Aigues Mortes (which means ‘dead waters’ in provencal) is a fascinating place, built by King (aka Saint) Louis in the mid 13th century. He evidently built it for crusaders and for defense, but according to my Provence book, had to bribe people to come live in this ‘inhospitable spot’. The town is completely enclosed by walls (which are over a mile long all told), with 10 gates, 6 towers and ‘overhanging latrines’ which were quite fun to track down. You can (and we did) make the entire circuit along the top of the ramparts. There are, naturally, lots of gory stories from its long past, including one about the Burgundian tower. The Gascons won the town from the Bourguinons in a bloody battle in 1421 and the tower was used to store ‘salted bodies’ when there wasn’t enough time to bury them before they rotted. Not as many towers were open as I would have like, but it was very cool to explore and there were many super views.
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