St-Tropez
No visit to the Cote d'Azur
would be complete without at least popping into St-Tropez for an hour or
so, even at the height of summer when the traffic is dreadful and the
port thronged with expensive looking sun-bronzed people and the harbor is
choc-a-bloc with floating palaces.
In reality, St-Tropez was a charming little fishing village built around
a port originally founded in 68 AD, when a Roman named Tropes was
beheaded by the Emperor Nero for publicly proclaiming his Christianity. A
boat carrying his body was sent out to sea and was washed up at what is
now known as St-Tropez, which became a place of pilgrimage. Centuries
later the Impressionist painter Paul Signac made his home here, and many
of his contemporaries moved to Provence after having come to visit him.
However, 1956, when Brigitte Bardot arrived to make a film and decided to
stay, marked the beginning of its current fashionable status. Now dozens
of celebrities have villas in the region. while the mega-rich live on
board their ships anchored nearby.
St-Tropez is lucky enough to be near a good many sandy beaches, unlike
much of the rest of the Cote d'Azur, and it also has lovely
pastel-colored houses and winding streets, squares surrounded by plane
trees and old men playing petanque in the shade. There are, of
course, endless chic boutiques, restaurants and ice-cream parlors too,
and you could do worse than people-watch from a harbor-side cafe. If you
want to see the town when it is less crowded, come out of season, buy a
picnic and a bottle of wine and enjoy it on the beach.
St-Tropez is known for being
the beach holiday destination of the rich and famous. The least crowded
time to visit is between October and May, but the summer months can be
fun as floating palaces descend on the harbor and the rich and
sub-bronzed flock to the beaches. This is the best time for
people-watching!
