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After being set adrift in a boat from Palestine, Mary Jacoby (sister of the Virgin), Mary Salome, Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and servant girl, Sara landed on the Provençal coast. They were the first Christians in Gaul. The “relics” of Jacoby and Salome are found in the town’s church, as are those of Sara, patron saint of gypsies (see Notre-Dame des Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer).

Who was the Man in the Iron Mask? Louis XIV’s troublesome brother? A meddling royal priest? No one knows. Certainly, he was dangerous enough to be clamped in the mask and locked away in Château d’If from 1687. You may visit the island fort and see his cell (see Places to Eat).

Almost 4,000 years ago Ligurian tribespeople covered rocks in the Alpine valley with engravings – theories abound about their meaning. The site is superb but difficult to access (see Vallée des Merveilles and Musée des Merveilles).

In AD 800 a congregation of monks ogled female Saracen prisoners being led to the River Durance and were turned to stone as punishment. There they remain – a 2-km (1-mile) line of rocks, some 100 m (300 ft) high, looking like repentant monks with their cowls up (see Les Mées).

In 1177 a shepherd boy named Bénézet received orders from God that a bridge should be built across the Rhône. Avignon people were sceptical, so the lad picked up a rock which 30 strong men couldn’t shift and carried it to where Pont St-Bénézet was to begin (see Pont St-Bénézet).

Tarasque, a dragon-like beast, terrorized Tarascon in the 1st century AD, until St Martha sprinkled it with Holy Water. Tarascon converted to Christianity (see Château de Tarascon) and Tarasque remains central to the town’s June festival.

After landing in Provence, Mary Magdalene spread the Christian word, before spending her last years praying in a cave in the Ste-Baume mountains. Her remains were discovered in the 13th century and may be seen in the Gothic basilica (see Basilica St-Maximin, St-Maximin-la-Ste-Baume).

The Latin inscription on a rock near St-Geniez indicates the site of a 5th-century “Theopolis”, or City of God Christian centre. The rock aside, no trace has been found. However, phenomena including strange lights and odd weather add to the mystery of the place.

The red cliffs of Roussillon are not coloured by accident. In medieval times the local lord’s wife, Sirmonde, fell in love with a troubadour. The lord had him killed and Sirmonde threw herself off a cliff, staining the rocks with her blood (see Roussillon).

Washerwoman Cathérine led Niçois resistance against the Turkish fleet that besieged the city in 1543. She knocked out the Turkish standard-bearer with her washboard, before lifting her skirts and putting the rest of the Turks to flight. The day was eventually lost, but Cathérine’s statue is in Vieux Nice (see Vieux Nice).