St. Tropez (Saint Tropez)
St.Tropez is a town
located in southern France, Var departement on the French
Riviera. The old legend says that "Saint Tropez" comes
from a martyr St.Torpes, who was beheaded because he refused to give up
his faith. They thrown his body in to a boat, which was drifted  to
a place which is now called after him: the Golfe de (Gulf of) Saint Tropez.
From 1470 to 1672, St.Tropez was ruled by captains (elected by town
citizenry) as independent republic. The captain could raise an army, which
was really used to drove away Spanish galleons in the year 1637. The area
was not taxed by the French government. However, King Louis XIV reasserted
the control over the city to France. St.Tropez
started to attract international stars from 1920, but international
recognition was received after 1950, partly also thanks to the star
Brigitte Bardot. It is also become famous thanks to the movie series of Le
gendarme de Saint Tropez. During
WWII, the allied forces had their central site on the city beach in the
Operation Dragoon. These
days the city is mainly popular thanks to its blue waters, luxury yachts
in harbor, hotels,
cafes and clubs on the coast. You can see many strolling
tourists there very often divided by slowly cruising luxury sports cars.
Night life is excellent and you can often see VIP guest coming to private
bay parties in luxurious villas by helicopters. Many tourists come during
summer and hope to meet some stars. Baie
de Pampelonne is the part of the coast south of the citywith best
beaches 5 km long. Each beach has its own beach hut, is about 30 metres
wide and there is public or private tanning area. Many of the offer
windsurfing, canoeing or sailing equipment to rent, other ones prefer
motorized water sports, like power boats, water skiing or jet bikes. Some
beaches are very quite, with cafes and restaurants on the water edge.
There is a regatta with many great classic yachts (some 50 m long) held
each October in the Saint Tropez bay.
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