From May 5 to 10, 2024, we’ll be crisscrossing our city every day – cameras in hand – to document the arrival of the Olympic Flame in Marseille. Here’s the diary, with some useful information.
Please note that, with the exception of May 7, and given that drone flights are prohibited over Marseille during these celebrations, all our images are taken on the ground or at sea.
But don’t panic, because at the very end of this diary we’ve put together five drone videos 100% dedicated to our Sublime Marseille! So sublime, in fact, that we’ve turned them into a series to be followed on this page and on Facebook. Three episodes have already been produced, with a 4th on the way – even more beautiful!
Hey yes, that’s Marseille, Baby 😉
Friday, May 10, 2024 – 7:30 pm Ballet Jogging show, Stade Delort
Tonight, you can see an original creation by choreographer Pierre Rigal of the Dernière Minute company, at 7.30pm at the Stade Delort, right next to the huge Stade Orange Vélodrome. He has brought together some 150 runners to accompany the Olympic flame as it makes its way through Marseilles, in this highly graphic and inevitably visual ballet, which had to be filmed by drone. Indeed, the ballet is reminiscent of the murmurings of birds in the sky. Human swarms can be seen crossing and criss-crossing each other, forming geometric figures or even a figure 8.
As drone use was forbidden during the show, and during the 2 days of the Olympic flame’s passage through Marseille, we provided this service on the evening of May 7. Here are a few photos of the shoot. The aerial images will be used in the documentary that Pascal Catheland of Studio Mujo is making on the preparation of this show.
Friday, May 10, 2024 – Free tour of the Belem at Quai J4
As the Olympic flame continues its journey through the Bouches-du-Rhône region, relative calm has returned to Marseille. This is an opportunity to visit the Belem, which is at quay J4 until Sunday May 12. There are two queues: one for those who have a ticket obtained online with a visit schedule to be respected (reservations closed) and a second for the dazed and very patient who wish to climb aboard this mythical three-master!
There are arrows to indicate the direction of the tour, friendly smiling sailors, and explanatory panels all along the way. We’ll let you discover it for yourself, and maybe inspire you to go along with these photos. The view of La Major and the Vigie Sainte-Marie on the Digue du Large is quite unique from el Belem and its ropes. We loved it!
Thursday, May 9, 2024 – 5pm, the Olympic flame on the Prado
Today, the Olympic flame made its way around Marseille. For us, it will be between Périer and the Prado with a torchbearer we’ve been following since April as part of the film commissioned by the Surschiste company. Loïc Danest is part of a collective of torchbearers, and we followed him and his group all the way to the Velodrome stadium. There were quite a few people on Avenue du Prado and on the stairways to the Stadium, but nothing like yesterday’s crowds on the Vieux-Port. Fortunately, we were able to follow the procession in complete serenity, with the kind permission of the gendarmes, police and organizers. Many thanks to them all!
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 – 7pm The Belem enters Marseille’s Old Port
The Vieux-Port was packed (230,000 people, including us!) as we tried to catch a glimpse of the Belem entering the Vieux-Port, greeted by the Alphajets of the Patrouille de France performing acrobatics in the skies over Marseille, just before the Soprano concert! All bathed in an extraordinary light: grey skies and sunshine, with a little rain and a beautiful rainbow. Magical!
Unluckily for us, we were unable to access the SNM pontoons, let alone the Pharo. The checkpoints slowed our progress considerably, and the huge, compact crowd prevented pedestrian traffic for a good hour. In the end, we settled for the spot in front of the landing stage of the famous Ferry-Boat linking the Place Aux Huiles to Marseille’s Mairie Centrale. So it was in the midst of the people of Marseilles that we took these few unpretentious images. It’s a good thing we’d taken part in the 1024-boat Parade at sea in the morning!
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 – 11am The Belem arriving in Marseille, Parade in the North Rade
This morning we embarked at the port of Estaque and joined the 1024 boats authorized to follow the sailing ship Belem on its arrival in Marseille, with the Olympic Flame on board, which will be disembarked this evening at the Vieux-port.
It was a moment of great emotion and excitement. A festive and fervent atmosphere. Lots of boats of all kinds, as well as large and magnificent sailboats, including the huge La Belle Poule!
Here are some of our photos. The videos will be edited at a later date, but you can see some of the shots on our Facebook page!
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 – 10pm: Fireworks and 800-drone show!
After a highly applauded first performance, Groupe F did it again with a fantastic fireworks display featuring 800 drones flying from the GPMM seawall, forming multiple moving figures over the sea, despite the rain and a 40 km/h mistral wind!
Thank you and bravo to them, because in the memory of Marseillais, we’ve never seen such a beautiful spectacle in the Phocaean skies!
Here are a few photos taken from the Esplanade de la Tourette, where there were so many of us!
Tuesday, May 7, 2024: Our top spots for a good look at the Belem entering the Old Port tomorrow at around 7 p.m.
Tomorrow morning, we’ll be out at sea, by boat, for the parade of 1024 boats accompanying the Belem and the Olympic flame into Marseille harbor. In the evening, for its majestic and historic entry into the Vieux-Port, we’ve carefully studied the different spots where to position ourselves to get a nice view without too many people, and we’ve provided them in the photos below. But be warned, spots will be very expensive tomorrow around 7pm. Better to arrive and hold the spot around 3/16pm!
That said, you’ve got all day to see the Belem parading along the Marseilles coast. Read this article to find out all about the program for May 8, 2024.
Note that the quays in front of Fort Saint-Jean are off-limits today. What will happen tomorrow? If they are authorized, it’s a superb spot to see the Belem up close, but you can bet there’ll be a lot of people there!
Here are a few places we recommend for the arrival of the Belem:
– At 240 Av. Vaudoyer, 13002 Marseille and the Saint-Laurent church, there are three panoramic terraces open to the public (photos 2 to 5), at 3 different levels.
– From 44 Rue Caisserie, 13002 Marseille, there’s a highly original view of the Vieux-Port and Notre-Dame de la Garde (photo #6). Imagine tomorrow with the Belem in this setting!
– A more confidential spot we’d like to share with you: 1 Quai Marcel Pagnol, 13007 Marseille, hopefully within easy reach. Plenty of places on the rocks, close to the water!
– And always from the Bonne Mère hill, even if it’s a bit far for our taste.
– Finally, the most beautiful spot for us is the Palais du Pharo.
Tuesday, May 7, 2024: Our spots to see the drone show tonight
Tonight, Groupe F repeats its formidable show with 800 drones and a sublime fireworks display, from 9:30 to 10 p.m., again from the Digue du Large. It’s sure to be a crazy crowd. It’s just a question of knowing where to stand to get a good view!
If you want a front-row seat to the crowd, head straight for the Promenade Robert-Laffont, where a concert by Patrick Fiori will be taking place at around 8pm (find out more here).
But if you’d like to see the show from above, away from the crowds, here are our spots:
Esplanade jean-Paul II, 13002 Marseille, just below La Major
Esplanade de la Tourette, 13002 Marseille (go up a little towards the Saint-Laurent church)
The hill of Notre-Dame de la Garde, for the best sunset view of the city while enjoying the show!
Tuesday, May 7, 2024, Morning: Visit the Gloria!
After passing the Vieux-Port, we boarded the Colombian sailing ship ARC Gloria, which is still open to visitors today and tomorrow. Here are some incredible photos of this sumptuous vessel, with Marseille and the Cathedral de la Major in the background! A free visit that’s well worth it!
Tuesday, May 7, 2024, Morning: Final preparations!
This morning, the Vieux-Port was abuzz with activity. We saw the enormous preparations being completed, and the considerable presence of the forces of law and order, both in the city and on the sea. The stage for the May 8 concert is impressive because it’s on the water! The floating pontoon where the Belem will dock tomorrow evening at around 7pm is incredible. Fireworks are planned. It promises to be a breathtaking spectacle.
A few rare fishermen’s stalls are there, lost amidst the crowds and the deployed equipment.
Sunday, May 5, 2024: scouting from the Palais du Pharo
We went to the Palais du Pharo, imagining the Belem entering the Old Port on Wednesday May 8 at around 5pm. We scouted out a few spots to ensure good visibility of the event. At different levels: at water level and a little higher up, since the Pharo is a promontory overlooking the Rade de Marseille, giving us a panoramic view of the Belem coming in from the open sea, passing the Digue du large, the Mucem and then Fort-Saint-Jean, to finally dock at the floating pontoon at the very end of the Vieux-Port! We can’t wait to be there, and hope that the weather will be favorable for this historic moment for Marseille!
So, on Sunday, we saw quite a few law enforcement zodiacs, monitoring and carrying out checks, both at sea and in the Old Port, where intense activity was clearly visible from the heights of the Pharo. There was also the magnificent Colombian 3-master, the Gloria, moored at J4, which was open to visitors. With these few images, all taken from the Parc du Pharo, you can imagine the magnificent panoramic spectacle on offer to the people of Marseilles!
The crowds are already here, all over the Pharo district and the Vieux-Port, which will be partly closed to cars on May 8 and 9.
Come by bike, motorcycle or on foot. Otherwise, it’s going to be hell to get around or park!
View or re-watch all our videos dedicated to Marseille!
Sublime Marseille (Opus 3)
Third Opus of Sublime Marseille – JJanuary 2024
Seven years after the second Opus, the 3rd part of our Sublime Marseille series finally reveals some of Marseille’s lesser-known districts.
To find out more about the series, including the names of the districts/monuments/sites we filmed, visit this page dedicated to the series, with a gallery of all the footage used in this video-clip.
Sublime Marseille (Opus 2)
Here is the second part of our aerial production in Marseille seen by our drones, shot in 4K between February 2016 and April 2017 and put online in May 2017!
This time it is a question of discovering from above, from sunrise to sunset, part of the sumptuous maritime facade of Marseille, on the Mediterranean sea side: from the port of the Goudes, to the Estaque, via the islands of Friuli, the Corniche Kennedy, the Catalans, the Palais du Pharo, the Prado and its beaches as well as the GPMM, in other words the autonomous port of the city and its offshore dike!
Ready to drop the moorings?!
-> Learn more about this production (in french)
Sublime Marseille (Opus 1)
First Opus of Sublime Marseille – February 2016.
At the release of this first episode of Sublime Marseille, the clip totaled more than 100,000 views on all our social networks! Suffice to say that it boosted us well for the rest of the year!
This first opus is a compilation of our production of 4K aerial images made since the end of 2015 on the monuments and essential sites of the Phocaean city. A project of our own initiative and which will lead to the exhaustive shooting of all neighborhoods, and in all seasons. This shooting will take place throughout 2016. These unique images of illustration of the new trendy tourist destination that Marseille has become, are produced for the HOsiHO collection, the World seen from above, a platform from which it is possible to acquire these sequences for commercial or editorial use.
Silence, Marseille Under Lockdown!
Covid hits the entire planet in 2020. Rather than undergoing lockdown, we decide to make images of our city. Thus, this moving and touching film was born. We dedicate it, again and again, to people who, every day, are on the front line, taking risks to treat us and run this city, which even in slow motion, remains no less beautiful in many aspects.
Drone-Pictures has surveyed Marseille, from the city center to the Prado beaches, since the beginning of the lockdown, striking day after day, on the ground and in the air, empty squares, fluid highways, closed shopping centers, streets and avenues usually crowded, now almost deserted.
Time is as if suspended. These images are chilling, like the way out of a bad movie. But, and this is all the paradox, they are beautiful, striking, and sublimated by an insolent spring light. As if to taunt the confined Humans that we were then.
An invisible virus has turned the World upside down. Like others, we wanted to keep a visual record of his passage over our city. For those who can’t see it this way. For the record, because these moments are undeniably historical. See all the images related to Covid19 on HOsiHO.
Welcome to Marseille Pope Francis!
See how our city is Sublime with our video postcard!
We (re)released our most beautiful drone images of the Good Mother, the Vélodrome stadium and the Pharo to welcome Pope Francis. So many sites where he visited on 22 & 23/09/2023 and that we so often flew over to film them by drone.
So, on this occasion, more than ever, Marseille rhymes with Belle, Soleil and Spirituelle!
And we’re showing it with this video!
