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SOUTH PROVENCE-ALPES-CÔTE-D'AZUR REGION

Departments: Alpes de Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Var, Vaucluse.

Population: 5.1 million

Prefecture: Marseille

Surface area: 31,400 km2

Specialities: Mediterranean cuisine, pizza, pissaladière, panisses, chichis, bouillabaisse, petits farcis (stuffed vegetables), alouette sans tête (mea trolls), pieds et paquets marseillais (lamb feet), salade niçoise, pan bagnat, gardiane de taureau (bull stew), sea urchins, fish (sea bream, sea bass, red mullet, denti, marbled, pageots, pagres, sars), wines (rosés of Provence, côtes de Provence, côtes du Rhône, Palette, Bandol...). 

 Sports clubs: Olympique Marseille, OGC Nice (football), Rugby Club Toulon. Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille (swimming).

Competitions: football world cup, Euro 2016 football, rugby world cup, rugby test matches, Tour de France cycling, Paris-Nice, GP La Marseille, Haribo Classic, Tour du Haut-Var, Tour de la Provence, beach volleyball, beach football, rugby in Toulon. Mondial à pétanque in Marseille. 

Tourist attractions: beaches and seaside resorts (Saint-Tropez, Nice, Saint-Raphaël, Fréjus, Cassis, Bandol etc...), Palais des Papes in Avignon, Arles (amphitheatre, Roman remains), Marseille (Old Port, Panier, calanques, château d'If, Mucem), Nice (Promenade des Anglais, old Nice, old port), Mont Ventoux, Cannes, ski resorts in the Hautes-Alpes and Alpes maritimes (Serre-Chevalier, Le Sauze, Orcières-Merlette, Isola 2000), Briançon (citadel), Aix-en-Provence.

Economy: 7% of French GDP, 3e region in France, 16e in Europe. Agriculture (wine, market gardening), service sector (80%), universities (Aix-Marseille, France's leading university, Nice, Toulon), ports (Marseille, La Ciotat, Nice), petrochemicals (Fos), logistics, Nice and Marseille airports, tourism.

Festivals: Cannes Festival (cinema), Avignon Festival (theatre), Chorégies d'Orange, Aix en Provence Festival (opera), Jazz à Nice, Marseille Festival (dance). Midem (Cannes), Marsatac (Marseille), Fiesta des Suds (Marseille), Plages électroniques (Cannes), Rencontres d'Arles (photography).

Websitewww.maregionsud.fr

HAUTES-ALPES (05)

Prefecture : Gap

Sub-prefecture : Briançon

Population: 141,800

Number of municipalities: 162

Surface area: 5,549 km2

Specialities: Tourtons (doughnuts), Oreilles d'âne (a gratin made with cream, lasagne and spinach), honeys (mountain, lavender, all flowers...), wines (Tallard and Avance valley), fruits (apples and pears from the Durance valley), cheeses...

Sport: France's second-largest department in terms of number of sports people per inhabitant, with almost 500 clubs and some fifty disciplines ranging from alpine skiing to ice hockey (Diables Rouges of Briançon and Rapaces of Gap), cycling (cyclo, mountain biking), team sports (football, rugby, handball, basketball), athletics, swimming, etc.

Economy: Tourism, Agropastoralism, Wood industry, Crafts, Departmental aeronautics industry, etc.

Competitions: Women's Alpine Skiing Southern Regional European Cup in Orcières, Speed Skiing World Cup in Vars, Embrunman Triathlon, Trail Gapen'cimes, Mondial de l'Escalade Briançon, Alps Epic MTB, Windfoil and KiteFoil French Championships in Serre-Ponçon.

Culture and heritage: Vauban fortifications at Briançon and Mont-Dauphin (UNESCO listing). Lac de Serre-Ponçon, Massif des Écrins (Barre des Écrins and Meije), major mountain passes (Izoard, Lautaret, Galibier, Vars, Granon, Noyer...). Departmental Museum in Gap. Alpine botanical garden at Le Lautaret. Religious sites of Notre-Dame du Laus and Boscodon. The villages of Saint-Véran (Queyras) and La Grave (Haute-Romanche) have been awarded the Most Beautiful Villages in France label. Embrun Cathedral. Plateau de Bure and Iram astrophysics observatory (Dévoluy). Château Charance estate and park (Gap)

Festivals: Festival Tous Dehors...Enfin de Gap (May), Outdoormix Festival (Embrun), Trad'in Festival (Embrun), Chaillol Music Festival, Messiaen Festival (Haute-Romanche).

Websites: www.hautes-alpes.fr / www.hautes-alpes.net / www.phenomenalpes.com

Km 4.4

 CHÂTEAUROUX-LES-ALPES (POP : 1,210)

One of the highlights of the village of Châteauroux-les-Alpes is the La Pisse waterfall (Ecrins National Park). It is fed by a mountain stream from the Distroit valley. The village's monuments include the church of Saint-Marcellin in the hamlet of Saint-Marcellin, listed as a historical monument (the bell tower is listed) in 1981. Since 1988, eight new grape varieties have been planted in Châteauroux-les-Alpes: jacquère, altesse, marsanne, chardonnay, chasan, muller-thurgau, pinot noir and pinot gris, with the aim of identifying those best suited to the Alpine climate. There are 294 hectares of vines planted with 576 growers. The local wine is available in red, rosé and white, with notes of fresh fruit, reminiscent of the aroma of a fresh harvest.

Km 11.7

SAINT-CLÉMENT-SUR-DURANCE (POP: 340)

Saint-Clément is a village of narrow streets and tiered buildings, stretching along the right bank of the Durance, with its mysterious tower towering high above it. This square tower, also known as the Saracen Tower, has belonged to the Archbishop of Embrun since 1215 and was probably never inhabited, as it has no interior fittings. It is a watchtower with a defensive system featuring archways and the original entrance on the first level, making access more complicated. It was restored in 1970.

Km 21.2

 GUILLESTRE (POP: 2,200)

The town of Guillestre sits on a plateau 1,000 m above sea level above the Gull gorges, just before it joins the Durance. Protected by its mountains, Guillestre has some of the lowest rainfall in France. It is the main entry point to the Queyras valley and a crossing point between Briançon and Embrun.    

Stronghold of Mont-Dauphin

Construction: from 1693.

History: in 1692, the Duke of Savoy took Guillestre, Embrun and Gap. Vauban, sent to reinforce the border, chose the deserted plateau of Les Millaures to build a stronghold. He named the place Mont-Dauphin in honour of the king's son and began work in the spring of 1693. At the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, France relinquished Piedmont to Savoy in exchange for the Ubaye. Briançon became a border town, while Mont-Dauphin was no longer a border town. The town had a thousand soldiers and up to 400 civilians. But it never reached the 2,000 inhabitants that Vauban had hoped for. Having become a rear base, it was used as a warehouse for equipment and a prison camp for the Austrians in 1707 and the English under Napoleon. It imprisoned German officers and welcomed refugees from Serbia during the First World War.

Characteristics: Mont-Dauphin has three bastions protected by half-moons, an arsenal, a powder magazine, two barracks, a pavilion for the governor and another for the officers, and houses for civilians. But the church, which Vauban had planned to be monumental, had no nave. The bastion he had planned on the Guillestre plateau was too costly and never saw the light of day. However, at the end of the 18th century, new defences were added: the Arçon lunette on the Eygliers glacis, and a third barracks, Rochambeau, on the Embrun front. A fourth barracks, built in place of the military hospital in the 20th century, now houses a holiday centre run by the armed forces social services.

Listed as: historical monument since 1966. UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the network of major Vauban sites.

Km 36.8

 VARS (POP: 620)

The town is best known for its ski resort, which together with Risoul forms the Forêt Blanche ski area. The resort is the capital of the kilometre speed skiing event (KL) and Italian Simone Origone set the world ski speed record here at 252.632 km/h in April 2015.

ALPES-DE-HAUTE-PROVENCE (04)

Population: 161,600 (2016)

Prefecture: Digne-les-Bains

Sub-prefectures: Barcelonnette, Castellane, Forcalquier

Surface area: 6,925 km2

Specialities: Lavender honey, lavender, Sisteron lamb, Banon cheese, Génépi from the Ubaye valley, truffles, olive oil, Pierrevert wines, apples from the Alpes de Haute-Durance, Ubaye ravioles, fumeton, Tomme de l'Ubaye and Cachaille.

Sports: rafting, white-water swimming, canyoning, canoeing, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, hiking, horse riding, water sports, climbing, via ferrata, cycle touring, golf, fishing, gliding, hang-gliding, paragliding, speed riding. Alpes de Haute-Provence is France's No. 1 department for mountain biking. Three Grandes Traversées have been awarded the FFC label: the Alpes-Provence, the Transverdon and the Chemins du soleil.

Main tourist attractions: Verdon gorges, Lake Allos, Lake Ste Croix, Mercantour National Park, Luberon and Verdon Regional Nature Parks, Unesco Geopark of Haute Provence, village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, Valensole plateau and its lavender fields, Sisteron citadel, Gorges du Verdon prehistory museum, Salagon museum and its remarkable gardens, Gréoux-les-Bains and Digne-les-Bains thermal baths.

Cultural events: Prehistory Days in Quinson (July), Enfants du Jazz Festival in Barcelonnette (July), Nights at the Citadel in Sisteron (July/August), Été Astro in Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire (July/August), Corsos de la Lavande, Lavender Festival in Valensole (21 July), Latin-Mexican festivals in Barcelonnette in August, Les Correspondances in Manosque in September.

Economy: tourism, agriculture, cosmetics, flavours and fragrances, agri-food, renewable energies, chemicals and pharmaceuticals (manufacture of beauty products, perfumes, etc.), fruit and vegetables, hydroelectricity (the Durance and Verdon dams account for 12% of France's hydroelectric output), wood (forests cover almost half the département), and photovoltaics (1er département in PACA).

Websites and social networks : www.alpes-haute-provence.com www.mondepartement04.frwww.facebook.com/departement04

Km 42.6

 COL DE VARS (2,108 M)

Col de Vars has been ridden 35 times by the Tour de France since 1922, when Philippe Thys was the first to do so. The last time it was tackled was in 2019, with Tim Wellens in the lead. 

Km 58.4

LA CONDAMINE-CHÂTELARD (POP: 15)  

Tournoux Fort

Construction: 1843 to 1865.

History: massive and spectacular, at the heart of the Ubaye valley's strategic system, Tournoux Fort was built to protect against invasions from Italy. Clinging to a rocky hill between the villages of La Condamine-Châtelard and Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye, it dominates the right bank of the Ubaye. Launched in 1843 to secure the outlet of Col de Larche, construction of the Tournoux fort was considered complete in 1865. It comprised Battery B12 (1,330 m), the middle fort (1,550 m) and the upper fort (1,690 m). During the organisation of the Séré de Rivière system, the fort was completed in 1880 by the Caurres battery, which covered it from the summit with new cannons. During the First World War, the fortress was used as a prison for German soldiers. In June 1940, Tournoux Fort housed the command posts of the units defending the Ubaye valley. It had its baptism of fire when it fired 500 cannon shots to stop the Italian troops. Kept in good condition, it was used as an ammunition depot until 1987. In 1991, the Community of Communes of Ubaye acquired the site, seeing its cultural value and wishing to develop it.

Km 63.6

 JAUSIERS (POP: 1,130)

At the foot of France's highest road, the road of Restefond la Bonette (2,802 m), Jausiers hosted the Tour de France in 2008. Cyril Dessel won in town.  A commune in the Mercantour National Park, Jausiers is the cradle of emigration to Mexico by people from the valley: the three Arnaud brothers, the first to leave, came from Jausiers. Before settling in Mexico, they first moved to Louisiana, then a French colony, where Jacques Arnaud founded the town of Arnaudville. As in Barcelonnette, the emigrants who made their fortune in Mexico built superb villas in Jausiers, the most picturesque of which is Château des Magnans, named by its founder in memory of the village's silkworm farms. Its architecture is reminiscent of the palace in Monaco or the Neuschwanstein castle belonging to Ludwig II of Bavaria, and it has been listed as a Historical Monument since 1987. The Jausiers lake is a popular leisure centre, with its beach and play areas.  

Mercantour National Park

With its peaks over 3,000 m high, its many glacial lakes and its six valleys with a very distinctive character, the Mercantour National Park (146,000 ha in 28 communes) is a unique jewel of unspoilt nature. Chamois, ibex and mouflon cohabit the steepest mountain slopes, while red deer, roe deer and wild boar frequent the wooded areas at lower altitudes. The many climatic, geological and geographical influences exerted on a wide variety of environments at altitudes ranging from 100 m to more than 3,000 m give Mercantour a wealth of plant life, with more than 2,000 species out of the 4,200 known in France. Of these, 220 are considered to be very rare and 40 are found nowhere else in the world, such as the many-flowered saxifrage.

 ALPES-MARITIMES (06)

Prefecture: Nice

Sub-prefecture: Grasse

Population: 1,103,941

Surface area: 4,299 km2

Specialities: pissaladière, fougasse, socca, brissaouda, tapenade, salade niçoise, pan bagnat, porchetta niçoise, trulle, ratatouille, daube niçoise, bellet (wine)

Economy: tourism (64,000 jobs), second largest airport in France, perfume industry in Grasse, new technologies in Sophia-Antipolis, space centre in Cannes-Mandelieu.

Sport: OGC Nice, AS Cannes (football). Olympique Antibes (basketball). Olympic Nice Swimming. Paris-Nice cycling, Nice Ironman. Monte Carlo Rally. Nice Open.

Culture and heritage: Cannes Film Festival, Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, Nice Carnival, Mouans-Sartoux Book Festival. Promenade des Anglais in Nice, Croisette in Cannes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Matisse Museum, Maeght Foundation, perfume factory in Grasse, Lérins Islands, Mercantour National Park.  

Website: www.departement06.fr

Km 87.5

CIME DE LA BONETTE

Although it may have been presented as the highest route in Europe, the Cime de la Bonette is in fact surpassed by more than thirty gravel or dirt paths over passes on the continent, as well as by several asphalted roads, including two in the European Union (the others are in Turkey), the Pico del Veleta (3,369 m) in Spain and the Ötztal glacier route in Austria (2,830 m). At 2,802 m, however, it is the highest road ever ridden by a Grand Tour, as the Vuelta has never tackled the Pico del Veleta.  The Bonette has been used by the Tour on five occasions since 1962, with Federico Bahamontes (1962 and 1964) and Robert Millar (1993) leading the way. In 2008, shortly before Cyril Dessel's victory in Jausiers, it was John-Lee Augustyn who was the first to reach the summit.   

Km 112.5

SAINT-ETIENNE-DE-TINÉE (POP: 1,340)

The village belonged to the States of Savoy and then to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (as did the whole of the County of Nice) before it became part of France in 1860. Because of the difficulty of accessing neighbouring valleys and the coastline, people lived in isolation. In 1388, Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée came under Savoyard rule. Its remote location spared it from the Saracen invasions, the proximity of Genoa and the fiscal pressure exerted by the Counts of Provence. From 1815 to 1860, the "Sardinian Restoration" brought no improvements to this remote commune. This economic retreat gave rise to pro-French sentiment, which led to the County of Nice becoming part of France on 14 June 1860. From 1860 to the present day, the Commune has gradually emerged from its isolation thanks to improved communications (roads and railways), which have significantly reduced journey times. The Auron ski resort, where the queen stage of Paris-Nice was due to finish in 2024 before being moved to La Madone d'Utelle for climatic reasons, is located in the municipality.  

Saint-Étienne Church

Built: 1492 then 1785-1789.

Style: Gothic, Lombard Romanesque and Baroque.

History: the choir is in 14th-century Gothic style, the remains of the previous church. The Lombard Romanesque bell tower bears the date 1492. The octagonal spire was rebuilt in 1669. In 1594, during the confrontation between Henry IV and the Duke of Savoy, Lesdiguières' troops took refuge in the church. Baron de Bueil set fire to the church. The Bishop of Nice, Valperga de Maglione, made a pastoral visit in 1783. Moved by the deplorable state of the church, he ordered the villagers to demolish the existing church and rebuild it. The plans for the new church were drawn up by a Swiss architect, Antoine Spinelli, who travelled to Saint-Étienne on 29 June 1784. The work had barely been completed when French troops entered the County of Nice. The church was consecrated on 4 December 1789.

Special features: the church houses a museum of religious art.

Listed as: historical monument since 1908.

Embrun

Embrun es una pequeña joya que domina el valle del río Durance desde lo alto de un cerro. Se la conoce como la Niza de los Alpes gracias a su microclima templado.  
En esta ciudad de origen medieval abundan las obras arquitectónicas, en particular la catedral de Notre-Dame du Réal, obra maestra del gótico, y la Tour Brune. 

Desde su ubicación en el corazón de los Alpes, Embrun ofrece un entorno natural tan impresionante como sus edificios. Es la puerta de entrada al Parque Nacional de los Écrins, y sus paisajes  son especialmente aptos para el senderismo y el alpinismo. A las afueras de la ciudad se encuentra el lago de Embrun, donde se puede nadar y navegar en los meses de verano.  

Seguir leyendo lastminute.com

Isola 2000

Fundada a principios de los años 70, la estación de Isola 2000 lleva más de 50 años ofreciendo condiciones excepcionales para el esquí. Gracias a su elevada altitud, que oscila entre los 2.000 y los 2.600 metros, Isola 2000 ofrece a los esquiadores una amplia gama de pistas para elegir, además de unas vistas increíbles y mucho sol.  

Fuera de la temporada de esquí, la estación también tiene muchos atractivos. Como puerta de entrada al Parque Nacional del Mercantour, su entorno está repleto de vistas impresionantes. En verano, la estación permite practicar numerosas actividades y disfrutar de un clima revitalizante con el aire fresco de la montaña y el cálido sol de la Costa Azul.   

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