Barcelonnette (Ubaye Valley)

Drive:  (approx. 6 hours driving round trip from Nice) ( Circuit #5 in the green Michelin Alpes du Sud)

(September 12, 13 2007)  We had heard about the town of Barcelonnette in the context of its history with Mexico.  At the beginning of the 19th century, two brothers left the family textile mill and headed to Louisiana and then to Mexico, where they opened a fabric store.

The emigres prospered and more French came from the Ubaye region until they had more than 100 fabric stores in Mexico.WWI saw many of the emigres return to fight for France, and most returned to their native soil by the 1950’s and built sumptuous villas in Barcelonnette and Jausiers.

Le Refuge de Longon – Parc Mercantour

On June 22, 2007, six of us left Beuil (1,442 m) in Bruno’s van and drove over the winding Col de la Couillole (1,678 m) to the tiny old perched village of Roubion. We went through its very narrow streets and through a hole in the rock behind it which led to a one lane unpaved hillside road through woods.

L’Escapade – Beuil

On June 21, 2007, Linda and I spent the night at L’Escapade, one of the two inns in Beuil, a very old perched village an hour drive north of Nice. Beuil, at 1,500 meters, now lives on skiing in the winter and hiking and biking in the summer. Niçois have weekend houses in and around the town.

Drive: Seborga-Perinaldo-Cervo

(February 2, 2007) Our ultimate destination was Cervo (see restaurant posting for Ristorante San Giorgio), but the journey was planned to be circuitous taking advantage of what we hoped would be fields of mimosa in bloom. Because it was a Friday, we chose to exit after Ventimiglia, at Bordighera, and then take the road to Seborga, that 10th century village in Italy that has both a mayor and a “prince.”

Apricale da Delio (and a sidetrip before)

(September 27, 2006)   Lunch was our main reason for this outing, but we wanted to stop at Cactus Mania in Ventimiglia en route.  What an eye-opener.  Their supply of succulents and cacti is overwhelming.  One large greenhouse is full of nothing but little guys (1€60), many of which are very unusual.

Auberge du Soleil/Coaraze

04 93 79 08 11

It’s only 25 kilometers from Nice but when you get to Coaraze, at an alitutde of 640 meters, you could be in another world. Since getting there is half the fun for us, we took the scenic route, stopping in Falicon to walk around this charming old town, and then up the D19 through Teourrette-Levens. We then turned west on the D815 toward Contes, and this may have been the most beautiful leg of the journey. 

Road Trip: Albenga to Imperia

(May, 2006) A new guide book we bought from the Touring Club of Italy (in English) has eighty suggested driving itineraries, with maps, towns of interest en route and hotels and restaurants. To try it out, and to take what we hoped would be a pretty drive, we drove #2, called The Ligurian Alps.

Nice-Castillon-Airole

(April 29, 2006) If you are in Nice and want a short day-trip to some beautiful scenery and some charming villages take the A8 east and exit at #59 in the direction of Sospel as we did one fine May day.