4 Août 2020
Today, I am really excited to take you on vacation on France. I know, because of this pandemic, traveling is not so easy. This is why I wanted to share a little bit of France with you.
Let's go to the beautiful Provence region on the Mediterranean Coast.
And by the way... if you love France, here is a free guide to visit France just for you!
Bormes-les-Mimosas is a beautiful city in the South of France. Actually, it is literally one of the cities of the French Riviera.
Funny name isn’t it?
Let’s dive into this name. What I like about this name is that the beginning comes from history and the end of the name is much more poetic. So Bormes comes from an Ancient tribe from Italy (what to become Italy much later) and this tribe was named “Bormani”. So, with time, “Bormani” became “Bormes”. And the city name remained like this for centuries and centuries, until in 1968 it was decided to name it Bormes-les-Mimosas because of all the Mimosas there are in and around this city.
Great… But, what is “Mimosas”.
Well, “un mimosa” is a wonderful flower, yellow, puffy, light, cute you will only find in this region. And around “Bormes”, there are a lot of “mimosas”. This is how “Bormes” became “Bormes-les-Mimosas”.
Cute isn’t it?!
Now, let’s get rid of a second mystery. Why is this city built on the top of a mountain when it is so close to the sea ? It used to be on the riviera but because of invasions and pirates, the people of Bormes went up in the mountains, where they were safer and could defend themselves. They moved to the mountain in the 9th Century and built the castle in the 12 Century.
You can check their website: https://www.ville-bormes.fr/fr
It is only in French (I find it so cute… there are so many tourists and only a French website, I love it, so French!!!). BUT, even if you do not speak (or read) French, you can watch the photos. They added many photos of this beautiful city and they are very nice. You instantly travel to France, to one of these traditional villages. It’s worth a virtual visit.
So, I wanted to talk about something specific about Bormes-les-Mimosas, but it is already a long article and I do not want to bother you too much. I’ll keep it for my next article, but I promise, it will come very soon.
Have a beautiful week, see you soon,
Sandrine