The ship “Belem” left the port of Piraeus in the morning on a journey that will take 11 days and will arrive on May 8 in the city of Marseille.
The organizers of the Paris Olympics received the flame on Friday in a ceremony held at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens after it was lit last week in Ancient Olympia at the beginning of an 11-day procession in Greece.
The Panathenaic Stadium hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
After a short ceremony in the port of Piraeus, the ship set sail for France.
About 150,000 fans are expected to attend the torch reception in the Old Port of Marseille, which will host the Olympic sailing competitions, and will be the starting center for the torch relay across France for 68 days.
The last person to carry the torch in Marseille will ascend to the roof of the Velodrome stadium on May 9, and its journey will end in Paris on July 26 with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which will be held along the Seine River.
The organizers of the Paris Games hope that the opening ceremony, which will witness the sailing of 160 boats carrying athletes from all over the world for a distance of six kilometers towards the Eiffel Tower, will be amazing.
About 300,000 people will watch the ceremony from both banks of the Seine River, while the global audience will follow it on television.
The country’s security forces are scheduled to be on high alert during the Olympic Games against the backdrop of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The French government asked about 45 foreign countries to contribute several thousand additional army, police and civilian personnel to help provide security and protection for the Paris Olympics.
