Saint-Tropez
When Brigitte Bardot starred in And God Created Woman in 1956, the tiny village of St Tropez on the French Côte D’Azur was catapulted into the limelight and has stayed there ever since. Set on a headland, its physical boundaries have worked in its favour, keeping it small but perfectly formed, a bit like many of the people it attracts.
Although its heart is that of a tiny provincial village, it has all the pizzazz of Los Angeles. Billionaires’ yachts gleam nonchalantly in the port, a overabundance of designer-clad beauties roam around the bijou streets lined with fab boutiques from Roberto Cavalli to Blumarine. There is a sense that everyone who has the good fortune to live here, thinks their microcosm of glamour is simply the best place on earth.
St Tropez comes to life from June to September, with July and August registering crazy pitch on the celebometer. It’s not unusual to see Naomi and Kate on a yacht or P Diddy and Bruce Willis in the Caves du Roy nightclub at the Byblos hotel where white gold Jeroboams of Dom Perignon go for 12,000 euro a pop.
A brief cruise around the Gulf of St Tropez Bay takes you past vast villas rented by the likes of Claudia Schiffer for a mere £70,000 a month or owned by Princess Madeleine of Sweden (a present from her father), the Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton empire, Mohammed Al fayed and of course Brigitte Bardot and her menagerie.
The Place de Lices market every Saturday and Tuesday morning is a must for pretty much anything you are looking for including colourful costume jewellery, pretty dresses, cashmere cardigans, beaded kaftans, sequinned raffia bags, cotton quilts, panama hats and locally made soap, honey and olive oil. Unlike the rest of St Tropez, there are great bargains to be had.
Useful links
Byblos Hotel
Added 2008/06/20 @ 12:49:15
Average customer rating
awaiting 5 vote(s)...
