We have a bit of a tradition, me and Mathilde, of organizing “surprise birthday weekends” for one another (last year Mathilde took me to the lovely isle of Porquerolles, whereas I took Mathilde to the Cevennes). I had a few options for where Mathilde might be taking me this time around spinning in my head (perhaps skiing in Limone, a weekend in Turin, or perhaps a couple of days in Lisbon?). However, she completely took me by surprise this time... Turns out we were heading to a rather unknown part of the Alps known as the Queyras.
We headed out Friday evening, making our way towards Gap, which is not far from the Queyras (it was quite a drive, so we decided to stop at Gap). We had a very romantic start to the weekend with take-away dinner at McDonald’s (we were too nackered to bother with a restaurant), and watching Alice in Wonderland in bed.
The next day, we hit the road early, driving up the Durance valley towards the Queyras valley. Like I said, the Queyras is not a very famous part of the Alps (I’d never heard about it), quite unjustly so – the landscapes here are absolutely magnificent (and we’re not talking foothills either – the highest peak in the Queyras reaches up to a height of 3385 meters). But perhaps that’s a good thing – the place is relatively untouched by tourism. Our scenic drive took us past the rather stunningly located Chateau-Queyras. As the name hints, the village is dominated by a castle, overlooking the valley. It seemed very much like a castle that I would like – unfortunately it was closed though.
We continued our drive along narrow mountain rounds, making our way to our destination – Saint Veran. Yes, Saint-Véran, that would be where we live in Cagnes-sur-Mer as well, funny that. There is another peculiarity with Saint-Véran – it is the highest altitude village/commune in Europe, apparently (although a quick peek on Wikipedia suggests that it’s the highest commune in France – not Europe). Altitude-related controversy aside, I think Mathilde made pretty much the perfect choice for a surprise weekend – the village is a real gem of a place. The architecture is very harmonious and traditional, and unlike other places in the Alps, it’s not overrun by tourists (sure, Saint-Véran has its fair share as well, but they do not overwhelm the place). The views from the village over the valley are rather stunning as well...
After checking into our lovely hotel (a most charming big log chalet, where we had a rather roomy and a very cozy little apartment for the weekend), and a short exploratory walk around the village, we decided to hike some raquettes for the afternoon. There are ski slopes as well, but we decided to explore those the next day. After a very good lunch in one of the local eateries (the place reminded us a bit of the Yeneka guesthouse where we stayed in Mexico – with its walls covered in Alpine gadgets and memorabilia), we set out for our hike. Unfortunately the tourist office was closed for lunch, so we had to set out without a map, with the vague instructions about where the walk started. We found the start of the hike, and made our way along the ski tracks. Quite soon, we lost sight of any tracks, and decided to follow the ski piste, since we didn’t have any better ideas. Bad idea – we were basically walking the opposite way up a red ski slope – so rather hard walk! We carried on for a bit, until we decided that we were on the wrong tracks...
And then came to the realization that walking down a steep downhill slope is actually a REAL pain with raquettes. Oh well, at least it was very good exercise. And there’s no denying the landscapes are absolutely magnificent.
After a VERY well deserved vin chaud in one of the bars in town, we decided to do a bit more hiking, down to the Bois des Amoureux. Very promising name – but the walk itself was a wee bit disappointing. The walk followed the ski tracks again, so it wasn’t really anything to write home about. But anyway, we were very happy, if tired, after a rather active day. Our energy levels were rather low though, and decided to have dinner at the hotel. Excellent choice – the food was tops (apart from the dessert, which was a bit of a disappointment. We crashed out pretty much straight away after dinner, tired but happy ;)
The next morning, ‘twas ski time. Saint-Véran is quite a small ski station, but perfectly adequate since we had just one day to explore the slopes. And actually, there is one big bonus, compared to other ski stations in the Alps. Namely, they are not overrun by people. Very rarely have I shared such magnificent slopes with so few people. Like I said, there aren’t that many runs, but the height difference from the top (~2800 meters) to Saint-Veran is still pretty significant (800 meters), and even more significant down to nearby Molines en Queyras. And conditions were pretty much perfect as well, with the sun shining and blue skies, making our day of skiing pretty much perfect.
We finished our superb day with another dinner at the hotel restaurant. This time we decided to go for a real Alpine speciality – Raclette. The idea of raclette (as the name implies – it’s derived from the French word for scrape) is to mount a large chunk of cheese onto a special device, which melts the cheese. The idea is then to scrape off the molten cheese onto a plate of other delicacies (charcuterie, potatoes, salad, that sort of thing). It’s a real culinary experience anybody going to the French Alps should try out. We had a great time – and were quite full after the experience as well. Nice wine, too :) By the time we finished dinner, we were once more completely nackered, and happy to find our beds…
The next day, it was unfortunately time to leave lovely Saint-Véran and our equally lovely hotel, after two pretty much perfect days. Our original plan had been to drive back the direct route, though the Mercantour, down to Cagnes, but that turned out to be impossible – some parts of the roads are still closed due to the amount of snow.
So we basically drove back the way we came. We did make a couple of stops on the way though. The first one was at Guillestre, where the biggest market of the Queyras was talking place (big it may be, but our Cagnes one is bigger I reckon, we did buy some local apples though). We also made a short stop at Gap (it is, after all, one of the main towns in the region), which was nothing to write home about either (the old town was pleasant, but not particularly old). We finally stopped at Sisteron for lunch. Sisteron, with its famous citadel, is a place we’ve wanted to visit for a while, and this was an ample opportunity to do just that. After a very nice stroll through the old town (which is much more “Provencal” than “Alpine” – kind of normal since we were now in the Alpes des Haute Provence department), we stopped for a pleasant lunch at almost the first open eatery we could find (our hunger was seriously starting to get to us). Glass of rose, some lamb meat, sunshine, nice views over the old town, not much else one could ask for, eh? Our appetites sated, we drove up to the citadel. Much to our disappointment, it was closed to visitors. Still, the views over the town were well worth the short drive up there.
That brought an end to a rather fantastic surprise birthday weekend. Merci, cherie :)
We headed out Friday evening, making our way towards Gap, which is not far from the Queyras (it was quite a drive, so we decided to stop at Gap). We had a very romantic start to the weekend with take-away dinner at McDonald’s (we were too nackered to bother with a restaurant), and watching Alice in Wonderland in bed. The next day, we hit the road early, driving up the Durance valley towards the Queyras valley. Like I said, the Queyras is not a very famous part of the Alps (I’d never heard about it), quite unjustly so – the landscapes here are absolutely magnificent (and we’re not talking foothills either – the highest peak in the Queyras reaches up to a height of 3385 meters). But perhaps that’s a good thing – the place is relatively untouched by tourism. Our scenic drive took us past the rather stunningly located Chateau-Queyras. As the name hints, the village is dominated by a castle, overlooking the valley. It seemed very much like a castle that I would like – unfortunately it was closed though.
We continued our drive along narrow mountain rounds, making our way to our destination – Saint Veran. Yes, Saint-Véran, that would be where we live in Cagnes-sur-Mer as well, funny that. There is another peculiarity with Saint-Véran – it is the highest altitude village/commune in Europe, apparently (although a quick peek on Wikipedia suggests that it’s the highest commune in France – not Europe). Altitude-related controversy aside, I think Mathilde made pretty much the perfect choice for a surprise weekend – the village is a real gem of a place. The architecture is very harmonious and traditional, and unlike other places in the Alps, it’s not overrun by tourists (sure, Saint-Véran has its fair share as well, but they do not overwhelm the place). The views from the village over the valley are rather stunning as well...
After checking into our lovely hotel (a most charming big log chalet, where we had a rather roomy and a very cozy little apartment for the weekend), and a short exploratory walk around the village, we decided to hike some raquettes for the afternoon. There are ski slopes as well, but we decided to explore those the next day. After a very good lunch in one of the local eateries (the place reminded us a bit of the Yeneka guesthouse where we stayed in Mexico – with its walls covered in Alpine gadgets and memorabilia), we set out for our hike. Unfortunately the tourist office was closed for lunch, so we had to set out without a map, with the vague instructions about where the walk started. We found the start of the hike, and made our way along the ski tracks. Quite soon, we lost sight of any tracks, and decided to follow the ski piste, since we didn’t have any better ideas. Bad idea – we were basically walking the opposite way up a red ski slope – so rather hard walk! We carried on for a bit, until we decided that we were on the wrong tracks... 
And then came to the realization that walking down a steep downhill slope is actually a REAL pain with raquettes. Oh well, at least it was very good exercise. And there’s no denying the landscapes are absolutely magnificent.After a VERY well deserved vin chaud in one of the bars in town, we decided to do a bit more hiking, down to the Bois des Amoureux. Very promising name – but the walk itself was a wee bit disappointing. The walk followed the ski tracks again, so it wasn’t really anything to write home about. But anyway, we were very happy, if tired, after a rather active day. Our energy levels were rather low though, and decided to have dinner at the hotel. Excellent choice – the food was tops (apart from the dessert, which was a bit of a disappointment. We crashed out pretty much straight away after dinner, tired but happy ;)
The next morning, ‘twas ski time. Saint-Véran is quite a small ski station, but perfectly adequate since we had just one day to explore the slopes. And actually, there is one big bonus, compared to other ski stations in the Alps. Namely, they are not overrun by people. Very rarely have I shared such magnificent slopes with so few people. Like I said, there aren’t that many runs, but the height difference from the top (~2800 meters) to Saint-Veran is still pretty significant (800 meters), and even more significant down to nearby Molines en Queyras. And conditions were pretty much perfect as well, with the sun shining and blue skies, making our day of skiing pretty much perfect.
We finished our superb day with another dinner at the hotel restaurant. This time we decided to go for a real Alpine speciality – Raclette. The idea of raclette (as the name implies – it’s derived from the French word for scrape) is to mount a large chunk of cheese onto a special device, which melts the cheese. The idea is then to scrape off the molten cheese onto a plate of other delicacies (charcuterie, potatoes, salad, that sort of thing). It’s a real culinary experience anybody going to the French Alps should try out. We had a great time – and were quite full after the experience as well. Nice wine, too :) By the time we finished dinner, we were once more completely nackered, and happy to find our beds…The next day, it was unfortunately time to leave lovely Saint-Véran and our equally lovely hotel, after two pretty much perfect days. Our original plan had been to drive back the direct route, though the Mercantour, down to Cagnes, but that turned out to be impossible – some parts of the roads are still closed due to the amount of snow.
So we basically drove back the way we came. We did make a couple of stops on the way though. The first one was at Guillestre, where the biggest market of the Queyras was talking place (big it may be, but our Cagnes one is bigger I reckon, we did buy some local apples though). We also made a short stop at Gap (it is, after all, one of the main towns in the region), which was nothing to write home about either (the old town was pleasant, but not particularly old). We finally stopped at Sisteron for lunch. Sisteron, with its famous citadel, is a place we’ve wanted to visit for a while, and this was an ample opportunity to do just that. After a very nice stroll through the old town (which is much more “Provencal” than “Alpine” – kind of normal since we were now in the Alpes des Haute Provence department), we stopped for a pleasant lunch at almost the first open eatery we could find (our hunger was seriously starting to get to us). Glass of rose, some lamb meat, sunshine, nice views over the old town, not much else one could ask for, eh? Our appetites sated, we drove up to the citadel. Much to our disappointment, it was closed to visitors. Still, the views over the town were well worth the short drive up there.That brought an end to a rather fantastic surprise birthday weekend. Merci, cherie :)
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