing gradually appeared in groups
around churches. Towards the mid 19th century,
a few small crafts traders appeared.
Unfortunately, decline began with the development
of Port-Vendres, connected to the Narbonne-Cerbère
rail line, and accelerated with the deviation
of the Agly from its mouth to 1km South of
the village, on the grounds that flooding
damaged neighbouring vines, owned by a few
nobles.
Maritime activity therefore turned exclusively
to drift net sea fishing, "l'art"
coastal fishing, a sort of pole net which
is hauled from the banks and the "boeuf"
fishing. During the bad season, after the
sea fishing period, sailors in Barcarès
retreated to the lakeside to go eel fishing.
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From 1910, with the opening of the rail line
connecting Perpignan to Barcarès, the
village, terminus for the line, took off as
a tourist resort at the same time as the fashion
for sea bathing arrived. The population of
Perpignan, and particularly the inhabitants
of the valley of Agly, came to appreciate
this long stretch of white sand beach.
On 22 March 1929, a law voted by the senate
and the chamber of deputies accorded administrative
autonomy to Barcarès. On the current
site of the Lido, an agent launched the first
attempt at coastal planning: the idea of the
creation of a sea side resort was born in
1930. Unfortunately, the economic situation
was starting to deteriorate and the coming
of the second World War would delay these
projects.
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In March/April 1939, the first refugees
from the Spanish Republican army arrived on
the beach at Lido, which would host up to
60000 refugees. In September, when war broke
out, certain refugees signed up in the first
voluntary foot regiment for foreigners. From
then on, the memory of those having given
their lives is forever recorded on the monument
dedicted to them at the Lido - The three column
memorial.
On 12 November 1942, the German occupation
of Barcarès installed a defence device
with an anti-tank cannal at Grau St Ange,
the vinyards were filled with mines, two blockhaus
were constructed on the sea front, and the
inhabitants were chased from the village in
August 1944. The inhabitants only came back
to the village in early 1945.
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In the 1960s, while tourism is substantially
increasing in France with the transport revolution,and
while the Cote d'Azur is increasingly saturated,
the French government at the time, decided
to spread tourism to the Mediterranean coast,
from Port Camargue to Saint Cyprien, not forgetting
la Grande Motte, Carnon, Cap d'Agde, Gruissan,
Port Leucate, and Port Barcarès. France
launched a series of costly territorial planning
works, aiming at a better future for this
sector, better holidays for the French population,
and a better national economy.
This expansion project was a full-scale challenge
which often left the COMMANDO led by Pierre
Racine perplex. The mission of the latter
was to become one of the most ambitious adventures
of the century. On 18 June 1963, it was decided
to launch the touristic renovation of the
Languedoc-Roussillon coast.
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Major works began in our resort in what is
now the Lido area, in 1968. Charles de Gaulle,
President of the Republic at the time, flew
over the resort to inspect the plans. While
appreciating the beauty of the site located
between the sea and the lake, he noted the
extent of the multi-faceted construction project.
Work went well and progressed rapidly, promoters
were ever more attracted and the resort grew
from year to year. In his book ":Mission
Impossible" Pierre Racine confided:
"Why must this strange landscape, magnificent
for its solitude and almost perfect raw beauty
be transformed?". He was reassured by
the will to respect this environment and ecological
measures.
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M/S " MOONTA ",
Australian steamer constructed in 1931 at
the sites of BURMEISTER and WAIN in COPENHAGEN
(Denmark) for ADELAIDE STEAMSHIP CO LTD was
operated from 1931 to 1955, on lines from
the South and West of Australia, stopping
at the ports of Sydney in Queensland, Newcastle
and Albany in Reemant les, and the ports of
the Gulf of Spencer, where MOONTA is located,
the port behind the name of the vessel.
Acquired in 1955 by the Greek company HELLENIC
MEDITERRANEAN LINES, the vessel was renamed
"LYDIA", after the name of the province
in Minor Asia in Ancient Greece. The "LYDIA"
operated the line from Marseille to Beirut
(Lebanon) via Genoa and Naples (Italy), Piraeus
(Greece) Alexandria (Egypt) and Limassol (Cyprus)
until end 1966. The vessel made the same stops
plus those of Port-Said (Egypt) on the way
back to Marseille.
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Purchased by SEMETA via the company Barry-Roglino-Salles
on 26 December 1966, "LYDIA" arrived
in Marseille, ballasted, on 3 March 1967,
post 119 A, to be transformed at a future
date by the Société Provençale
des Ateliers Terrin.
Following completion of the engine work and
other planned modifications, "LYDIA",
left Marseille with a white hull and black
chimney, and headed to LE BARCARES, from post
119 A, on Saturday 10 June 1967 at 14.30,
following the ocean tug "Phocéen"
of the Société Provençale
de remorquage, assisted by the tug "Provençal
6" of the same company.
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On 11 June 1967, at 4.30, "LYDIA",
after having somewhat given cause for concern
to the tugs, off the Delta of the Rhone, arrived
in sight of BARCARES. The vessel successfully
docked under the excellent supervision of
Captain Antoine LENCI, Marine Superintendent
of the Société provençale
de Remorquage. It was hazardous to edge towards
a bank with no shelter, a clearly sewed hull
and take advantage of a favourable gust of
wind to push the vessel into the bay and then
into the final dock, heading South-West to
Perpignan.
Since this date, "LYDIA", first
vessel in the resort of BARCARES has
become, in addition to a source of curiosity,
a location for various leasure activities
attracting many visitors and tourists.
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