Saint-Maximim is 35km from Aix en Provence, 67 km from Marseille and about 71 km from Toulon. If you’re on the A8 motorway, take exit “34 Saint-Maximim”. If you’re taking the train, then you can get there from Aix en Provence and Marseille Saint Charles.

Saint-Maximim is surrounded by vineyards and protected by the Mont Aurelien, Mont Sainte Victoire and the Sante Baume mountain ranges.

Legend says that after Jesus’ death, Mary Magdalene and some of the other disciples continued preaching in Jerusalem – but eventually the authorities felt threatened, and the group was tried and sentenced and put into a boat (that had no sails and no oars) and set adrift.

The boat landed at Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer. Lazaurus, Mary Magdalaine, her sister Martha and the other people separated and began preaching and evangelizing in the surrounding area.

Eventually Mary decided she wanted solitude and so she shut herself away in a cave in the Saint Victoire mountains, where it is said that she stayed for 30 years until her death. Her relics were put in a crypt and then buried in 710 to protect them from being looted by the Sarrasisns. But as time passed, people forgot where she was buried and she remained lost until 1279.

When her relics were discovered again in 1279, Charles II of Anjou, the Duc de Provence, (the nephew of Saint Louis of France and who was later crowned Kind of Sicily), ordered that a Basilica worthy of being a reliquary for Sainte Marie Madeleine be built, because of the growing number of pilgrims who travelled to the village. Pope Boniface VIII gave his blessings to the plan.

The construction of the Basilica was begun in 1295 along with the convent next to it. The relics were put under the protection of the Dominican Monks who settled in the convent.

The convent was abandoned during the French Revolution, but otherwise Monks lived in the convent until 1957. (Interestingly, it became a fortress during the war against the Protestants.) After the monks left, the property was managed by the state, and became a cultural center. And then in 1999, it was sold and became the hotel and restaurant.

The village of Saint-Maximim is a wonderful place to visit during your visit to the French Riviera. You can park your car and spend several hours wandering around on your own, or the Tourist Board offers daily tours. Here is a list of the attractions you won’t want to miss see during your walking tour:

1. The Town Hall – (La Marie) It was built in 1750 using the blueprints of court architect Jean-Baptiste Franque. He designed it to accommodate the royal visitors who came to Saint-Maximim to marvel at the remains of Saint Mary Magdalene. During the French Revolution it was sold as a national monument and then later bought back by the town. It is located in the Place Jan Salusse.

2. The Royal Convent (Le Couvent Royal) – The religious community of the Dominican Monks settled in Saint-Maximim in 1295 and building began on th Basilica and the Convent itself. The construction work was done in stages (because all the stones were hand cut and carved).

One of the most interesting facts about this particular order of monks is that they did not have to survive on alms (donations from townspeople) as was usual of other orders in the day. Instead, they lived in relative comfort and security on an income that the King of France provided them.

Once the two main wings of the convent were finished (the east wing was finished at th end of the 13th century and the north wind during the 14th century), the monks moved in. Their community continued to grow – so much so that they had to add another floor! The monks left in 1957. Take your time strolling through the gardens and visit the library. These days, the former austere cells of the monks have been remodeled into very comfortable bedrooms, and the Convent serves as the hotel/restaurant, and also hosts numerous musical and cultural events throughout the year.

If you’re eating at the restaurant, you can park inside the heavy stone walls of the convent – just look for the big blue metal gates and buzz the intercom to get in. Otherwise, you can find parking around the Place de l’Hotel d Villa or the Town Hall square.

3 . The Basilica (La Basilique) – The Basilica is the largest Gothic building in the southeast of France. It is 73 meters long, 37 meters wide and 29 meters high.) Take the stone steps down underneath the main part of the church to the sacred crypt to see Mary’s original sarcophagus, carved from fine-grained marble which came from the Imperial quarries of the Marmara Sea, near Constantinople. There is also an impressively gilded bronze reliquary that was designed by Revoil in the 19th century. The reliquary holds her skull, and below that, in the center of the reliquary is a glass tube, which holds a fragment of her skin, said to be the “noli me tangere” (the place on her forehead where Christ touched her with his finger, the morning of his resurrection).

The crypt is also home to the sarcophagi of Saint Maximin, Saint Sidoin, Saint Marcelle and Sainte Suzanne, who were all about the same age of Mary Magdelaine, and all dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries as well.

Make sure to take the time to look at the rather remarkable altarpiece of painted wood done by Antoine Ronzen (1517). It stands just north of the nave and represents scenes from the Passion.

Above the door is the world-renowned double-chested organ that was built in 1773 by the Dominican Friar Jean Esprit Isnard. It is composed of four keyboards and 2960 pipes! Only the quick thinking of Napoleon’s brother, Lucien Bonaparte saved it from destruction during the French Revolution because he commanded that the “Marseillaise” was to be played on it to herald the arrival of Baras as he entered the building.

4. The Medieval Quarter – Just a short walk south of the Basilica takes you to the 13th century Medieval Quarter of Saint Maximim. Notice the fine porch that once provided shelter from the weather to the many tradesmen and merchants who set up shop there. Take a stroll through the Jewish Quarter with its classical, dark arcades and narrow streets. Facing the Jewish Quarter is the ancient cistern, which fell into disrepair during the 14th century, and was later transformed into a prison. It is now the Louis Rostan Museum.

5. Artist’s shops and stores -You’ll find a wonderful selection of “Santons” the little carved wooden figures that are set around the crêche during Christmas. They show the different types of peasants, farmers and merchants from the Middle Ages -and make for a unique display as they come to witness and celebrate the birth of baby Jesus.

There are festivals, fairs and concerts in Saint Maximim throughout the year:

The Feast of Saint Vincent – last weekend of January

Organ recitals in the Basilica every Sunday at 5:00 p.m. – April to September

Music Festival in the Basilica – July/August

Harvest Festival – third weekend in July

Feast of Mary Magdalene End of July

Boules Grand Prix – Last weekend in August

The Santons Fair – Third weekend in November

Amateur Painters’ Exhibition – Second weekend in December

The Tourist Office is across the cobblestone square from the Basilica, and they offer information about the area in English, as well as guided tours. Saint Maximim is a short drive from the French Riviera, and well-worth adding to your French Quarter vacations itinerary.

Losing weight is an incredibly difficult thing to do. Not only do you have to watch every calorie that passes your lips but also your body has to work in harmony with you, and most of the time it may seem to be working against you instead. Natural herbal fat burners are readily available to remedy this problem for you as they can cajole your body into working with you by performing a number of functions. There are two natural herbal fat burners that you may have heard of but know little about, Theobromine and Ephedra. They are looked at in detail below so you can compare the two and choose the best for you.

The Origins

Both Theobromine and Ephedra are natural herbal fat burners, although one has been commonly use for far longer than the other. Ephedra has been around for 5000 years in Chinese medicine to treat asthma and was initially native to China. There are various plants within the genus, although not all of them are used for weight loss. However, Theobromine has only been around since the 19th Century. As a derivative of the cacao plant, it was only discovered when America was founded and the cacao plant was initially used for chocolate. It was when the plant itself was examined closely that the natural herbal fat burner was discovered.

The Way They Work

Although the origins of the natural herbal fat burners are very different, the use of them within the body is not that different at all. Both are primarily used to facilitate weight loss by metabolising fat and reducing the appetite of the individual that has taken it. Both are thermogenic and so raise the temperature of the body to enable it to burn fat far more effectively than the body would otherwise do.

The Side Effects

Although the function of the natural herbal fat burners is the same, the side effects they have are very different. Theobromine does have a few side effects but they only tend to occur in select individuals. It may cause headaches, trembling, nausea and insomnia. However, Ephedra causes many more than that. It is possible that you will vomit or tremble as a result of the natural herbal fat burner but it could also cause heart attacks, strokes and some individuals have even died as a result of it. This is why it is banned. The reason why the two natural herbal fat burners are so different is because of the alkaloids within the Ephedra tend to stimulate the central nervous system whereas Theobromine does not.

The Verdict

It is completely up to you as to which of the natural herbal fat burners you use, but a safe alternative is always a good way to go. Theobromine will leave no lasting impression other than your weight loss but Ephedra may leave other issues behind and they are just not worth the risk.

One of the most widespread things that people talk about is how to lose weight successfully. Perhaps they are having a difficult time with this themselves and it certainly is not difficult to find somebody that is struggling with weight loss in some way or another. sadly, many of these people are trying to lose weight in all the wrong ways. They do it by depriving their bodies of certain things such as carbohydrates and fats. Although they can lose some weight in the short term, these are not long-term strategies that will help you to keep the weight off for the rest of your life. Even so, it may be hard to lose weight even if you do everything right. Are there fat burner pills that can help you with your efforts?

Actually, one of the greatest things that you can take along with making sure you are eating the right foods are thermogenic fat burner pills. Although many individuals have heard about some of the ingredients that are in one of these thermogenic fat burner products, they may not actually be familiar with exactly how well they can work. One of the reasons that they’ll have heard of it is because of how often ephedra has been in the news in recent times. Although it was hailed as one of the greatest fat burners that ever existed, it was eventually pulled out of many of the thermogenic products because of the side effects that it possibly caused.

Fortunately, there are still fat burner pills that are available that use the thermogenic process and actually can help to take the weight off of you in a hurry. They do this by increasing your metabolic rate and helping your body to burn the fat naturally and consistently. This has the result of reducing your fat cells and in point of fact helping your body to dispose of the fat that they contain. By taking fat burner pills along with going on a fat burner diet, you would be astounded with exactly how much weight you can lose in the long term.

Eating the right foods and getting lots of exercise is very important to help in your weight-loss goals. As a matter of fact, taking thermogenic fat burner pills along with going on the proper diet can really boost your metabolic rate in amazing ways. The best diet that you can possibly do in order to achieve the most results in the shortest amount of time is eating low on the glycemic index. At every meal, you would want to include a protein, legume and vegetable. Make sure that you’re eating frequently throughout the day (athletes eat 6 smaller meals throughout the day for good reason) in order to keep your metabolism running as fast as possible. As long as you’re fuelling your body correctly, you would be astonished at how well it will run and how much weight you could lose. Along with your dieting efforts, you can enhance this by taking high quality herbal fat burner pills to boost your weight loss results many times over.

If you are trying to reduce belly fat in your abdominal region, you need to start looking at weight loss in a different way. Not only is belly fat unattractive, it can be absolute dangerous to your health. Also the extra fat carried around your abdomen can increase your risk of heart disease. So, as you start a weight loss regime, be prepared to see weight coming off in the unexpected areas such as face, neck, hands, and calves. You need to be practical about this fact and be patient. The belly fat you are expecting will eventually come off with a healthy diet and exercise plan. Are you obsessed with getting rid of stomach fat and reduce belly fat, but don’t know where to begin or what to do? If so you’re in the right place! Keep on reading as the article you’re about to read will teach you reduce belly fat.

(1) If you want to lose weight and reduce belly fat you need a great personal trainer and coach to teach you what to do and keep you motivated to do it. Often most people begin with whatever comes to mind- usually with no direction and no purpose and hence fail to achieve their goal. The secret is without the right coaching and advice, you’ll likely not make progress, get frustrated or even quit and end up gaining weight.

(2) The second thing you must know, how too effectively reduce belly fat? As such there is no magic secret when it comes to weight loss. Reducing body fat levels require certain positive approaches that don’t come from popular diet pills or by drinking foul tasty drinks. Also it’s a waste of time by doing regular sit-ups or crunches. The secret is to get your workouts and weight loss plans from an experienced trainer or a coach. Hence there is no need to waste lot of money on expensive fat burner pills or other supplements. You can rely on regular cardiovascular exercise to reduce belly fat. For example walking needs no money, just put your shoes on and get moving for at least 30 minutes. This is not the very effective way but at least it keeps your body moving.

(3) One of the most important secrets in weight loss is building muscle. The more muscle you have the easier it will be to reduce belly fat or burn calories. Try to decrease your body fat and increase your muscle mass and you’ll look better, feel stronger and feel more energetic. The first thing you need to do is stop the calorie counting as it may lead to frustration and failure because it is too time consuming and you won’t ever lose belly fat. At the same time if you keep on starving your body and keep on counting calories and fats it can actually back fire on you. If you eat the right nutrients at the right times you not only feel full on less calories, but you maximize your fat burning potential and “Reduce belly fat” at the same time.

(4) The secret of healthy meals is well known worldwide when it comes to permanent weight loss. Healthy meals consist of lean protein, lots of fresh vegetables, whole grains and some fresh fruits. You should consistently choose foods that are as close as possible to their natural state. It is better to avoid so-called healthy foods labeled sugar free, fat free, etc as it may actually gain you more weight. Always prefer to eat 3 meals a day, eat small but frequently. Increase your protein intake for better muscle growth and development. Limit your salt intake, avoid alcohol and minimize sugar and bad fats in your diet.

(5) Finally don’t forget to involve lifting weights in your regular weight loss program. Regular weight lifting has several beneficial effects as it strengthens your muscle. As stated above the more muscle you carry on your frame, the more calories you burn. Muscles take up one third less space than fat and it gives you power and energy to carry on your daily activities more effectively.

Learning how to effectively reduce belly fat is not a difficult task. If you’re willing to put a bit of effort, the 5 secrets that I have shared can help you get rid of extra fat all over your body and at the same time reduce belly fat. As you work to reduce belly fat think about it seriously, as there is no need to diet and quite frankly it doesn’t work that well. If you eat the right food combined with regular exercise you are likely to reduce belly fat at a furious pace.