The high country of the Alpes-Maritimes
The high country of the Alpes-Maritimes, close to the border with Piedmont Ridge Italian place received its valleys and its many peaks between 1500 and 3000 m, peaking sometimes beyond, Mount Ténibre (3031 m) Mont Clapier (3045 m) via the local giant, with the Gélas 3143 m.
This is undoubtedly one of the great alpine destinations that the French State has anyway classified "National Park" in 1979 by taking the name of the former national game reserve established in 1946, the Mercantour.
A space endearing love that go over the north-south oriented valleys, watered by rivers with pure water in many places that hold an oasis of green even in the heat of summer.
The eternal snowfields of the high valleys, wildlife of exceptional density complement the wealth of flora known, often endemic.
Then, starting from traditional villages such as ski resorts in summer coat, how many races morning on the edges, how many more peaceful walks on the collar or around lakes await the visitor!
It found in the high country of the Alpes-Maritimes traces of ancient occupation of the mountain to alpine huts enclosed by stone, mule tracks to huge pastures through the many "gaps" (outlying hamlets ), we verify how our valleys bear witness to an agro-pastoral economy that once invested all the mountain areas during the warm season.
Castles and fortresses, relics of speakers, medieval ruins, cobblestone streets, chapels and churches bring their classified historical note, showing that the environment for centuries the economic and cultural life of the extreme south of the Alps had great intensity .
Today, converted into eco-tourism, housing them in hostels or communal cottages, villages of the middle countries organize their future around their natural wealth that comes optimize a revival of agriculture and livestock: Vacationers will enjoy the blazing summers where you can taste the flavors of the Mediterranean climate, but it will not be neglecting the spring with its soft green and outbreaks of primroses or Soldanelles or fall and red hues orange-that invade the wooded slopes of deciduous trees.
For visitors, walking the discovery of those pretty villages witnesses of past ages and landscaped their campaigns can forget for a moment the stresses of urban civilization and its way to relive the epic mountain written during the second millennium.
... and 100 faces
Feeder once and even generosity despite often hostile terrain and a harsh land, the average country in the Alpes-Maritimes provides hikers with a humanized nature coexist where the various facets of an agro-pastoral economy for centuries.
So often the forest reasserts itself in recent decades and inexorably invades bold terraces (terraces of culture), we can admire here and there fortified proud of plateaus or small barns with thatched roofs valleys ignored, Bories stone or casouns typical sheltered shepherds and farmers according to their seasonal migrations.
Here a source of tufa, is a resurgent rushing torrent cascading through gorges carved over millennia or irrigation canals crossing spurs inventive, walls or precipices: all signs of the omnipresence of water .. .
Plowing fields, hayfields, orchards, production forests, reforestation patients, as many impressions of attentive care of the working generations.
And then of course the scents mixed with Mediterranean flora, this tasty cocktail of lavender, thyme, rosemary, broom which perfume turns slopes warmed by a blazing sun.
Precisely, the sun is in these places sheltered by steep terrain where interlocking ridges and valleys, plains and ridges, an ideal territory to conquer, like winter, his omnipotence: if adrets sometimes pay a heavy price fires, it will still taste this rare amenity in the climate that characterizes the country through the Alpes-Maritimes.
We can say that without attaining the splendor of the glacial landscapes of very high mass, the Mercantour has a major advantage thanks to the extreme diversity of its landscapes that place their multifaceted over the valley: large expanses of high-Var, red pelites Cians, senior Tinée lakes, lofty peaks of the Vésubie Bévéra forests and also "wonder" of the Roya, few regions can offer such a cocktail at a short distance away.
Guide to the High Country RandoPédestre spent trying to present a selection of courses within these sites to better understand the incredible diversity, but it is up to each course to invent new routes crisscrossing valleys, cols and ridges.
100 villages in the country ...
Villages and hamlets midlands, we note first of all aesthetics and the harmony of architecture, pastel colors rendered in a rural environment, roof tiles or slates round dotting a green landscape to balanced lines .
Besides hiking, as long as you avoid the most dangerous summer heat waves, it will practice with the seasons, almost throughout the year.
If some winters snowy peaks suddenly enveloped in a white shroud, a sudden rise in temperature or rain will quickly sneak to give the landscape its usual appearance.
One valley to another, for their roads crisscross pleats and folds without weakness, or circumventing the peaks span the canyon, linking them hamlets and villages whose inhabitants keep traditions passed down over centuries: the local gastronomy simple and tasty, especially the variety enriches the soil engaging.
So a few kilometers from the coast, an inexhaustible reservoir of mountain walks provide visitors come to Cannes, Nice or Menton a complete change from the Siagne west of the department until the Roya east, passing by Wolf, Estéron, Var, Tinée, Vésubie, Bévéra and Spangle.
The selection of itineraries in this guide, for it is incomplete and empirical, has tried to trace the better the diversity of backgrounds of these valleys with warm accent called the midlands of the Alpes-Maritimes .
Côte d'Azur, east of Nice
Between Nice and Menton, the synthesis of the Alpine scenery and ending steep shores of the Mediterranean fully justifies the name of Alpes-Maritimes: one peak often above 1000 m, looking embracing both the distant peaks Mercantour the beaches of the Riviera Menton, the villages of the former county of Nice or Monaco buildings.
Walking the headlands or launched an assault ledges and limestone bastions, trails crisscrossing the country of Nice or Menton seduce lovers of walking and discovery throughout the year thanks to a mild climate and prime landscapes.
These regions sheltered from northerly winds by a bold relief in fact benefit from enviable conditions that allowed the growth of exotic flora endemic to gigantism or sometimes excessive, as evidenced by the beautiful parks and gardens which are adorned villas master .
Levens in Peille through or Coaraze Tales, vast olive groves of the county cover the hills of Nice silvery tree feeder while further east, towards Eze, Roquebrune and Menton, the terraces planted with trees or valuable citrus colored hanging from balconies of vertigo over the waves.
Clinging to the cliffs or perched on hills, villages with cobbled alleyways étagent their tall houses that feel a serenity achieved at the cost of centuries of history, inviting hikers to a welcome stop.
Côte d'Azur, Nice West
To the west of the Var, Cote d'Azur gradually dons a cloak and green if the cities of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Antibes, Cannes and Grasse are growing urban Therefore, we can measure the extent of natural areas by climbing the "baous" Vence limestone country, the "puys" from Grasse or the hills of the Esterel.
To be rare, walking along the shore dépaysent completely and we will be surprised to discover a wild coastline with jagged rocks on the side of Cap d'Antibes, the Lerins Islands or the tip of the needle away marinas, beaches or marinas.
As soon as one moves away from the coast, a dominant Scots investing landscape, alternating oak and pine forests, olive groves and natural parks with the foothills of Mandelieu-la-Napoule or Théoule-sur-Mer a fireworks mimosaies to bright yellow in the warm sun of the Mediterranean winter.
Earlier, pre-alpine vistas surrounding the deep penetration of the Wolf, close to or even exceed 1000 m above sea level: they can admire a panorama of extraordinary breadth and remarkable pictorial balance which are based on green and blue, separated only by the thin white line of the coastal megalopolis.
Medieval villages, proud of their architectural heritage, open their ramparts the visitor, aligning craft shops, workshops, sculpture and pottery, art galleries or tables will be refined and good pacing their streets at random from a trip around Vallauris, Biot, Valbonne, Auribeau sur Siagne, Gourdon, Tourrettes, Saint Paul and Saint-Jeannet.
