Castle / Ruins Sights in Saint-Tropez — 6 of Our Favourites

Houses, steps a chapel and a moat were all cut into the rock to make it habitable, but the name 'Fort' belies its actual use as a functioning village and not a military camp.

This fortified village controlled the route to the gulf of Saint-Tropez which, at the time, was called “Le Freinet”, the ash-tree, because it was peculiarly characteristic of the plain of Grimaud and its surroundings.

Archaeologists had hoped to find some evidence of the well-known tradition – that these were the ruins of a Saracen fortress, from which the Muslims of Spain launched their raids in Provence and beyond, between the end of the ninth and the end of the tenth century, but in fact they only found the trace of a medieval village society of about thirty houses.

The inhabitants stayed a little more than a hundred years, leaving at the end of the twelfth century before descending to found the present village of La Garde-Freinet.

An initial defence post was erected on the so-called 'Moulins' hill in the late 16th century, during the Religious Wars. The hexagonal tower, which formed an essential part of the village's defence system, was erected between 1602 and 1607. The Citadel underwent numerous modifications over the centuries, before falling into disuse in the 19th century, when the strategic interest of this perfectly-preserved fortress finally diminished.

The old cannons are still in place facing out towards to sea, and the views from the top are stunning across the Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.

Bought up by the town in 1993 and made a listed monument, today it hosts a museum dedicated to the history of Saint-Tropez and its relationship with the sea.

Originally, four towers were built to protect the coast and the port: the Tour du Portalet, the Tour la Vieille, the Tour de Suffren (now lost), and the Tour Jarlier.

The Tour du Portalet and the Tour la Vieille, or Old Tower, look right out over the sea and are situated on either side of a cove called La Glaye, watching the entrance to the town from the Mediterranean. These two towers date from the 15th century and are situated in the historical fishermen quarter of La Ponche.

The last tower, and the most central one, is to be found on Rue Jarlier. This structure, built a little later than the others, dates from the 16th century. It confers a tranquillity and charm upon a street which is of considerable architectural interest.

The Tour Suffren bore the name of the ancient lords of Saint-Tropez. Even if the tower is now lost, you can see the castle which they turned into their family home in the 18th century, in Saint-Tropez's main square. It cannot be visited, but you can see its imposing stone exterior.

The first mentions of the castle and the town of Grimaud date back to the 11th century. Although the castle was built at the end of the 12th century, the enclosing fortified walls and ramparts were added in the late 13th century to accommodate and protect the expanding village. It belonged to the Counts of Provence at this point in time.

In the 14th and 15th century, it first passed into the hands of the Adorne family, and then the Cossa family who converted the ground floor of the tower into a cistern. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was enlarged adding two towers with green serpentine stone frames.

The castle was then destroyed and abandoned after the French Revolution, when the Castellane family fled to Nice. Today only one vaulted room remains more or less intact.

The tower, together with the wall that surrounded Cogolin, were the town's main defensive system protecting not only the village but also the lord's castle. Dated in the late 13th or early 14th century, the tower was one of the entrance points to the town, and included a footbridge that crossed a moat. This tower was built of basalt lava stone, a material taken from the same rock on which the village of Cogolin stands.

In the second half of the 16th century, a clock was installed at the top of this tower. A person, usually a locksmith, was appointed and paid by the community to "conduct the orologe". This fragile device was operating with a weight-cons and required regular repairs. The hours were sounded by a bell dated 1587.

During the French Revolution, this bell was saved because it was part of a public building. Thus, it was not melted to be turned into a cannon, as it commonly happened. The bell was moved to the parish church, while the clock was installed in 1930 on the town hall's façade. Thus, nowadays only the medieval tower is visible in situ.

The dam was built just after the Second World War in order to establish a reserve of water for crop irrigation in the Var department. Rainfall in the area was, and still is, very irregular and post-war food production was essential. The Valley of Reyane was chosen, as although dry in the summer months the rain would come in during the winter. The dam was opened in 1954.

Unfortunately, during the years that followed, the rains were insufficient and they failed to fill the dam to full capacity. But in 1959, they had torrential rains and water levels rose too quickly in the dam for the controls to be performed normally. The dam gave way on " December, 1959 at 21:13. A huge wave of 40m rushed down the valley at a speed of 70km/h, destroying everything in its path until it reached the sea in Fréjus, 20 minutes later. The disaster killed 423 people, and destroyed 2.5km of railway tracks, 500 farms and 80,000 hectolitres of wine.

Today you can visit the remains of the dam, huge cement blocks weighing more than 600 tonnes which are an impressive reminder of the disaster. There is a 800m path that takes you across the site.