Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where it all begins

Set between sky, sea and marshland at the heart of the Camargue, the village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the starting point of the entire Provençal tradition. It was on this shore that the boat from Palestine is said to have come ashore, carrying Mary Magdalene, Martha, Lazarus and their companions.

The fortified church, standing like a stronghold facing the sea, is one of the most singular Romanesque buildings in Provence. It holds the relics of Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome, and its crypt shelters Sarah, patron of the Roma people, whose black statue, draped in votive cloaks, is the object of one of the most vivid popular devotions in Europe. Every year in May, the Roma pilgrimage makes Saintes-Maries a place of fervour unlike anywhere else in the world.

From the church terrace the eye takes in the whole of the Camargue: the lagoons, the horses, the flamingos, and that line on the horizon where tradition has a boat appear, two thousand years ago.