We were leaving the south of France and heading north now, towards the Alps.  A long drive, made longer as the roads are windy, the mountains steep.

We left Saint Jeannet and followed the road through the mountains, often following the Var River which flows through the Alps down to St Laurent du Var on the coast at Nice.

How did they ever build stone houses up there!

The same village but from a different angle – it’s built right on top not below the peak as seen above.  Deceiving!

The Var River – the water was a dark gray

There were quaint villages…..

This one with a fortress wall zigzagging up the mountain to the castle

And, then the scenery began to change to undulating and alpine like landscapes.

We travelled through some amazing country, and as we got closer to the Alps, the landscape, housing and general feel became very Swiss like.

There may or may not have been yodelling going on in the car as we drove higher and deeper into this area 🙂

 

I love the mountains so much more than the coastal region and felt right at home.

 

It was dairy cow country.

We stopped at St Bonnet en Champsaur for the night, a small village located in the south-east corner near the Italian border, quite close to the city of Gap.  It is approximately 1,000m and has a population of around 1,500.  This was our first and only B&B in France and it was fantastic!  The young couple who run this B&B were friendly and welcoming, our room was very comfortable and we ate a traditional French dinner with the other guests.

As lunch is the main meal of the day, our dinner was a traditional French vegetarian meal – green salad with a deep fried potato pastry, followed by a slice of cheese, then a strawberry tart.  All servings were modest, delicious and not overfilling.  Coffee to follow.  You don’t go to bed hungry but you also don’t go to bed overfull – perfect.

The area was very green with stunning views of the surrounding mountains.

A walk into the village in the afternoon before dinner was just what we needed after a day in the car.

 

 

A view back to Saint Bonnet en Champsaur on our way to Chamonix.  Absolutely the most stunning region to visit and stay.

Jeff and Catherine xx