The Camargue is a very unusual region of France. It’s flat, nearly uninhabited, has many interesting historical sites, contains France’s largest wetland, is home to and breeding grounds for thousands of pink flamingos and other bird species. It has marshes, salt flats, sand dunes and pastures. It is home to wild horses, there are cowboys and camargue bulls, who are often rounded up for the many bullfights in Spain & France. We visited two major towns on the western side of the Camargue. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is named for Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacobea (the Virgin Mary’s sister) and Mary Salome (mother of apostles James & John). They landed here after they were exiled from the Holy Land after the cruxifiction, along with Lazarus, Ste. Martha and their servant Sara. Mary Magdalene went to spread the gospel and ended up in St-Maximin-la-Ste-Baume (where we stayed our first night in France, and visited her crypt in the cathedral, and saw a relic claimed to be her skull, very interesting). They had a wonderful morning market where we bought lunch supplies: olives, cheese, sausage, fruit and the ever delicious baguette. On our way out, we stopped at the Bird Sanctuary, where we wandered along several miles of trails in and around the wetlands, enjoying many sightings of gorgeous birds (and muskrats, too!)
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