Arriving by sea — Saint-Tropez’s red lighthouse guards the old port, the town’s famous bell tower on the hill behind.

Classics under full sail on the gulf, warming up for Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez — the great classic-yacht regatta began the next day.

A two-masted wooden schooner rides at anchor in the gulf, the hills of Grimaud behind.

Across the gulf in Port Grimaud, Ruth studies the map of the ‘cité lacustre’ — a modern Venice built on canals.

Champagne for two at L’Opéra on the old port — when in Saint-Tropez.

Dessert arrives wearing a face — L’Opéra’s sculpted showpiece, almost too theatrical to eat.

The view from our table — the old town and bell tower across a harbor full of masts.

Proof of the splurge: L’Opéra, Saint-Tropez.

The quay of the old port, stern-to with classic yachts gathered for regatta week.

The Saint-Tropez starter kit: yellow Ferrari, hundred-foot yacht.

A varnished mahogany runabout idles beneath the schooners — old money floats well here.