Aigues-Morte, St Maries de la Mer, April 5

  A glorious sunny day with Bruno, Juliette and Jerry with Bruno driving.
 We started by driving to the walled medieval port city of Aigues-Morte. Ramparts circle the entire little city. It is called Aigues-Morte because it is surrounded by the marshes of the Petit Camargue and because it never has had potable water.

   In 791 Charlemagne erected one of the towers in the swamps for the safety of the fishermen and the salt workers.
   In 1240, Louis IX, or Saint Louis, wanted access to the Mediterranean and obtained the town and the surrounding areas by coming to an agreement with the monks in the abbey. Then he built a road and another tower to serve as a watchtower and to protect the city. He wanted the town for embarking on the Crusades. Louis IX departed from Aigues-Mortes on the 7th and 8th Crusades. (He died on the 8th.)
  His son, Philip III (the Bold) ordered walls to completely encircle the town.

  In the late 1500s and early 1600s, the city was one of the few safe havens granted to the Protestants. But, the revocation of the Edicts of Nantes in 1685 caused new repression of the Protestants. Some of those who refused to convert were imprisoned in Aigues-Morte.
  We were very fortunate to visit when the town was quiet and we strolled inside and outside the ramparts.

  We went into the ancient Church of Notre-Dame-des Sablons, a Gothic style church probably build in the mid-1200s during the time of St. Louis but which has modern windows. Juliette said that she likes them a lot, but that people were/are quite divided about them.

  After that, we drove along the canal and had a picnic made by Jerry - bread, cheese, pate, ham, hard-boiled eggs, apples and oranges. Wonderful.
   From there, we drove to Saintes Marie de La Mer, the capital of the Camargue. It has about 2500 year-round people, but the population can be 200,000 in the summer. So, the main industry is tourist, but agriculture is also significant. White horses and cattle are unique to the Camargue and some of the bulls are raised for bullfights. We walked on the waterfront, along the wharfs and then into the town. The weather could not have been more pleasant and there were no crowds.

   The Church of the Saintes Marie de la Mer was built between the 800s and the 1100s as both a fortress and a refuge. It has a fresh water well inside.
    The town is named for 3 saints - Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome and Mary of Clopas. They are the women who are believed to have witnessed the empty tomb of Jesus. They were said to have set sail from Alexandria with Joseph of Arimathea.

   The town is a pilgrimage destination for the Roma people who gather yearly for a religious festival in honor of Saint Sarah. She is said to have been a dark-skinner servant of the three Maries. In another version, she welcomed the three Marys to the village. Her statue is in the crypt of the church and is venerated.

   After that, we drove back to Jerry's through the famous wetland, the Camargue, at the mouths of the Rhone and the Petit Rhone rivers. It is Western Europe's largest river delta. It is a big plain with large brine lagoons used for centuries to harvest salt. It is the home to more than 400 species of birds, most famously the flamingos. We also saw quite a few storks on nests.

  Then, we all went back to Jerry's for chatting. Tomorrow Juliette is off to Paris to see an exhibit of engravings made by her sister-in-law. Tonight Jerry is off to his weekly tango lessons.