Where the Camargue finally runs into the Mediterranean stands Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a low white town gathered round a church that looks more like a fortress. It is the capital of the delta and the end of the land — beyond it only the beach, the salt and the sea, and behind it the marshes of the white horses and the pink flamingos.
I. The fortress church
The Église des Saintes-Maries rises crenellated and almost windowless above the rooftops, built to shelter the town from sea raiders in the Middle Ages. Climb to its roof terrace for the whole delta laid flat to the horizon. Inside, in the crypt, stands the statue of Sara — Sara la Noire, Sara the Black — surrounded by candles and the offerings of those who come to her.
“A church built like a fort, at the last edge of the land.”
II. The gypsy pilgrimage
Legend says the two Marys — Mary Salome and Mary Jacobe — landed here by boat after the Crucifixion, with their servant Sara, who became the patron of the Roma people. Each year on 24 and 25 May the Roma of Europe gather to carry her statue down to the sea in a procession of horses, costumes and song — one of the most moving festivals in the South.
III. The delta from the saddle
The town is the natural base for the wild heart of the Camargue — the gardians still ride the white horses to work the black bulls across the marshes, and stables all around offer the saddle to visitors. Out along the Digue à la mer, the sea wall, you walk between the lagoons and the beach, the flamingos lifting off the water as you pass.
