Tarascon, in the footsteps of Martha

On the banks of the Rhône, facing Beaucaire, Tarascon keeps the memory of Martha, the sister of Mary Magdalene. Tradition tells that she delivered the townspeople from the Tarasque, an amphibious monster that haunted the river, taming it with the sign of the cross. The rearing beast has remained the emblem of the town, celebrated every year at the Tarasque festival.

The royal collegiate church of Sainte-Marthe, raised above the crypt that holds her tomb, has been a place of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages. The kings of France stopped here on their way to the Sainte-Baume. A few steps away, the castle of Tarascon, one of the finest medieval castles in France, raises its white walls above the Rhône.