Cinema was born with a train pulling into a station, and that station is here. It was in La Ciotat that the Lumière brothers shot their most famous film in 1895, "The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station," at the small station that still serves the town. Between Marseille and Cassis, this former shipbuilding town cultivates a dual heritage of images and steel, at the foot of some of the highest cliffs on the Mediterranean coast.

From the Anchorage to the Old Harbour

Ships anchor in the bay and tenders drop passengers off a few minutes from the centre. The old harbour, packed with small fishing boats and sailboats, unfolds its ochre and pink façades behind a row of patios. You get a feel for the place by strolling past the market stalls, cafés and little squares of the old quarter, whose lanes open by turns onto the water or the hills. In the morning, the market adds its scents of herbs and ripe fruit to the salty air. The brightly coloured wooden fishing boats, the pride of local fishers, take centre stage in the harbour as well as in visitors' photos.

The Eden, the World's Oldest Cinema

On the waterfront, one façade houses a theatre listed in the Guinness World Records: the Eden-Théâtre, the oldest cinema still in operation on the planet. The Lumière brothers showed their moving pictures here to paying audiences in the early days of the cinematograph, and the theatre still screens films today. Stepping inside or simply admiring its façade is a way to salute the place where the seventh art took its first public steps outside Paris. Screenings and tours are offered according to the theatre's cultural calendar.

Mugel Park and Île Verte

Skirting the shipyards, whose cranes are a reminder that ships were built here for generations, you reach Mugel Park. Its paths climb through vegetation as varied as it is abundant, bamboo, fig trees and Mediterranean species, up to a lookout that takes in the bay, the rooftops and Île Verte, sitting just offshore. The whole makes for one of the most pleasant walks on the Provençal coast, less than half an hour's walk from the old centre, and admission is free.

Cliffs and Calanques

To the west, the coastline rises abruptly: Cap Canaille peaks at 394 metres, making it one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. The Route des Crêtes, which winds along its summit toward Cassis, offers one dizzying viewpoint after another over the Mediterranean. The nearby calanques, deep coves carved into the pale rock, can be reached on foot, by car or by boat excursion, depending on the case. Even glimpsed from the ship's deck, this wall of stone plunging into the sea stays in your memory.

Practical Pointers

• Tender landing; downtown about a ten-minute walk away.
• Eden-Théâtre: on the waterfront boulevard, a few minutes from the old harbour.
• Mugel Park: about a 25-minute walk from the centre, free admission.
• Route des Crêtes and calanques: by taxi, organized excursion or boat, depending on what's offered that day.
• Marseille and Cassis are a short distance away if you want to go farther afield.

There is something fitting about leaving La Ciotat by sea, like a final slow-motion shot: the birthplace of moving pictures has watched ships depart for more than a century. On deck, you catch yourself framing Cap Canaille between your hands, a director for a day. Cinema, it seems, is something you pick up here like an accent.