Between Riviera and wonders
In this maritime part of the Alps, the Maralpins are proud of their Côte d'Azur,
After experiencing the splendours of the Belle Époque on the Baie des Anges in Nice,
Cannes and its croisette, festooned with palm trees, attracts celebrities to the enigmatic figures,
While Menton, the "pearl of the coast", embalms the city of lemon by its festival of delights.
Far from the colorful and boisterous crowd of the crested beach-side,
Let us take the height to contemplate the blue between sky and sea,
In balconies above the Riviera, small villages with steep alleys,
Crushed by the sun, clinging boldly to the abrupt and proud relief.
Above the bay of Villefranche sur Mer, the eagle's nest of Eze,
The feet in the Mediterranean, head in the sky and mountains for crown,
Planted on its rocky spur, the village stands on three levels in cliffs,
Ravaged by the Saracens, the village had its ramparts with its old Baronian gates.
La Poterne, a double fortified gate, marks the entrance to the medieval city,
Where the steep slopes lead to the ruins of the castle on the heights of the village,
Here suspended under the azure sky, the exotic garden offers a phenomenal panorama,
On summer evenings, the Astorama of the Great Corniche opens the Starry Cosmos without guards.
Behind the magnificent coast, perched between earth and sky, Peillon fascinates,
In the shelter of incursions, the meanders of the alleys unveil "the civilization of the rock"
Sentinel of the South, this village of adret is sheltered from the Mistral of the summits,
Bathed in the smell of pine trees, broom hanging valleys and hills harnessed.
Perched in the middle of olive trees and fields of flowers, Vence the ancestral,
With its chapel of the Rosary decorated by Matisse, its fountain and its tower,
Very close to St Paul, like a large almond laid at the top of a hill,
A haven for painters honored at the Colombe d 'Or hostel forever.
At the entrance of the Gorges du Loup, Gourdon on its rocky promontory, gives vertigo
The most daring will ascend to the village by the mule track of Paradise,
Formerly this site hung on the edge of a vertiginous cliff served as a watch for the prodigies,
This village enchanted by its charming plots in the narrow streets stiffened.
The austere castle with round towers reveals its roofs of pink tiles shaded with beige,
Its garden in terraces installed on the edge of the emptiness, conceals of tricentenary box trees,
In this breathtaking site, paragliders are evolving over the precipice as strategists,
Flying in the azure on the slopes of the plateau of Caussols and the Gorges du Loup millenaires.
Between Provence and Préalpes, Puget-Théniers medieval village in the middle of the restanques of olive-trees,
Starting point for hiking along the Roudoule to meet Notre Dame,
Continuing through the laces of the ravines of Mariola and Adoas overhanging the paths,
To enjoy the return of the cool stopover around the fountain under the shade of plane trees.
At the outlet of the Gorges de la Roudoule we make the wild nature tormented,
In a heap of rocks and lofty walls which enclose it,
Without fright, millennial erosion continues to fascinate through the fossilized limestones,
In the land of rosemary with a powerful perfume embalming garrigue and heather.
In the Gorges du Cian, a multicolored canyon carved out of red rusty shale,
Crowned with beeches and conifers, the gorges offer a succession of fabulous landscapes,
The spectacular cuts of the two Clues presenting vertiginous peaks,
While offering plunging views of the fiery torrent leaping over the rocky sills.
Commanding access to Italy in the valley of the Roya, Tende to the houses of schists,
Lay the steeple of the collegiate church of Ste Marie above the roofs of lauzes,
At the foot of Mount Bego, hikers will discover the Valley of Wonders with 100 tracks,
Where on rocky rocks thousands of rock carvings recall the Age of Bronze.
L’ARIÉ….JOIE