Hotel Byblos Saint-Tropez

Saint-Tropez

Originally a 15^th century citadel and then a small, peaceful fishing port, Saint-Tropez became well known in the late 19^th century thanks to the writer Guy de Maupassant and painter Paul Signac. Signac’s presence was followed by a number of other painters who were attracted to the exceptional light that pervaded the village. Fauvists and pointillists began their painting careers here. After World War One, literary artists including Colette, Jean Cocteau and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and actors and musicians like Jean Marais, Louis Jouvet and Herbert von Karajan joined the list of visitors. Saint-Tropez was the first village to be liberated at the end of World War Two. In the 1950s, it became a legend after the film “And God Created Woman” marked the discovery of actress Brigitte Bardot. As a favorite of the jet set, people came here to see and to be seen! The yachts of multi-millionaires invaded the port, and celebrities the world over would take their vacations here. Nevertheless, the village is fortunate enough to possess a number of protected sites and monuments bearing witness to its rich cultural, artistic and historical past. While strolling through the narrow, winding streets, visitors can admire the ocher and earth colored Sienna bell tower on the parish church, one of the purest in the Var region, the citadel which overlooks the village and the Ponche port with its ocher and yellow colored houses.

A palace protected by Zeus

Built on the highest hill in the city, Hôtel Byblos, opened in the late 1960s, sprang from the imagination of Jean-Prosper Bay-Para, a French-Lebanese member of the hotel industry whose dream was to create a palace that would be unique throughout the entire Mediterranean. Hôtel Byblos, named after the ancient port of Phoenicia, is built around a mosaic representing the rapt of Europa by Zeus. This luxury hotel, known throughout the world, was built adjacent to the citadel and blends in perfectly with the landscape. The Byblos bears no resemblance to any of the flashier looking palace hotels on the Côte d’Azur.

It consists of several small houses with ocher and orange colored facades, wrought iron balconies and Roman or Genoa type tiled roofs, all of which combine to create an authentic looking Provençal village. Between the houses, there are small shaded squares, fountains, a few luxury boutiques, a azure blue swimming pool, a “feet in the water” bar and two restaurants. The houses themselves contain precious furniture, old mosaics and antique statues which stand side by side with Vallauris ceramics and Provençal patina. The entire Mediterranean is present from the East all the way to Provence. When the décor was redone, Mireille Chevanne, president of Hôtel Byblos, chose Rubella and Pierre Frey fabrics, and made to measure carpets, curtains as ell as tiles and ceramic friezes for the bathrooms, while conserving the Mediterranean spirit so dear to its creator. For its 40^th anniversary, the Byblos added a spa, set up around a patio where guests can go before dining around the pool at the B’ restaurant. The hotel also possesses the trendiest nightclub in the Var region, the famous Caves du Roy where international models, ultra rich businessmen, crowned heads and showbusiness stars mingle together.

Brigitte Bardot inaugurated the hotel with Gunther Sachs during their honeymoon. French actress Mireille Darc presided over the opening night in May, 1967. Mick Jagger and Bianca Perez were married here and celebrated French singers Michel Polnareff and Eddy Mitchell shared the same piano, with one rehearsing in the morning and the other in the afternoon.