Saint Tropez

Saint-Tropez is a town on the French Riviera. A former fishing village and military stronghold, it was the first French town to be liberated during World War II. It also played a significant role in the history of modern art. French painter Paul Signac used to spend summers painting in St. Tropez in the late-1800s. And he inspired other painters such as Matisse, Albert Maquet and Pierre Bonnard to come to St.

Tropez too. The city’s tryst with the arts continued into the 20th century. It was popular with artists of cinema’s French New Wave and the Yé-yé movement in music. The three-mile shore of the Baie de Pampelonne contains a range of beaches, many of which offer water sports such as windsurfing, sailing and scuba diving. Some of the beaches are naturist beaches. One of them, Tahiti beach, featured in the Brigitte Bardot film ‘And God Created Woman’. There is also the Citadel of Saint Tropez, which was built in the 17th century and has watched over the town ever since. Today, it houses the Museum of Maritime History that pays tribute to the city’s historical connection to the sea.