FIG. 139.
BRASS LAMP IN FRÉJUS CATHEDRAL
(From a Drawing by Mr R. Burns Begg).
The houses in the town of Fréjus possess many quaint bits of architectural detail, amongst which the woodwork of the old doorways may be specially mentioned ([Fig. 140]). Similar telling and original specimens of wood and iron work, it may be remarked, are not uncommon throughout the Riviera.
FIG. 140. DOORWAYS IN FRÉJUS
St Raphaël, a small town a few miles to the eastward, now forms the port of Fréjus. The mountainous district of “Les Maures,” which lies along the coast between Toulon and Fréjus, may either be visited from Hyères on the west (by diligence), or from St Raphaël on the east (by steamer). The latter mode forms a long but very pleasant day’s excursion. A small trading steamer leaves St Raphaël on certain days (mentioned in the “Indicateur”) at 8.30 a.m., and reaches St Tropez about 10.15, after a pleasant voyage round the headlands between the Gulf of Fréjus and that of Grimaud. St Tropez occupies the site of the ancient Heraclea Caccabaria, an important naval station in Roman times. The town has several times been destroyed by the Saracens and Corsairs, who in the ninth century took possession of the whole of the detached chain of mountains still called after them by the name of “Les Maures.” The sheltered gulf of Grimaud formed a fine harbour for their ships, and the port St Tropez was then a place from which a considerable trade was carried on with the African coast. In the later centuries it suffered the usual disturbances under Charles of Anjou, and in the wars of Religion.