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France
St-Raphaël

St-Raphaël is a favourite family holiday resort, situated between Cannes and St-Tropez and very close to the bigger neighbouring town, Fréjus. St-Raphaël lies beautifully between the verdant Massif des Maures and the red Estérel coast.

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St-Raphaël was already in Roman Times a beloved holiday resort where wealthy families settled down (in the area around the present casino). In 1799 St-Raphaël became a part of history, when Napoleon landed here after his successful trip to Egypt. At the harbour there is a pyramidal monument in memory of this event.

St-Raphaël was discovered as a beach resort in 1860 by the Parisian journalist Alphonse Karr, who brought with him Parisian celebrities like Alexandre Dumas, Maupassant, Berlioz and Gounod. After that followed rich Englishmen and with the railway in 1864 the tourists arrived.

St-Raphaël primarily offers beautiful sandy beaches, a marina, good shopping possibilities and an innumerable amount of restaurants and cafés. St-Raphaël is, unlike the neighbouring town, Fréjus not so very interesting. The old part of town, Quartier du Village, is pleasant with its narrow streets and shady squares. Every morning there is a flower and a vegetable market.

North of the railway you will find, Eglise San Raféu, a strongly fortified Templars’ church from the 12th century. Their churches are very rare and therefore most interesting. According to tradition it is gloomy inside as well as outside and completely without decoration. The nearby presbytery houses Musée Archélologique with its important exhibits of Roman relics, drawn up from the sea bed by local divers. The town’s very beautiful cathedral in Roman Byzantine style, Notre-Dame-de-Victoire, was built in 1884 and can be found by the old port. Unfortunately it has been hidden behind a big rose pink building complex which has totally destroyed the impression of this remarkable church.