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Gémenos

village de gémenos

5 km from Aubagne, 8 km from Auriol, 14 km from La Ciotat, 20 km from Marseille and Cassis

GPS: Longitude: 5.629167 E - Latitude: 43.298058 N
Altitude: 150
Population: 5527

Gémenos lies among the foothills of the ?Sainte-Baume mountain range, between the bottom of the Col de l’Espigoulier (which, at its summit, offers a superb view across ?Aubagne and ?Marseille) and, towards the west, the edge of the Huveaune plain. Gémenos enjoys a pleasant micro-climate both in summer and winter. The Saint-Pons park, home to many different types of Mediterranean tree, including maple trees, hornbeams, holly trees, beech trees, lime trees, green oaks and pine trees, is approximately one kilometre from the village. The ruins of the Saint-Pons abbey, formerly a Cistercian convent, are also visible from the park.

What to see and visit: sixteenth-century castle (now the town hall); the Saint-Pons abbey, a thirteenth-century church; the Saint-Martin chapel (early Romanesque, tenth and eleventh centuries; the eighteenth-century Église Saint-Martin; the Saint-Jean de Garguier chapel, which is also home to a museum that provides a history of religious devotion.
Recommended activities: walking, horse riding, mountain biking, delta-plane, rock climbing, speleology.

Provencal market: Wednesday and Sunday morning. Festivities: fair in June. Fire of Midsummer's Day and folk demonstration in June (with Saint-Jean-of-Garguier). Celebrates of Saint-Eloi last Sunday of July (ravelled traditional, blessing of the horses, auction). Midnight mass.