Tourist Guide

Drôme department(26)

Prefecture : Valence
Subprefectures : Die, Nyons
Population : 473,500
Website : www.ladrome.fr

Mountainous in the Vercors and Devoluy, provençal to the South, busy and dynamic in the plains, in Valence, Romans or Montelimar, Drome is a summary of the whole Rhone-Alps region.

Its industrial vocation – textile, aeronautics - is still vivid and adapts to the times while its agriculture retains its high standards, symbolised by its fine wines – Hermitage, Die clairette – its olive oil in Nyons or its truffles. For the tourist, the reasons to stop are plenty, from the Grignan castle, to the surrealistic Palace of Postman Cheval or the picturesque village of Mirmande. Yet nature is probably Drome’s main asset, in the beautiful Vercors massif especially.

KM 8 : SUZE-LA-ROUSSE (Pop : 1,900)

Suze’s main activity is viticulture over 1,600 ha of AOC wines. Its prestigious castle overlooking the town and its vineyards used to be the property of the Princes of Orange and now houses the Wine University, a private establishment dedicated to vine growing and equipped with a training centre and laboratories. The old Suze village, is full of archaeological sites from periods, and restoration is underway in the old streets, townhouses and the castle, nested in the 23 ha La Garenne park. In the park, several sites tell the long story of Suze –an antique buried ice-house, the 17th century St Michel chapel, a 16th century real tennis court built for the visit of Charles IX, an old pigeon house.

KM 16: TULETTE (Pop : 1,700)

On the Wine Road, Tulette is an old stronghold of the Princes of Orange annexed by the Dauphine in the 16th century. Tulette suffered a lot from the Wars of Religion. It housed a Benedictine priory headed by Jules de la Rovere, who became pope under the name of Jules II. The village with its 12 century walls is entirely devoted to wine.

KM 36: NYONS (Pop: 7,100)

A medieval town at the foot of a rocky mound, close to the Mount Ventoux, and spared by the winds thanks to its location, Nyons has been dubbed the little Nice for its sunny weather. Renowned for its famous black olive, Nyons should be better known for the riches of its heritage. Invaded by the Germans in the 5th century, by the Saracens in the 10th, fief of the Princes of Orange, French in the 14th century, Nyons has a long past history. It can still be admired today with its Romanesque bridge, its Randonne tower topped by a Virgin, two of the town’s most celebrated monuments. Curiosity will be rewarded by walking into the old town through the St Jacques gate, the only one left from the medieval walls. From the 13th century Arcades square, one goes up along the main street lined with ipretty grey houses with blue shutters. After the 17th century St Vincent church, the Romanesque bridge appears. Built between 1341 and 1409, it sill deploys its 18-meters-high arch over the Eygues river.

Place to see

Randonne tower
It is an astonishing chapel with a pyramid-shaped bell tower, topped by a huge 3.50-metres-tall statue of the Virgin Mary. Built in 1270 by the Baroness of Montauban, it served as both a keep and as a jail. Converted into a chapel and renamed Notre-Dame de Bon secours in the 19th century, it still keeps a splendid colourful altar-piece.

KM 43,5 : CONDORCET (Pop : 450)

Legend says that Condorcet was built on the site of an old druids holy wood. The Cluny Abbey founded a priory on the spot in the 9th century and the Counts of Die ruled over it early on. The Princes of Orange took over and handed it to the Caritat family, whose most famous son was Jean Nicolas, marquis of Condorcet, a philosopher who became one of the leading figures of the French Revolution. The old fortified castle, the berth of the family, is in ruins. Only a few towers remain. The keep is the best preserved section. The walls and were destroyed by a royal edict in 1627.

KM 51 : SAHUNE (Pop : 290)

Sahune is established in a quiet and sunny basin surrounded by rocky mountains at the mouth of the picturesque St May gorges. The village is renowned for its fruit and olive. The remains of the old village and castle recall its glorious past. Sahune was for nearly four centuries the home of a sheep breed known as the Sahune breed. It led to the organisation of several markets and fairs in which breeders sold their best production. As a result, tanning was also a thriving activity.

KM 59 : SAINT-MAY (Pop : 50)

After the picturesque gorges of St May, past a small green bridge, one reaches the small village of St May, hanging abruptly over the gorges and its yellow rocks.

Once a land of the Count of Provence, St May remains a beautiful perched village dominated by the ruins of the Bodon abbey, founded in the 6th century. Only a portico remains, a few Gothic windows and sculptures. Nesting against a rock face, the village is scattered with stairs and keeps a lovely little church, remains of walls eaten by rosebushes, vaults, a fountain and a few sundials.

KM 63,5 : RÉMUZAT (Pop : 300)

Remuzat is sheltered at the foot of the Caire Rock, a long cliff facing the East. The rising sun makes it a warm place early in the morning, which helped reintroducing vultures on the site. A walk on the crest allows birdwatchers to approach the timid birds of prey, who were almost extinct in France. Their flight takes place between 10 and 12 am when it is warm enough for them to go hunting for carcasses. In the village, a House of the Vultures gives all types of information on the bird.

Hautes Alpes department (05)

Prefecture : Gap
Subprefectures : Briançon
Population : 132,000
Website : www.hautes-alpes.net

Hautes-Alpes (High Alps) is the highest department in France in average. The Durance river is the backbone of its territory, on which live a population of 118,000. Isolated until the arrival of the train, the department has learnt through history to live on its own resources, which helped in hard times. It is a mainly farming area – forests, pastures, fruit, milk – but tourism has been developing quickly thanks to the ski resorts of Serre-Chevalier Vars, les Orres or Montgenevre and in the summer to the many campsites around the Serre-Poncon artificial lake.

KM 76 : ROSANS (Pop : 520)

Rosans is a perched village squat around its imposing Romanesque tower. Its disposition still follows the one imposed by the fortifications protecting it against the endless struggles between Dauphine and Provence. The village is dominated by its 12th century Saracen Tower remarkable by its structure in diamond-shaped cut-stones. Several gates lead into the fortified village. The main one is close to the Lesdiguieres castle and it is still possible to stroll along the walkway. In St Andre de Rosans, the village keeps the remains of an old Benedictine priory founded in 988 with superb friezes and Romanesque mosaics discovered in 1998 and now restored.

KM 90 : L’EPINE (Pop : 180)

L’Epine is an old village displayed along a narrow central street with several historical traces like lintels and old roofs. At the top of the hill a castle used to stand. Only remains a 19th century windmill. L’Espine celebrates gourds and the annual Gourd Fair, in September, is a festive and pleasant event.

KM 99 : SERRES (Pop : 1,240)

A big village built in a half circle at the foot of a rocky mound, Serres belonged to Provence, to the Kingdom of Naples, passed to Dauphine in 1298 and saw Catholics and Protestants involved in bloody battle.

From the Middle Ages, when Serres was a fortress surrounded by walls, subsist the 12th century St Arey Romanesque church and the remains of the towers and walls of a 14th century castle.

The city is enchanting with is small square with arcades, its sculpted walls and windows, the former house of Constable Lesdiguieres, its old gates, Romanesque church, its Jewish quarter and the Renaissane town hall, the birthplace of geographer Alexandre Correard, a survivor of the Raft of the Medusa wreck.

KM 117,5 : VEYNES (Pop : 3,350)

Small town at an altitude of 814 metres, Veynes keeps traces of both its medieval history and of its more recent past as a major railway junction. A Veynes-born engineer, Adrien Ruelle, in charge of the construction of the PLM line chose Veynes as a junction between lines from Marseille, Livron, Grenoble and Briancon. The frist line from Marseille was inaugurated in 1875. The construction of a reparation depot completed the site and Veynes became a major rail city until the end of the steam engines. Some 700 families lived from the rail at the time. The rail also helped local agriculture export its apples, its pears and its sheep.

PLACE TO SEE

Montmaur castle
The birthplace of novelist Ponson du Terrail, close to Veynes, Montmaur keeps a pretty 14th century castle built on the site of a Roman castrum. Round angle towers were added in the 16th century. It was bought in 2006 by the Hautes-Alpes department and restoration is underway.

KM 151 : COL DE MANSE (1,269 m)

The Manse mountain pass is the main path between Gap and the High Champsaur. At the top can be found a Napoleon refuge, one of six shelters built thanks to a donation by the Emperor to thank the locals for their support when he returned from exile on the Elba Island. The Tour took the pass twice, in 1972 between Carpentras and Orcieres-Merlette and in 1989 between Gap and Orcieres. Joaquim Agostinho and Steven Rooks were in the lead at the top.

KM 154 : LA ROCHETTE (Pop : 380)

The small village overlooking Gap is now famous for the climb bearing its name on which Joseba Beloki crashed heavily in 2003.