“Saint-Raphaël is a little paradise where I found my health and the joy of living,” claimed Sarah Bernhardt. The tragic actress had fallen in love with the posh seaside resort in the south of France, famous for its Belle Epoque villas, its casino or its baths terrace. A postcard image tarnished for forty years by the concreting of the seafront. It is precisely to find this luster of yesteryear that the town hall, associated for the occasion with that of Fréjus, launched a vast renovation project called “the Walk of the baths”. Work has already started to beautify the seaside, to make it more attractive and green, over a length of 4.5 kilometres. “We have succeeded in overcoming political obstacles by uniting our efforts”, comments Frédéric Masquelier, the mayor (LR) of Saint-Raphaël.
The project, which will last until 2028 (for all of the two municipalities) and whose bill is estimated at 65 million euros, is however likely to upset local habits, with in particular the already planned move of the various businesses or associations installed in dilapidated premises on the edge of the beaches. The Esterel Tir Raphaëlois, which has 200 licensees, will thus have to leave its stand on the Veillat beach, while shops or restaurants will learn to coexist with cranes and diggers. “The work will be interrupted during the high season, and the populations of the two cities have been widely consulted: they are very favorable to this Promenade des Bains”, reassures Frédéric Masquelier. Planting of a thousand trees (baobabs, Japanese cherry trees, etc.), installation of bioclimatic pergolas, commissioning of an electric shuttle: the current concrete ribbon should, if we listen to the mayor, turn into a green flow towards the Big Blue. “We are directly interested in this project, which will ultimately be profitable for the city,” slips Jean Grolleau, president of the Saint-Raphaël merchants association.
Something to bring up to date the eulogy pronounced by the writer Alphonse Karr, considered the “discoverer” of the city of the sea lion in 1865: “Do not come here if you cannot stay there, or at least come back to it. These regions of the Mediterranean have the defect of spoiling other countries and making them uninhabitable.”