Bormes-les-Mimosa. A very pretty village, with lots of Mimosa trees. And above the village there is a 13th Century Romanesque Chapel called Notre-Dame de Constance Chapel, 315 metres above sea level. A very stiff climb up the path above the village, via the 13th Century Chateau ruins.
Barry striding up the path, in the hot sunshine, keeping an eye out for the large green beetle
like creatures with very long legs. Some of the creatures had very pointy tails, rather like a hornets tail . No messing about with these creatures. Fascinating though. And probably harmless.
Finally we reached the chapel. Catherine posing in front, in the shade, and feeling relieved to have reached the top. A beautiful chapel though.
Some welcome shade and a cool breeze.
The view down towards Le Lavandou and the Bormes' plains was worth the climb, especially as we had a lovely clear day.
And finally back down into the village.
We were interested in the history and the relevance of the chapel to the village, so I researched it on the internet, but did not come up with any information about the chapel. However I did find out about the history of the village. A very difficult history. The village was sacked by the Saracens in 730, attacked by the Spanish in 1362, sacked by the Corsairs in 1393, the population decimated by the plague in 1482, burned by the Maures in 1529, ravaged by Genois of Andrea Doria in 1539, and again in 1579 (The Wars of Religion).
Finally the village was set up as a tourist town in 1890 and the buildings restored. Peace at last.
The patron saint of the village is Saint Francois de Paul, who stopped the plague in 1482 when he was a monk. There is a church, and a carpark, named after him.
We walked up and down the little narrow streets, and spent some money of course.
A restaurant, under one of the arches. Lovely and cool and very inviting.
And up some more steps.
A view of the street which runs past Saint Trophyme Church. Do you remember this street, Brian? And the crazy man in the little car who sped down the street, and nearly ran you over, before knocking another tourist to the ground, plus a dog, and then speeding off, with people chasing him. Scary! You will be relieved to know that although we kept to the side of the street, we did not have a repeat experience.
But we were in time to see a wedding emerge from Saint Trophyme Church. There were many weddings taking place in the village last Saturday. A popular wedding venue.
The line up of the wedding guests, all ready for a photograph.
And then back to the campsite again, for a sleep, after the marathon climb to the chapel. The pleasures of being on holiday.
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