Leaving St Etienne we had a lovely drive along a crazy canyon (with only a couple little bits of the road crumbling off the cliff…) passing through villages and past whitewater.
Our route took us off the main road and up a mountain pass where every village had its own church.
Coming down the other side we came through a ski hill in summer mode and then down the valley into St Martin Vesubie, a solid old alpine town that had an icy fresh mountain stream running through the streets.
Here is Kylie condemning me pulling my phone out for a picture in the church. There were signs saying no phones. I said clearly they meant during services, and didn’t apply to me at this moment. WWJD?
Back out to the cool streets.
Onward and upward! From the valley we ventured up another insanely steep, narrow and hairpin road to the hilltop village of Belvedere.
The village itself was quite beautiful, but the main square was an active construction zone.
In addition there were no open restaurants or stores, so we were forced to go back down the crazy road to the nearest larger centre to buy groceries.
Exploring that evening the boys and I were stunned to find this 3/4 size bus at the top of the hill. I hardly got our 9 passenger van up here!! Note the classic rural European parking job, taking up half the road for the night.
In addition to the square being under construction, our place in Belvedere was extremely small. Basically one room with a full bed a couch and bunk bed and a half kitchen.
With no deck and no public square Kylie and I were going crazy! While the kids were simultaneously moving in and driving us crazy I was frantically searching Airbnb and booking websites for nearby alternate accommodation.
We found some!! After getting a partial refund on our Belvedere place we packed up the next morning and got in one last walk before moving on.
The local church cemetery had some residents who had clearly been strong hikers. That reminds me, the only residents we saw here were 70+ or cats.
Public fountain. These seemed also to be redirected from mountain streams but were not as picturesque or functional.
Maybe one in 10 houses here were lovingly kept up. Probably 50% were completely derelict and the others were somewhere in between.
Before we reached our next destination we made a detour to Parc Alpha, a wolf refuge for which Zeke in particular was super keen.
Mercantour is a huge wild national park in the French alps north of Nice and bordering Italy. In addition to typical national parky stuff we are used to, it also has a scattering of tiny mountain villages, many of which proudly proclaim they are on the Tour de France route.
This hike started at 1950m and initially followed an old farm track up the river valley.
The grade was wonderful and the views were beautiful almost right away. We passed ancient terraces and a broken down farm house and presumably a shepherds hut.
A couple well built bridges reminded us we were in a national park, but there was otherwise no signage until we were above the tree line.
The boys ranged ahead but dutifully waited for the slower team at appropriately scenic locations.
After traversing some scree and scrub the trail began to climb along gorgeous waterfalls. We lost our shade which slowed Mikaya down, but I soon gave my backpack to Levi and piggybacked her through the hottest bits, keeping everyone moving.
At this point we stopped for a snack and saw the main group of others on the mountain. A French seniors hiking club. Every single member said bonjour as they passed us coMing down.
From this point we were above most of the trees an it was up over a ridge and down to the lake.
We ate our food and explored the lake shore. Amazing picnic spot.
From this point it was a quick hike back down to the car, passing the old farm house and outbuildings. Amazing hike with perfect vehicle access only a 10 minute drive from St Etienne di Tinee.
