The town of Port-Vendres (fr. Port-Vendres, cat. Portvendres) is located in the extreme northwest of the district, near the town of Collioure. Port-Vendres is one of the few deep-water ports in this part of the French Mediterranean coast. It takes freighters and cruise ships, as well as large and small fishing boats which may be seen arriving with their daily catch.
Port-Vendres has existed since the Iron Age, when it was used as a port connected to the Iberian settlement of Illiberis (now Elna). In the first century of our era, the Roman geographer Pomponi Mela mentions Portus Veneris (the Port of Venus). It is certainly related to the Aphrodisium, or temple of the Venus de Pirene, mentioned by Estrabó, Plini and Ptolemeu, probably a temple of Venus aimed to bring luck to the sailors. This temple, according to archaeological surveys of the 19th century, could have been in the northeast of the town, in the area delimited by Miranda, Fanal and Ansa Gerbal. It has not yet been fully verified, but structures of 10 to 4 meters excavated on the shale rock on the site could have been the base of the temple. It was at the foot of the Fanal and about 5 meters above sea level. Its northeastern corner was rebuilt with remains of Roman tegulae/
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