The distance is not great from Marseilles to Hyères, but eighty kilometres, a little over fifty miles; but there is a wealth of interest to be had from a silent threading of the roadways of this delightful corner of maritime Provence which the partakers of conventional tours know nothing of. Here in the environs of Ollioules, on the hillsides flanking its celebrated gorge, is found in profusion the _fleur d’or_, famed in the verses of Provençal poets. François Delille, one of the followers of the Félibres, in his “_Fleur de Provence_,” has sung its praises in unapproachable fashion, and there are some other fragment verses by a poet whose name has been forgotten, which seem worth quoting, since they recount an incident which may happen to any one who journeys by road along the coast of Provence: _Le Voyageur au Voiturin._ “Arrête ton cheval, saute à bas, mon vieux faune: Et va, bon voiturin, du côte de la mer; Sur le bord de cette anse où le flot est si clair, Coupe, dans les rochers, coupe cette fleur jaune.” _Le Voiturin._ “C’est une fleur sauvage, O seigneur étranger. La-bas nous trouverons des bouquets d’oranger.” _Le Voyageur._ “Non! laisse l’oranger embaumer le rivage, Pour ces parfums si doux je suis barbare encore, Mais sur ma terre aussi poussent les landiers d’or Et j’aime la senteur de cette fleur sauvage!” Such is the charm of the _ajonc_, “_la fleur d’or de Provence_.” [Illustration: _St. Nazaire-du-Var_] Beyond Ollioules is St. Nazaire-du-Var, a tiny port which resembles in many ways that of Bandol. It has some of the aspects of a _station des bains_, in the summer months, for it has a fine beach. The railways and the guide-books apparently have little knowledge of St. Nazaire for they call it Sanary, after the old Provençal name. The present authorities of the really attractive little town are doing their best to keep pace with the march of progress, and there are hotels, more or less grand, electric lights, and tram-cars. The little port is exceedingly picturesque, and its quays are always animated with the comings and goings of a hundred or more fishing-boats, which of themselves smack nothing of modernity. The motor-boat has not yet taken the picturesqueness out of the life of these hardy fishermen of yore, though it is slowly making its way in some parts. In reality St. Nazaire-du-Var exists no more. The development of St. Nazaire-de-Bretagne overshadowed its less opulent namesake and took most of the mail-matter addressed to the little Provençal port. The inhabitants of the latter protested and addressed who ever has the making and changing of place-names in France to be allowed to adopt its ancient patronymic of Sanary.