THROUGH OLD PROVENCE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3134, 11 September 1922, Page 7

THROUGH OLD PROVENCE.

(Daily Telegraph Correspondent.)

It Marseilles is the gateway to the East, jNice—quite apart lrom Us other manifold attractions—lias become the sunlit stepping-stone trom the Mediterranean to tlie wonderful hinterland of the Alpes Maritimes and the liasses Alpes, and, beyond, to Dauphiny and Savoy, and all that that connotes in grandeur of scenery. To the tourist the first impression is everything, both at the moment and for tlie mental pocketbook which every traveller should carry with him in the years to come. Happy, indeed, are they who first see the bagniiicent panorama of the French Alps, and, notably, the Mont Blanc range, the crowning glory of the "Route des Alpes," after journeying through country as varied as one can well imagine. Most people have first glimpsed the eternal snows with vivid suddenness after a long, and very likely tiring, night journey, thereby losing the pleasure of seeing in sunshine tlie Alps riso gradually, amidst splendid scenery, from their lower' slopes. Nowadays .thanks to the enterprise cf the Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean Railway, the British tourist can approach'the French Alps by road, from the Riviera, entirely by daylight. It was in 1914 that the "P.L.M.". inaugurated the fine motor-car services, which it has since steadily developed. No one can travel over this route, in comfortable cars guided by skilled drivers, without feeling that M. Margot, the general manager of thc.P.L.M. was fully justified in proceeding enthusiastically with what was at the time considered a highly venturesome project. Including the tour farther north, to the cool valleys and fir-clad hills of the Jura, which is a continuation of the Route des Alpes, there are nine stages from Nice to the Ballon d'Alsace The cars will run dailv until the middle of September. Th'e Route des Alpes which reaches a height of nearly 9000 ft at one point, the Col du Gabbier—the highest piece of carriage road in Europe except the Stelvic pass, in Tyrol—mav be varied here and there, but the ordinary route is: Nine, Barcelonnette, Briancon, Grenoble, the Grande Chartreuse Chambery, Aix-lcs-Bains Anneev, ' Chamonix, Ehanon-les - Bams, Evi'an -les-Bains, covering a distance ot about 475 miles. , Such is the bare skeleton outline ot the tour, which can, if desired, be made in a week. But it may be broken at various points, for any time desired, and from two to three weeks may well be spent in exploring interesting localities The thoughtful traveller has an opportunity of seeing and understanding the real peaceful France ot the country and mountain side. Generous appreciation of the leading part which British tourists have played in the development of French Alpine resorts is freely expressed. This friendly feeling, the 'labors of such men as M. Leon Auscher, of the Touring Club ot France, and the patriotism, both national and local, of many Frenchmen who have developed the valuable syndfeats d'initiative" in the districts through winch the route passes, show how successfully "tourism©" and the Entente '-an be developed at one and the same tn..«. On the heights of the Col due Lautaret, in Dauphiny, near the interesting botanical garden, a rough cairn of stones has been erected by members of the French Antarctic expedition of 1903-5 and 1908-10 to Captain Scott, who, two years before bis last voyage ,in which, it is recorded he "died bravely with his companions for his country and for science, staved here, in March. 1908, experimenting with sledges in the company of Charcot.

In consequence of snow in the higher regions the complete Route des Aloes is not open until towards the end of June, and some English people may hesitate, in the height of summer, to journev to the Riviera in order to make the tour from its starting point at Nice. To such it is always open to reverse the order, and to make what is in manv ways as delightful a trip from the shores of the Lake of Geneva as far south as inclination dictates. Hut they will miss much which would amply compensate them for a possibly hot journev spent in the train from Paris. Apart from this, although some people fondly imagine that the Riviera tasks in almost continuous sunshine: in winter and swelters in sorching heat throughout the summer, Nice—to many travellers the most delightful of all resorts from San Remo to Saint Raphael—can be cool enough for any but the most exacting, even at the end of June, as a recent visit proved. Manv, even at this season, may well bei prompted to prolong their stay for a few days, and saunter along the spacious, shady boulevards or enjoy the view, extending from Cap d'Antibes to Cap Ferrat, from the ruins of the chateau, high above the old town—perhaps the finest panorama along the whole littoral, They will the better enjov the contrast between the wide sweep of the Mediterranean, changing from cobalt to greenish-grey, the oleanders, botiganvillaca. palms, cypresses, and. here and there, flowering aloes, and the wild gorges and mountains, with their wealth of Alpine flowers, which are to come. Rut the earlier the trij) is made the greater, of course, is the profusion of the latter. Provene, Dauphiny, fijfavoy! The very names conjure up visions of the turreted feudal castles of old France. perched on craggy rocks, of pine-clad mountain sides and swirling torrents, of smiling va'lleye and place names which are in themselves sheer poetry. For once the imagination is not disavow; ted. The wonderful Valley of the Y\u\ which! debouches into the. .Mediterranean slightly to the west of Nice, has, until recent years remained practically a terra incognita to the towrist. \s IvkcAy to Vive, kwiftev in the memory than this first stage, when, aitev, perhaps, bathing in the early morning in the limpid waters of the 'Mediterranean,, one sleeps at night in the coolness of the mountain air of Rareelonette, nearly 4.000 feet above sea. level: Infinite variety marks tins day's journey, and whilst the car negotiates "hair-pin" turnings winch might well alarm the nervous, were it not for confidence in the expert driver, one sees the landscape change from scene's which arc strongly reminiscent of the luxuriant valleys that lead down to the Italian lakes to those in which rocks and crags, awesome in their stark lack of vegetation, are massed in austere outline. The rapid change of vogetaiion from that of the Riviera, is, indeed, fascinating, and the effect is. of course, enhanced by the speed of the car. The cactus and aloe and, occasionallv. eucalyptus of early morning give place to lavender, growing in wild fragrance in the rather higher altitude*. These are Kueoeeded by wild rase*. laburnum, and violas. In one spot the vivid red of poppies contrasts with lavender— one of the few instances where man has evidently played the gardener in this ever-changing valley of delight. Finally, firs take the place of the terraces of sturdy olives' which are so characteristic of the hinterland of the Riviera, and gentian and other Alpine flowers and plants point the way to distant heights. The gorges of the Mescla and the Yar are sp'lendid. with mediaeval Touet de Reuil perched' like an eagle's l nest above a precipice, but the spectacle of the

gorges of Daluis leaves one almost (speechless. They seem to mark the end of a world. The vista which opens up through the great cleft in the mountain—the intense blue of the- sky and the greenish-grey waters of the Var rushing in a tiny rivulet in the abyss at one's feet —makes a. never-to-be-for-gotten picture. Then, after nearly two miles, the color changes, the valley opens out once more, and one swings on to Guillaumes, with its ruins of the keep of the eleventh century castle built by Guillaume 11.. Count of Provence, who gave the little place his name. This is one of several quaint little townships and villages, roofed with mellow old brown tiles, which one passes. Most fascinating of these Is Entrevaux, with its old fortress and wonderfully preserved bastions and drawbridge. Protected 1 on three sides by the waters of the Var, the fortress and the little township which nestles at its foot, encircled by walls and ar-row-slits and connected with the outer world only by an old stone bridge, must have been well-nigh impregnable. During the Great War refractory German prisoners were confined in the fortress. As- elsewhere in this frontier country, the little winding streets show a distinctly Italian influence. The car follows the Var to its very flower-fringed source, at the point which marks the ascent of the Cayolle pass, where the road reaches a height of nearly 8,000 feet. Here we reach she junction of the Alpes Maritimes and the Basses Basses Alpes. The day ends peacefully with the descent through the rich valley of Bachelard to Barcelonnette, a charming fifteenth-century town on the northern confines of Provence.