We drove over to Saint Tropez today because it seemed like the thing to do.

Of the towns in this bay, on the Cote d’Azur, Saint Tropez is by far the best-known, internationally.

What we found was underwhelming, even considering this is the depth of winter — when celebrities are least likely to be hanging about the clubs and runways near the port.

Nor would anyone travel to Saint Tropez in January in search of the tan once glowingly described by the Bain de Soleil brand.

But, still …

Let’s start with the tan.

Americans of a certain age may well remember the Bain de Soleil pitch for “the San Tropez tan” — which was set to music.

Any kind of tan was considered a good thing, back then, before the link between skin cancer and too much sun became well-documented.

According to the history page of the Bain de Soleil home site, Coco Chanel, the Paris-based clothes designer, pretty much invented the tan as a fashion accessory, after a stay in Saint Tropez during the 1920s, when she returned to Paris with a deep tan.

A tan, for about the next 70 years, at least in Europe and North American, carried a message of sexiness, suggesting its wearer was sportif — healthy and outdoorsy.

Various brands of tanning lotion then arose, to try to foment a tan on pale skin without burning — with not a lot of success, given the low level of sun-protection factor (SPF) in Bain de Soleil products.

On a local level, the arrival from Paris of artists and business people escaping the cold capital for the sun of the Cote d’Azur, helped put an ancient city (named after an obscure saint) more firmly on the French map.

It became more famous after World War II, particularly known as a locale for filming movies, most famously And God Created Woman, the 1955 movie starring Brigitte Bardot, a film considered far too salacious to appear on U.S. movie screens.

Now, Saint Tropez is famous pretty much only for being famous.

After an afternoon of wandering around the town, I think it is fair to suggest that Saint Tropez is an aging, congested city where a reputation built nearly 100 years ago sputters along.

Many of the great fashion houses of Europe still have stores on the main streets of Rue Francois de Sibilli or Rue Gambetta, but they are often small and sit at the bottom of battered, faded old buildings which appear to have cramped apartments in the upper stories.

Even in January, it is hard to get around the town’s narrow streets, and it must be a nightmare in the summer, one only the most important of VIPs (and the richest of the rich) can escape.

It left us both thinking, “thank goodness we didn’t try to come here in August” because Saint Tropez as known to the outside world does not work as a destination for any but the fabulous or the fabulously wealthy.