Entrevaux
Entrevaux lies on a rocky spur on a meander of the River Var, halfway between Digne-les-Bains and Nice.
Entrevaux – a Roman town and medieval village among olive groves
Entrevaux lies on a rocky spur on a meander of the River Var, halfway between Digne-les-Bains and Nice. It is classed as a ‘Village et Cité de Caractère’ and is extremely proud of its rich, turbulent, two thousand year old history.
Set among terraced olive groves and limestone polished over the centuries under an ever blue sky, the village is an important historic centre : a Roman town (the diocese of Glandèves), a medieval village, later fortified by Vauban during the reign of Louis XIV and on the border of France until 1860 ! The roaring of cannon ceased long ago but Entrevaux is still reached by a drawbridge and has kept the charm of its past intact : tall, narrow houses, squares and fountains, triple-rowed Genoise tiling and balconies, narrow, winding streets and awkward steps, barracks and watchtowers, bridges and towers, guard houses and arrow slits, stalls and shops…
Just around the corner of this maze of streets stands the 17th century, Gothic fortified cathedral, which is a listed historic building. It has a Baroque chancel, splendid casements of carved walnut, an organ by Eustache and a rich art collection. The rampart walk, also a listed monument, features six drawbridges, two bastions, a redoubt with machicolations, underground passages, ditches and double hornwork. Entry to the village is via the Prison de la Porte Royale and 150m above it stands the Citadel. Uninterrupted views over the valley and the village await stout-hearted visitors who climb the 800m footpath to the Citadel, the only way to reach the fortress surrounded by olive trees.
The Circuit des Moulins is a circular walk punctuated with points of interest including a flour mill and an oil mill. In the village, you would not be surprised to meet a helmeted knight on his trusty steed, instead of which you find yourself in front of the ‘Musée de la Moto’, a museum of 75 motorbikes dating from 1901 onwards and in full working order ! Entrevaux is also a station for the famous Train des Pignes, the railway line which links Digne-les-Bains and Nice, the Alps and the Côte d’Azur.
Entrevaux, gastronomy and the little Provence steam train
Travel by steam train through a beautiful landscape of rivers, hills and gorges past fields of lavender and chestnut woods. The lovely old train with varnished wooden seats and smoky smells of days gone by runs every year from May to October on part of the line between Puget-Théniers and Annot via Entrevaux : a thick plume of smoke heralds its arrival !
As well as olive oil, Entrevaux is also well-known for its gourmet specialities such as ‘socca’, a large, thin cracker made from chick pea flour, secca de bœuf, a type of dried salted beef which is eaten thinly sliced, and fruit juices.
The area around Entrevaux is definitely worth a visit : the Gorges de Daluis where the River Var has dug its way through burgundy-coloured rocks dating from the Permian period; The Via Ferrata des Demoiselles from Castagner to Puget-Théniers offers vertical challenges, drops, a Nepalese bridge and a zip wire ; Annot, a, thousand-year old sandstone village surrounded by chestnut woods which is classed ‘ Village et Cité de Caractère’ ; and the upper reaches of the Var Valley leading to the Col de la Cayolle.
"" Yum-yum, bread cooked in a traditional wood-fired oven during the ‘Au four et aux moulins’ festival in May or on Heritage Days in September. ""
How to get to Entrevaux in Alpes de Haute-Provence :
By road : RN202 from Nice (70km) or Digne-les-Bains (80km).
By rail : to Entrevaux station on the Chemins de Fer de Provence line.
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