The Front de Mer is Oran's seafront promenade — a broad boulevard high above the port, lined with palm trees and the grand French-era apartment buildings of the city's wealthier 19th-century residents. From the corniche the whole bay is visible: the port below, Mers-el-Kébir to the west, the Spanish-era Fort of Santa Cruz rising above the city on the right.
Evenings are when the corniche comes alive — families out walking, ice-cream sellers, young couples on the benches, the call to prayer drifting up from the mosques below. Late summer is the most pleasant time, when the daytime heat has eased and the sea breeze cools the city.