March 21 - Carmague and Aigues-Mortes

Brenda and Beth O'Neil have come to visit!  We visited them earlier in the Month in Arles.  We head off to visit the Camargue, a very large marsh south of Arles, at the Rhone river delta.  There are tour boats that will take you up the petite Rhone, and we go off to see if they are operating or not.  The day is quite windy and overcast, but despite that we get some pictures of the area's main attractions, namely the greater flamingo.  The other famous residents that we see are the black Camargue bulls (raised specifically for the bull fights that still occur in southern France and Spain ... note in the fights the bulls are not always killed, there are fights where the matador removes ribbons tied to the horns of the bull), and the Camargue horse.

 We get to the sea-side town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and find out that the boat tours are not operating, as it is too early in the season.  We take advantage of a completely deserted beach to play in the surf before lunch.

 Sisters.

 Beth, Rachel and Sarah from R to L

 We take a small ferry across the petite Rhone on our way to Aigues-Mortes, apparently stopping at the edge is important.

 We head down the road to Aigues-Mortes, a completely walled city on the sea.  In the early 1200s the king of France Louis IX had a problem.  On the west he was hemmed in by the kingdom of Aragon, and hemmed in on the East by Italy (Roman empire) - the Kindom of France did not have any access to the sea.
So if you are the king of France, what to do? - build a port.  So Louis finds a nice marshy bit near the end of the Rhone, in territory that he does control, and dredges some channels to provide access to the sea.  Add some protective towers, and a light house, and voila you are in business!
So why all the bother?  Well at the time the outfitter business was booming... you see the Crusades were on, and to go off looting you needed to get your hooligans to a sea port.  Genoa and Venice were doing a booming business, and Louis wanted in.  Louis subsequently went "all in" leaving for the 7th and 8th Crusades from his own port at Aigues-Mortes...should have paid more attention to that "mortes" bit, he died of dysentery in Tunis in 1270.

Below is the Tour de Constance, a combination garrison building and lighthouse.

 View from the walls showing the town inside the walls and the extent of the ramparts.  The walk around the top of the wall is about 1.6km.

 Moat

 Christine and Brenda looking "windswept - chic "

 View of the wall section headed towards the marsh.  In the distance are some white piles.  No not snow, salt.  There is still a good business to be had in the manufacture of salt (fill a pond with sea water, and wait), specifically Fleur du Sel.  The other business - outfitting is long gone and so is the port, it was simply too much work to keep dredging out the silt.