Entre Les Murs

Southern Alps Weekend

On Friday we flew to Nice and picked up a rental car.  Before hitting the highway we had lunch in the old town.  The last time I was here was at least fifteen years ago, and while I don't remember it being quite so touristy, I was less jaded and in any case rather more focused on the scene on the beach.

We drove out of town along the coast, heading North once we reached Monaco.  Unfortunately it was rush hour by this time, so escaping from the seaside took some time; but once we were away from the coastal towns the route took us by narrow switchbacks between gorgeous and increasingly steep cliffs.  Our destination was Saint Martin Vésubie, and we had a good map and directions from a mapping web site (mappy, like mapquest) to our hotel; however, the web site's driving directions failed to take into consideration the fact that some of the streets in the core of the medieval town were in fact impassable to a modern vehicle.  We had to improvise to reach the hotel (Hôtel Le Gélas) but as it turned out it was only a short walk from the highway.


The purpose of the trip was to recharge city-drained batteries with a little bit of the outdoors and to dip Janet's toes into an Alpine environment.  Before we set off on our first hike on Saturday morning, we purchased lunch from the little shops in the town.  A cheese stall set up on the main street had only one kind of cheese, but it was presumably made by the jolly woman who was selling it, so we bought some.  A baguette from a baker, some sliced meat from the butcher, a bottle of rosé - this was no Eiger expedition - and we were off.

The trail was well-made, if steep and rocky at times.  We gained a fair bit of altitude quickly, and emerged from the trees in meadows that gave way to scree and talus.  It felt splendidly isolated and we watched with binoculars the chamois grazing on the sides of the little valley.  There were other people on the trail, but not so many that it felt crowded.  We started to descend around 2 p.m. and encountered people still on their way up.

The next day was grey but we repeated our lunch preparations and headed off to find our trailhead at Madonne de Fenestre, which proved to be a small cluster of stone buildings including a hotel and an old church.  This hike was similar in difficulty to the previous day's, although the terrain became more gentle once we'd reached the meadows.  Ancient stone buildings, craggy peaks, a herd of cows with cowbells... if the sun had come out I would have burst into "Doe, a Deer".  As it was, we had a light rain on and off.  No chamois this time, but we did see a family of marmots.

We spent that evening in a well-located fleabag in downtown Nice (the Hotel Felix; not horrible, but not recommended).  Our flight left early the following morning (or was supposed to - it was actually delayed a couple of hours), so we wanted to be close to the airport.  We cleaned up and explored a bit, looking for dinner.  The Italian influence on the food is obvious here, with antipasti on every menu, and we made up for the weekend's exercise with a bit of a feast.

Janet has a few sore muscles, but we're both proud of what we accomplished.  I think there will be a return trip.

posted 26.9.06