Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

The town has an official population of less than 3,000 people for much of the year but when it swells to almost 80,000 in May and through the summer holidays, it can become a tourist trap. The Gypsy (Romani) tradition is the most interesting and the most controversial: if the Romani first arrived in France in the 15th century, how did they come to worship Sara the Black as their patron saint? Sara was never conferred with sainthood by the Catholic Church but that does not appear to matter to the Romani – the Gitans, the Roma, the Sinti, the Manouches. Below is the medieval fortified church in the town and an aerial view.

Van Gogh painted here in 1888 while visiting from Arles. Below are View of Saintes-Maries (in the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands) and Fishing Boats on the Beach.

Top photo: Rinina25 & Twice25; second photo: Jean-Louis Vandevivère.