We enjoyed supper on the terrace last night, with the cicadas singing, the frogs croaking, and the bats flying around us. We’re in Provence for a week, arriving last night, the high-speed TGV spitting us out at Avignon, ready for the short drive to St-Rémy-de-Provence, where we’re staying with Geoff. Before that, we were ferried by equally fast and luxurious Eurostar from London to Paris; fuss-free, on-time, and comfortable thanks to our inexpensive first class tickets.
It’s very hot.
Which is just as well that we went to the beach today, although there was scant breeze there. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is on the Mediterranean, and has white sands, blue skies, and crystal clear waters making it perfect for the sun worshippers who flecked the beaches there today.
The little town is also home to a fortified church, where gypsy pilgrims come to worship Saint Sarah, one of the biblical Maries from which Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer takes its name. Drawing large crowds, her statue is paraded through the town and taken down to the sea every year, passing the local fisherman landing their catches in the harbour.
The only people parading through the town today, though, were persistent local lavender sellers, so we headed back to old bull ring arena and retrieved the car. Next stop, Aigues-Mortes.
Like so many places in Provence, it’s a fortified town, and was where King Louis IX launched the Crusades. Walking past the narrow shopping streets, we sat under the shade of one of the many bars in the square, overlooked by a statue of Louis in his later life, after he was bestowed a Sainthood.
Driving back through the Camargue, we saw few bulls, flamingoes or white horses that the area is famous for. A few dotted the preserved natural flat salt marshes in the distance, but it was a disappointing number for a place that been designated a botanical and zoological reserve twice, once in 1927, and then again in 1970. It’s also the rice capital of the region, too.
Traditional Camargue houses have all their windows clustered around the thatched roofs and are designed to withstand the intense heat, something that I’m not. A dip in the pool back at the house was not so much a luxury, but altogether essential.
Tags: France