St Tropez, Collioure, Gruissan and La Clappe
St. Tropez
Brigid Bardot, and Guy de Maupassant
Visit the Musée de l'Annonciade,
Inland climb the steep path to the massif, following stations of the cross,
The sun beating down, you, the sand, the magnificent blue
The night, walking, watching other worshippers
The yachts, the lights, the silhouette of the Citadel
The golden dome and the tall ships competing for the sky
Walk the alleys, sit in a cafe drink and watch
Here the world passes by and enjoys
Signac and Matisse and Dufy and Derain and Colette
Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman and Elton John all have come and loved
Strong with post impressionists and fauves.
Dig deep in those colors Vlaminck, Derain, Dongen, and more
Live life to the full where the topless rebellion was born.
Collioure
Once the port city for Perpignan in the Middle Ages
The town that the fauves loved.
A town for artists past and present.
Matisse, Derain, Dufy, and Picasso, stayed to play with the effervescent light.
They visited and painted the church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges
They pondered inside listening to the sound of sea as it swelled
Swelling up ideas of color, painting, and image.
The Château Royal designed with care for war and defence,
Under the stern eyes of Vauban, Louis XIV master genius,
Shows its proud walls over the old town area called the Mouré,
The center of the thriving Collioure
Where tradition and creative vision continues.
The Gouffre de l'Œil Doux
Gruissan and La Clappe.
Come to the simple life, to Gruissan, where out on the sea flats
Houses are perched on stilts, became the home of the hedonist Betty Blue
In the movie of the same name. Walk and bathe off the sands here,
From the clothed to the nude, there is a bit of heaven for everyone.
Where sailors are buried from the turbulence of the sea
Climb to the chapel, Notre Dame des Auzils with its models and paintings of ships,
And look beyond to the harsh moor, for glorious walking
And views of where the French Airforce boom the sky
with fighter planes.
Beyond walk inland, and discover the Gouffre de l'Œil Doux ,
A deep volcanic pool, at the bottom of cliffs, with dramatic trees,
Go further in to the vineyard owned by the descendants of Antoine de Saint-Exupery,
The man, the visionary of the Little Prince, and Wind Sand Stars who made air flight poetry,
And another vineyard once in the family of Toulouse L'Autrec.
Now filled take a run and a slide, and a good swim in the sea that beckons here
When the heat asks for nothing less.
Tombs on the path up to Notre Dame Des Auzils
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