The Carmargue and Ste-Maries-de-la-Mer

The area known as the Carmargue is a vast, marshy coastal region bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Much of it is protected as a nature reserve (ca. 328 square miles) and the rest is used as grazing land for the famous short stocky white horses and small, tough bulls of the Carmargue. The latter are meant for the arenas of Provence and some individual bulls become quite famous, like American rodeo bulls. Rice is grown in shallow paddies.  Birds of many species abound: more than 400 kinds, of which 180 are migratory.  There are herons, egrets, cormorants, larks, huge pink flamingos, etc. The "vin du sable" (wine produced from grapes grown in sandy salt marshes) is a specialty, as is seafood and honey.

On the coast itself, one can visit the sunny seaside port and resort town of Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Legend has it that in 40 CE, a boat carrying Mary Magdalene, Martha and her brother Lazarus, Mary the mother of James, and Mary Salome the mother of James the Greater and John landed safely on this shore. Sarah, the black servant of the two Marys was at first left behind, but Mary Salome threw her cloak upon the water to serve as a bridge for Sarah to come ashore. The two Marys and Sarah remained in Carmargue. An earlier oratory dated from the 6th century, but by the 9th century it was replaced by a fortified church which was extended into a fortress-like structure in the 12th-14th centuries as a watchtower and protection against raiding Saracens. On May 24-25, thousands of Roma (gypsies) gather from all over the world to worship and celebrate. The huge box containg relics of the two Marys is lowered from the ceiling to the chancel, and special veneration is paid to St Sarah in the crypt below the high altar.
Click here for a few pictures.