Aigues-Mortes: Medieval Port in a Modern World

Aigues-Mortes—"dead waters"—seems an unlikely location for a major medieval port. Yet this walled city, now stranded kilometers from the sea by centuries of silt deposition, once served as France's gateway to the Crusades. Louis IX (Saint Louis) built the town in the 13th century as his Mediterranean base, departing twice from here for the Holy Land. The perfectly preserved ramparts, complete with towers and gates, enclose a grid of streets that preserve their medieval layout.

The Tour de Constance, a massive circular keep, tells darker stories. For centuries it served as a prison, most notably for Protestant women during the religious wars. Marie Durand, imprisoned for 38 years for refusing to renounce her faith, carved "Register" (resist) into the stone—a word that still inspires. Today's Aigues-Mortes balances tourist appeal with working life, its restaurants serving local specialties like tellines (tiny clams) and bull stew to visitors who come for history but discover a living community.

The surrounding landscape reflects centuries of environmental management. Canals built for medieval commerce now serve pleasure boats navigating between Mediterranean and Atlantic via the Canal du Rhône à Sète. The étangs (coastal lagoons) support both traditional fishing and modern aquaculture. Vineyards, once dismissed for producing quantity over quality, now yield distinctive wines from vines grown in sandy soils where phylloxera never thrived, preserving pre-epidemic rootstocks rare elsewhere in France.