Hyères is a Mediterranean town which owes its reputation to the palm trees that it exports throughout the world. On the hill of the Old Chteau, the Villa Noailles looks over Hyres and has a superb Mediterranean garden. It hosts contemporary art exhibitions. The excavations of the superb archaeological site of Olbia on the edge of the gulf of Giens in Hyres have brought up Greek, Roman and Medieval elements. A little way off from the coast lie the islands of Hyres called the Golden Islands. Port-Cros, Porquerolles and Le Levant used to act as shelters for seamen during bad weather.
