Hiking in Nice Hinterland

There are magnificent forests, great views, and a ruined, maybe haunted, hamlet  along the route of the hike.

This is the real Riviera back country, arrière- pays. 40% of Alpes Maritimes is forest. Remember that the village of Peira Cava is just 25 km from Nice as a crow flies. At 1423m, the village was the first winter sport resort in the department. Remnants of some ski lifts can still be seen. It also became a hideaway for celebrities. Even Marc Chagall spent some time there. Nowadays the village is very quiet, but has quite a few secondary residences.

Many hiking trails go through the village. The tour presented here is a shortened version of the hike shown on the map; we started from Peira Cava (signpost 37), not La Gabella.

The ruined hamlet of Béasse was destroyed by a fire in 1985. In spite of its isolated location, the hamlet had been inhabited for over 200 years. In the late 18th century, dissidents from Nice called Les Barbets were allegedly hiding there, perhaps to avoid the guillotine.


Music: Actual title: "Local Forecast - Slower" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Map courtesy of Conseil Général Alpes Maritimes