The Mercantour National Park 70- 100 km north of Nice has about 600 km of marked hiking trails. Just the French Randoxygène guide book lists 60 hikes in Haut Pays, 60 in Moyen Pays, not all of these trails are inside the National Park. There are even more options by improvising and using other guide books. So we...
The automobile road through Col de la Cayolle mountain pass (2326m) was completed in July 1914. A great opening ceremony was planned months in advance. President Poincaré would drive in a convoy from Nice to Barcelonette on the 10th of August and have a lunch at Col de la Cayolle. The préfet gave detailed recommendations; it would not...
www.lonelyplanet.fr (link in French) recently listed the Mercantour National Park among the world’s 10 most beautiful National Parks. A well deserved nomination although not presented as such on their English web sites. There are 600 km of marked hiking trails within the park. The nearest major point of entry is only about 70 km from Nice. This is where...
Tian, a gratin, is a traditional Provençal way to prepare vegetables. Tian is also the name of the ovenproof dish in which the gratin is prepared. I have read a charming story about the traditional baking time of tian: it corresponds to the length of time it took to bake bread in a communal oven. In the old...
It was already 28th of July, and we could finally make a hike in the Mercantour National Park. This winter’s record snowfall caused a late start for the summer’s hiking season in the high mountains. On top of that daily afternoon showers or thunderstorms have been hitting the mountains in July. Even for today rain was forecasted in...
This carefree recipe has all the typical flavours of niçoise cooking: olive oil, white wine, garlic, tomatoes, small black olives, lemon and basil. These are tasty and heart healthy ingredients. These flavours combine very well with rouget, red mullet, which is a popular fish in Nice. In the old times, the people in Nice simply fried whole fresh...
Today’s hike is actually a small part of Tour de Mont Blanc (TMB). At our hotel in Dolonne- Courmayeur, they suggested taking the ski lift to Rifugio Maison Vieille, but we said we wanted to walk up there as the plan was to do a half-day hike from the town anyway. The ascent from Courmayeur to Rifugio Maison...
Small stuffed vegetables, les petits farcis niçois, are a classic dish in Nice. There is not any “one and only” recipe to make these, but almost every grandmother in Nice has “her” recipe for the stuffing. This dish could be very time-consuming as sometimes a different filling was used for each of six vegetables! This kind of cooking...
The Tende mountain pass has been the simplest connection between the Mediterranean and Piemonte. It was first a mule track created in 1652, and in 1782 the road was completed. The road tunnel was completed in 1883 and the rail tunnel in 1898. Because of this, the ancient mountain pass was almost totally abandoned. The current border on...
Pasta dinners before marathon are classic. If you are planning a 5- 7 h hike with a strenuous ascent in hot weather, it is also useful to think a little what you eat the night before. Still, all is not lost if you couldn't pack a lot of carbohydrates in your dinner the night before. It has been...
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