The Olympic torch will finally enter France when it reaches the southern seaport of Marseille on Wednesday. And it’s already been quite a journey.
After being lit by the sun’s rays on April 16 in Ancient Olympia, the torch was carried around Greece before leaving Athens aboard a three-mast ship named Belem, headed for Marseille.
The Belem was first used in 1896, the same year the modern Olympics came back. It will be accompanied by more than 1,000 boats as it parades around the Bay of Marseille, before arriving at the Vieux-Port, or Old Port, and docking on a pontoon resembling an athletics tracks.
Torch bearers will carry the flame across Marseille the next day, the last stretch running on the roof of the famed Stade Vélodrome, home to Marseille’s passionate soccer fans.
After leaving Marseille, a vast relay route will be undertaken before the torch odyssey ends on July 27 in Paris.
'A Good Official We Cannot Do Without'
Iowa Supreme Court overturns $790,000 sexual harassment award to government employee
China pilots foreign equity limit removal in value
Palestinian president refuses Israel's plans to occupy parts of Gaza
People visit ancient city of Patara in Turkey
Record Qingming holiday box office heats up for May Day moviegoing frenzy
Model and influencer Nara Smith welcomes baby number three with husband Lucky Blue Smith
How to get rid of NYC rats without brutality? Birth control is one idea
Tourists enjoy cherry blossoms in Wuhan
Attacks on U.S. base resume in revenge campaign for Gaza: monitor
World Wetlands Day: A glimpse of China's earth’s kidneys
Strike takes place in Jordan to support Palestinian people in Gaza