Les Alpes de Haute-Provence, de l’Ubaye à la Provence de Giono – Les 100 lieux qu’il faut voir

Les Alpes de Haute-Provence, de l’Ubaye à la Provence de Giono – Les 100 lieux qu’il faut voir

[Music] you love France you like to travel it
discover it go to meet it you sometimes even have the impression of knowing it well
we all have a small beach a small cove a clearing a hamlet or a path
that belongs only to us far from the beaten track and that we only want to share with
those we love it is this France that we want you to discover through 100
places that you absolutely must see in your life [Music] today it is a journey between the purity of the
mountains and the Provençal art of living that we offer you in the heart of the Alpes
de Hautes Provence the landscapes dear to the writer Jean Gion will transport you to the
heart of a heritage of incredible diversity in the Verdon valley you will discover
landscapes worthy of the most beautiful beaches of the Pacific you really feel like you are at the end of the world
there too beautiful and the rock cathedrals of the Anot forest where mix legend and history
thousands of years old in the hilltop village of Simian Larotombe you will be dazzled by the beauty of the jewel
which has dominated the small town since the 12th century in the Lubaï valley you will discover
the fascinating history of Barcelonette and its astonishing architecture but
above all you will meet enthusiasts who bring their village to life to the rhythm of their good
mood health [Music] in the end you will be surprised as much by the treasures hidden in these
landscapes as by those who live there [Music] our journey begins in the high
mountains of Lubaï sometimes dressed in snow sometimes covered in pasture they
offer an ever changing landscape which leaves no stone unturned Carole Prost this
Lyonnaise by origin has opened unusual accommodations in the heart of this
incredibly preserved nature I arrived in the valley of the bail 14 years ago I was
told to spend a winter and we’ll see I spent 14 I haven’t left yet I fell in
love with this valley which is still I find very wild exceptional the mountain the
river the animals and in fact I try to share my passion through my accommodation
my pickings and to transmit this to people passing through so that people leave with
memories and give it in their hearts if Carole likes to share with others her little
secret corners there are still some places that she has not had time to discover like
the fortified city of Colmar les Alpes nestled in the bottom of the valley she meets Julie Emerric there a
passionate historian who fights to preserve the heritage of this village of character and it is
in the small local market at the foot of the ramparts that the two young women begin their visit
well before entering the village I will take you on a tour of the market oh Daniel but there is the UB
there is UB in Colmar I give you a little kiss it’s okay it’s okay and you well yes well it’s a bit of work in Colmar
well work well I will come back to you see later so there we enter the village through the
Porte de France which is one of the two gates of Colmar it’s impressive Julie I’m really
very curious that you take me to this village and to be able to walk on the old stones
old stones which are indeed loaded with history at the end of the 14th century Colmar became a
border town of the county of Provence and without a rampart tower fortifications which will be fitted out
until the 17th century by the architect of Louis XIV Vauban so there we are on the rampart walk that’s
it Julie absolutely we walk on the rampart walk so the rampart walk eh it
already existed in the Middle Ages and then at the time of Vauban we are going to completely redevelop it and then we are going to
uh open so these gun embrasures at the time they were simple battlements so there we are going to
put gun embrasures there to protect the square h so there we walked on the
patrol path but who says fortification 10 towers also I absolutely imagine eh you had in the
Middle Ages h towers which defend Colemmars square towers as we can see there uh the bell tower
in fact eh it is an old medieval tower in the period of P it served as a bell tower in
times of conflict it resumed its defensive function we will say with indeed
small loopholes that we still see on the bottom of the bell tower and then in the 19th it will be raised eh
twice so that the sound of the bell projects better in the valley and is more audible to the inhabitants of
the hamlets of the pes of Colmar there you go agreed to reinforce the border with the Duchy of
Savoy Vauban recommends the construction of two forts which overlook the village the imposing fort of
his voice exposed on the front line has today become the emblem of Colmar however Julie chose
to take Carole behind the scenes less known of the second strong the fort de France was built
in 3 years by the soldiers of the army of Louis XIV this place has today become the fight of Julie who wants to restore its letters of
nobility to the majestic military building it has been closed to the public for 40 years
even for the Martian school themselves and so I made the effort to reopen it as
part of a guided tour rather recently well and there you go yeah I try to promote it a little bit
because it is a special place for me I imagine that even villagers are curious
to be able to go back in absolutely yes there are people who uh as children uh came to play in
the Fort de France when it was still open for free visits eh who rediscovered it in
rediscovered it in my company yeah so it was rather pleasant moments to live it is
super nail hammered anyway hm hm are forged [Music] so there we are circulating on the path of cannon round
moreover you have cannon embrasures uh which actually allow you to have a complete panorama
of the valley okay ah yes I understand better the strategic place to defend the village
absolutely yeah yeah anyway eh we feel the weight of history there eh yeah [Music] we
walk where the soldiers walked ah well that’s for sure it’s still very nice that you are
now passing on from generation to generation also this story ah well it’s the goal of all
those who are driven by the passion for history and heritage in general to pass it on
hm hm it is no longer at the foot of the mountains of the Val d’Aur summit that Carole has now decided
to go near scenes the Alps and the Black Lake well known to hikers it is with
Stéphane Muriot mountain guide and an atypical four-legged guide that she will
hike in the breathtaking landscapes well you take me where and well I’ll take you to
a place that I really like it’s a family hike it’s really a place that
is accessible so here we are a little bit out of season so we can do it on foot quietly
and and we can also access by chairlift stef the difference in altitude there we are going to difference in altitude it’s a small difference in altitude
we are going to do 300 m and we are going to climb to 2200 approximately so with great weather
it’s going to be magical yeah it’s going to be very good Stéphane reserves a lunch break for Carole in
a heavenly setting and to help her carry her surprise he called on Emmanuel Vors breeder
and Samuel Malica an animal that was the emblem of the region until the middle of the 20th century for its
robustness emmanuel you mu Malica she walks really well there despite the not very steep mountain terrain
yes you saw how comfortable she is in the small paths yeah I saw that but there was
also an economic story in the time on Seigne I believe in relation to mules and mules
yes the mule in the Pays de Sein it is not at all by chance uh at the same time it was a
breeding cradle which was very famous it was uh the second or even the first in France people came
from far away to look for to buy mules so a breeding cradle and also a trading platform
linked to this animal which is specifically adapted to the mountain it was really a
work force I find it magnificent and and that shows that the mule or the mulc can
have a reputation ultimately negative it is a beautiful beast and that it can be used in our
somewhat steep terrain what we go back there go this tradition of mules continues
today in the region where mule competitions have been organized every year since 1923
but the mules are not the only wealth of this region mountainous we find other
treasures there to which Stéphane intends to introduce Carole what is interesting is the Alpe
and Provence side since we will find as much génépi here as garlic I will show you
that in a moment since we have wild garlic which grows here so in search of
wild garlic we are typically in the land where we will find a little of this Okay this this
plant we have mthe wild garlic it is quite interesting uh we manage to do
something rather nice you see it grows in small clumps like that which we will cut into
small pieces and with a little bit of oil with some herbs too but after that it is it is
it is therefore increased like wild garlic increased yeah yeah exactly you want to taste I would like to
because I know wild garlic but that no then not bad and yes it is a resource
that we have right next to us so we take advantage of it all we need here and of course and
of course here we go on we go on even Malik is enjoying the delights of Lubaille and well welcome to Colba there ah it’s
magnificent we also call the pass of Provence so now
we’re going to move to the pastoral side there we go change of landscape very very beautiful still a few efforts for Carole in the middle
of this spectacular panorama which ends on the beauties of the lake [Music] Black and here is our
reward the famous black lake I don’t know what you think but well it’s very nice
you like it finally we arrive it’s worth it eh it’s worth it it’s really very very beautiful
good and we don’t have another reward a little I’m going to see if I have something to
nibble on a little refueling well yes well if you want we can take a little break here
I think the balcony is rather pleasant come on let’s settle down over here that you suit and we look
pretty good hop go little local specialties we’re going to prepare a little cheese a little
country tomne with some herbs from our country I recognize this cheese but tell us anyway
what it is and well listen it’s a Lubaï tomne which was prepared with gênpi so already in
itself it has quite a bit of taste and some little herbs that we’re going to add in so what do
you put in your cheese well listen it’s a little bit depending on the walks
a little bit depending on what we find there we found garlic just now garlic from the
vineyards very simple you just have to slice it and then give a little color to the cheese and
then well I also found a little rosemary I’m sure it’s better there
it’s still magical to eat a cheese from the valley and well listen you’re going tell me in
such a setting thank you Emmanuel thank you I beg you [Music] in this mountain landscape in the
harsh winter where only the mules found the strength to cross the snowy hills a
small town with a totally exotic atmosphere tons the architecture of some
houses of Barcelonette contrasts with the traditional mountain chalets here
at the end of the 19th century Ubaens having made their fortune in Mexico in the
textile industry had more than fifty sumptuous villas built upon their return they are
today the reputation of Barcelonette carole decided to discover this
unusual Mexican adventure with Hélène HPS curator of the town museum she
stops in front of one of the oldest houses the villa Chabran it is really
very pretty this one this house if you want is picturesque animated decorative you have
the introduction of wood you have the introduction of ceramic products we make fake
brick and all that we make the house coquette we in quotation marks in our
popular language we call them Mexican villas because it was people from Barcelona who came
back to build these villas but which ultimately have nothing Mexican about them at
all it is the typical architecture of the 19th century uh familiar to spa towns and
thermal resorts the originality and the exoticism here is that they are at altitude and that the owners
and the sponsors are the inhabitants of the valley among all the houses one
of them has become the emblem of the city as it is the blue city called
so for the color of its windows for Carole it is a real privilege to
finally be able to visit it I imagine Carole that this house you have been dreaming of going in for a very long time
ah well I must have walked past it 1000 times without being able to go through the door so
I can’t wait because from the outside it is already impressive so being able to go inside
and have your explanations I’m sure excited outside you have a very colorful envelope
even variegated and inside it’s magic ah yes he exceptional there we arrive in the
major room the centerpiece of the house the mosaic there it is it still gives
Mexican notes a little with shapes that we find on the temples otherwise you see the rays of the sun
and which accommodates cylinders a little everywhere a little tentacles like an octopus also you see
it’s true it vibrates it moves I see the stained glass window that I can see from afar when I
drive through the city you explain to me a little bit what it represents ah yes because it is
a particularly emblematic composition of the adventure of these ubens entrepreneurs traders
and textile industrialists you have in the foreground you see them with the
large threads which leave on both sides which cross on the right you have the
monumental silhouette of the department store uh which was owned by the sponsor of the villa with
a roofing job in the bone and on the other side factories with
smoking chimneys which show that the activity was there no it is a major piece an
exceptional work that you will also be able to discover since the Blue villa classified as a
historical monument will soon be open to visitors if in the Lubaï valley the
construction of the houses was done thanks to the audacity of the architects of the time
it is to share another very traditional know-how that Carole goes a
few kilometers from Barcelonette and it is with her friend Robert Martin that she will
learn the gestures of desmeners in the mill of Abriè which has belonged to Robert’s family
for four generations [Music] yeah yeah the mill is here and Robert how are you oh well I’m fine
hello Carole it’s been a while since we saw each other ah that’s true but said
Robert I think that you are already the last miller in the valley and even in the department yes I am
the last miller to make flour to make real flour because my wheat is wheat
that has almost no dandage that I re-sowed and these seeds they came back and they grew
when I see you Robert I tell myself that you have an iron health and that if you were fed with your
own flour I will eat the same you are right it is true otherwise Robert in terms of know-how
you still have a nugget here but you yourself have the old gestures I would like you to
start the beast and then show me a little bit of all that how it works I
can understand the mechanism first of all well there I mount the millstone to start it up right away
so what we are going to do now we are going to put the water because it is a mill
at the top and we are going to see the water spray on the og on this wheel which is called a spinning wheel yes yes
it’s charming this bit it’s a noise that I’ve had all the time and there right away right
away what do we see well we’re going to go see the wheel which which is going which is going to start very
slowly ah yes it activates it there it activates the wheel and what does it activate from above
it’s magic here ah yes it’s really very beautiful and then I’m going to put the grain which is
up there in the pen there it is in the hopper which we call this grain will slip between the
two millstones it will be crushed so everything is manual Robert there is nothing mechanical about mechanizing
everything is everything is manual so there it’s you who will work with pleasure I’m going to listen to the
tick listen to the noise as soon as the millstone touches the one below and well you’re going to raise it so you
go slowly like that okay go slowly there stop go up a little there we go
now we’re going to go see what you did if you worked well or not you see ah yes and there what we’re going to do
we’re going to go smell the flour without the flour I already smelled h So why do we smell the
flour ah so that and well why because if the millstone had touched the one below Ah
I would have felt the heat not the burnt no burnt burnt and that it pulled the burn ah
well there it’s good eh [Music] Carole has won the right to go upstairs
it’s the secret entrance of the Meier where only a privileged few can enter because it’s
here that the best flour is made and there it’s magic the wholemeal flour arrives
inside while turning it passes through a sieve it’s called the fleur de farine so so
the finest the finest so for the pancakes that’s it for the pancakes and there you
‘re going to wet your finger I’m going to taste and you ‘re going to taste you’re going to see that it’s sweet it’s
super beautiful ah yeah I’ll have some more here and this flour will make pancakes will make
fresh pasta not the pigle ah pasta too it is now time to taste this
exceptional flour since Robert has prepared a bread made with the delights of his mill
come on well say what an honor yeah it makes you want health [Laughs] very very good
a tray has taste finally the knowledge it is there the final it is there it is in this
P and I take advantage of it I thank you Robert our escapade in the Alpes de Haute
Provence continues to the west in the landscapes of hills of cereal fields
and lavender dear to the writer Jean Gionau it is for this land which breathes
Provence that Jean-Luc Bernard and his wife left Cala 40 years ago since this lover
of beautiful landscapes who cultivates chains under which truffles grow continues to
marvel at the riches of this territory we have really discovered this landscape and especially
the atmosphere this serenity and that’s why we settled there and if we stayed there it’s
because we felt good there this little corner is really my corner of paradise it’s precisely in
a place which symbolizes paradise in the gardens of the abay of Valsinte that Jean-Luc takes us to
this arid land bathed in sunshine a garden typical of the region was entirely born
thanks to the efforts of the landscaper Jean Yve Mignan it’s in this rejuvenating setting that the two
friends meet to share their love of nature it’s been quite a few years that I’ve been
working and planting plants which manage to resist in this apparently
hostile environment where there isn’t much soil where it’s extremely dry and without watering and the
aromatic herbs like this ground because there are still a lot of aromatic herbs
the complexion Exactly well there if you pass the hand in saotoline it is extremely powerful
and in fact the release of essence is one of the strategies that these plants use to
protect themselves from the heat because in fact there we do not see it but there is there is there is there is
a light spectrum released by these essences which reflects the ultraviolet rays of the
sun so it is one of the reasons why when it is very very hot we have this
release of smell which is absolutely fantastic it is an explosion of senses
and smells of Provence which you can also enjoy
while strolling in this garden so a place that I like a lot eh
the dry garden there all in rockery with its differences in level and then there it is
an arrangement of plants always without watering it is really the spirit of the garden ah it
is it is the future that is if everyone had a small garden like that we would not be bothered
with shortages and yeah certainly in his ecological garden Jean Yve has chosen to favor
the natural when these trees are sick he treats them with homemade recipes based on
essential oils from the region a find to which he will introduce Jean-Luc I had I had
already prepared a little the utensils the basic ingredients that we normally have in our
kitchen a vegetable oil there it is rapeseed it could be sunflower a
100% vegetable dishwashing liquid eh obviously we have water for the mixture the essential oil that we have
chosen then the small pipette to measure essential oils there there it is the small
mixing stick and there we have its small graduated cup which allows to make the right doses so in fact
anyone can can prepare this exactly it is you who will do it I I will dictate to you
the steps one after the other with the obviously the dosages to respect of course we start
with the vegetable oil so just just the bottom there the first graduation will be at 5 ml hop
it’s good so now the essential oils there there are too many there throw a little
bit because there are too many hop there it’s good you empty it in go ahead you mix the oils they
mix together up to there there is no problem but the oil cannot mix
in the water so now we are going to add one more element it is a few drops of
vegetable soap so you are going to put three you are going to let really three big drops fall in there
a little more there that’s enough and again you mix so that soap and oil you will see it
makes an emulsion it whitens so when it is very homogeneous like that it’s perfect you add
the water up to almost the maximum level of the small cup in fact all the time I did
n’t know that at all eh it’s really a recipe that I am going to keep in mind there it’s nothing very
complicated for sure good we are going to put that in place we there we go ok we’re going to go see the tree and it’s with
this mixture of Golterie essential oil that Jean-Luc and Jean-veont go to treat a sick chestnut tree
here’s the figure where I use this famous perfusion system and that’s the miracle cure
then a little bit yeah it’s the chestnut tree eh uh which we know the problem of the leaf
miner eh of the butterfly in the leaves so here I’m going you’re going to hold the little one the little
preparation that we made I’m going to show you it’s very simple eh it’s a needle that we come
eh position in the small hole that I made eh so through the Corsica so really it’s
a few millimeters eh and the small reservoir it simply clips onto the needle
I remove the cover simply there you pour the contents inside okay and in fact
well it’s the rising sap he which circulates behind the corsees which will suck up this content and
all of that in fact in small doses since all of that will be transported throughout the plant
so we close it and then well the days that come after we come to monitor between 2 and 7 days
the content is absorbed when we are in the optimum conditions and then and we do it only
once in the night only once okay ah so thanks to this method you can treat many
trees and preserve the beauty of the landscapes the beauty of the trees in our region yeah yeah
with this technique with the use of essential oils which is also one of the
values ​​of our region we can help to maintain plants that for me it is a conviction
obviously I try to demonstrate it if the trees that Jean Yve protects
today allow this Provençal landscape to persist the forests have
been important in the region since the Middle Ages and it is also thanks to the
sale of wood by the local lords that the medieval village of Simian Larotonde
was able to prosper until the 16th century the small town lives today to the
peaceful rhythm of cicadas and steep alleys it is to discover its history
that Jean-Luc meets the person in charge of the town’s heritage Olivia Brindel who
has arranged to meet him on the square of the old market which dates from the 14th century it is
truly magnificent I’m not going to get started here I don’t come often but I’m wrong and yes
in addition with the light today yeah you saw over there on the Libéron you have the bottom of the
village which has expanded downwards like all the villages and yes today really
the bottom of the village the suburb of life eh of Simian whereas in the Middle Ages it was what
is behind us this old village that we are going to discover together and yes we will have to go up
now and yes but that is what keeps us in [Music] shape so you see Jean-Luc here
I wanted to show you what makes the village beautiful we really have a preserved heritage we have
always had strong ramparts and so it has always dissuaded attackers from
attacking the village and so we have beautiful private mansion doors that we can
still observe today and look at this door we are typically Renaissance there 16th 17th with
this half-moon lintel the leaf of ente ah we see that it is patinated it has lived eh and yes
it is the memory of the stones ah is really superb come on come today I am going to
show you a detail that I really like on a house facade ah well it is not on the gate
that we stop and no we take a little height look at these shutters you see these small openings
so when we close the shutters it was used to let out a creature that we do not like too much here
but which is very present it’s the flies ah good yes so we closed the shutters we left
the small openings and the flies attracted by the light came out and it was also a great
way to spy on the street without being seen yes I think that’s all it was for eh
to spy no and you know what it’s called ah not at all spies spies yeah
and hence the expression snitch to monitor or ah well surely okay [Music] jean-luc
now wants to go visit the great lady who watches over the village the rotunda of one
of the oldest feudal castles in Provence perched at the top of Simian the dome is
worth it [Music] ah it’s been 10 years since I came but I see it’s still
as hard eh but you’ll see it’s worth the detour I have no doubt you’ll see and here are the
last ones meters arrived and the entrance to the castle in the 12th century the lords
of the Simianagou family dominated the village from the top of this rotunda which
remains today the jewel of the [Music] village and here is the marvel wou it is sure that it is a room which imposes it
anyway and yes eh still today so this is a room which dates from the end of the 12th
century this famous rotunda and it was really the reception room of the castle where the Lord
could receive his guests exercise his power and therefore a room of demonstration of this power
seigniorial assimian and we must imagine here that we had the resonance of the troubadour music eh
in the 12th century really which explains today the magnificent acoustics of this room also
today the room still lives to the rhythm of the concerts and the painting exhibitions
which perpetuate this magnificent dome if the discovery of the rotunda of Simian
requires some effort it is now towards other peaks that Jean-Luc
decided to go to the very top of the Lure mountain the panorama offers a
breathtaking view of the entire department here until the 1960s the shepherds
came to graze their flocks in landscapes covered today with forests of bread
and it is with Pierre Paya a guide who knows the region perfectly that Jean-Luc will discover
the last witnesses of this agricultural past the stone sheepfolds ah it’s it’s really
magnificent huh it’s it’s this roof like that the loses yeah yeah it’s only stone and so there are
always three elements in the sheepfolds here the shepherd’s hut that we just
saw there it’s another annex that had been made later the sheepfold for the sheep and always
a cistern because you know that there is no water at home not on the surface in the whole south of the
mountain of reading there must be four sources and so we collected water from the roofs and it was
rainwater that we made the animals drink and that the people drank, well the shepherds drank themselves, there we go,
we’re going to go and see inside anyway, go ahead, ah, it’s really magnificent, we don’t have the impression
from the outside that it’s that high, no, not that high and even that deep since it
‘s partly buried at the bottom, we’re practically all in the ground, that’s what we
call a vault in an upturned ship’s hull, yeah, it looks like
an upturned ship’s hull, it’s an old way of construction and so there are several
ways of building sheepfolds, that’s one, it’s the tunnel way, ultimately it’s just
stacked stones, it’s like a pile, but an extremely clever, tidy pile, yeah, it’s
tidy, but to succeed in building these dry stone walls, it was necessary shepherd of the time
a know-how that went beyond simple storage because no cement came to seal the
stones of its walls solidly anchored in time so I suppose that all these beautiful landscapes
it aspired writers or filmmakers of course yes yes cinema writers and in
particular Jean Jonau who lived all his life in Vos as you know at least at the beginning of his career as a
writer he is someone who writes a lot about the relationship between man and nature and so
here obviously in places where there is little population small villages but there is
also a way to be much more in touch with the natural environment around well me if I arrived
in the country almost 40 years ago now it is it is especially for that what me it is for
that that I never left for the same reasons in the mountains it is the tradition at
each hike its tasting of local cheese which tells in its own way the history of the region pierre brought a cheese of
banon which hides in a plant setting here are the ban in the leaves it is leaves
of what cat here people invented that because there was a problem in winter in winter the
goats do not have milk as you know and it was necessary to manage to continue to have cheese
all winter to have sources of protein and simply to feed and so people here
had found that we could uh wrap these cheeses in chestnut leaves
because the chestnut leaf is tannic it will protect in fact the cheese inside and it
will not it will not mold it will not denature on the contrary well we can taste them now
there it is not enough to talk about it you have to taste you see it is still very creamy
inside it already looks very creamy huh there well wait I use it too
there yeah and we like it anyway as said in béli I fell into it
when I was little so in any case here we are really not bad we are not bad
to taste a little banon there listen we are really good in addition to that you have seen
no wine the sun good good appetite [Music] our journey in the heart of the alpine lands
continues in the south of the department in the Verdon valley where green Provence oscillates
between enchanting nature and small village of Provence Castellane is the emblem the town
perched on the hillside is at the gateway to the Verdon gorges [Music] it is the kingdom
of Annabelle Chauvet radio host the child of the country wakes up the town every day
with the news of the region radio Verdon hello everyone hello everyone it
is 9:30 am we are going to spend this morning together you are live with Annabelle
until 1 pm radio Rau the radio of the countries of Verdon my work obliges me to be curious about
everything so uh I’m going to learn things about the fauna, the flora, the know-how,
the history and each small village and in general always delighted to see me arrive
and to show me the treasures of their town if she knows the region well she still has
some nuggets to explore with other lovers of the territory as passionate as she is today
it is with Éric Bélanger mountain guide that she decided to rediscover the
largest canyon in Europe the Verdon Gorges [Music] yeah Nabelle so I know that
you know the Route des Crêtes and but I’m going to take you to a place maybe that you do
n’t know you risk having great sensations a beautiful vertigo it’s places like that
where you have the impression that you can ride on the backs of vultures but I think that we
might see some wow ah impressed huh there always impressed you saw that look
there on the gorges there since since the cliff you see 400 m 500 m above the river and you
see the rocks in fact which are outcropping there and we can we can guess the climbing walls
it is a place which was frequented in the past by the buit cutters who went down into
the verdrocher with a pulley which in fact went to collect the buit roots to make
pétan balls studded balls guinettes when I was a little
younger we came on full moon nights and we did the abseiling there okay very
good well it is a little tense because it has to be done in several times because there is no
800 m rope and well listen to me I prefer to go there quietly we avoid the
abseiling and then we will reach the lake quietly okay let’s go you have planned a small boat
ah but I have planned better than that in fact a beautiful boat and we will take a nice
walk on the lake you’ll see [Music] well let’s go for a nice walk on
the Verdon River it’s towards the Saintecroix lake that the two enthusiasts
will continue their hike [Music] well imagine Annabelle look there we are
paddling quietly on relatively calm water but imagine the pioneers
there who came to the canyon at the beginning of the 20th century because they had to endure in
fact to make the descent I don’t know if you saw the photos at the beginning of the century you have the girls
with their little boots their little dresses who descended the steep paths with the
cameras on tripods ah I love it I find it so cool that was an adventure
a colorful epic that the speleologists Alfred Édouard Martel and Isidor Blanc lived
in 1905 the two adventurers set off to discover of the Grand Canyon of the Verdon in
search of a new source of drinking water to supply Provence they were the
first to travel the entire canyon the boats you know they were boats with
stretched canvas and they went down all the gorges with wooden boats with
stretched canvas it must have been a completely phenomenal adventure with portages finally
on the other hand it must have been magnificent ah yes we do it in an airy way we will
say light a little bit sporty but for them it was it was an adventure it was there it was
not tourism [Music] today thanks to the discoveries of the two speleologists visitors from all over the
world come to taste the delights of this river with its many faces the traces
there on the wall the grooves what does it come from so in fact well imagine there we are still
in a sedimentary domain it is only limestone and all that you see all the colors in fact they
are des concretions which are formed with metal oxides inside ok the
red is ferrous here is the red the red is ferrous the green is more copper and
then everything which is more black dark grey is manganese there you go ah it’s quite pretty huh that’s what
gives character to this canyon no but look ahead between the color of
the water the sky the mountain ah it’s okay we’re rather lucky a few more paddle strokes
for Annabelle and Éric and that’s the reward the gradients of the Sainte-Croix lake offer a
breathtaking spectacle over more than 12 km and it’s the emerald green color
of this water which gave its name to the Verdon absolutely too beautiful there you have the canyon but
you also have in fact at the edge of the lake pretty little coves and little corners like that you
can find some like that around the lake there you go Annabelle the place I wanted
you to discover here are these pebble beaches and white sand which certainly make you
think of islands lost in the Pacific it’s beautiful it’s really beautiful we
really feel like we’re at the end of the world there it’s fantastic fantastic if the landscapes of the Verdon can
transport us far from France they also hide a past anchored in the history of the
country near the village of Anot the walnut trees have thus been used to make an
emblematic recipe of the region since the 19th century squash ravioli in
walnut sauce which made the village famous jean-louis Damont will
introduce Annabelle to this recipe jean-louis yes I’m here you started without me it’s okay it’s okay so you teach
me the recipe for squash railloles of raoles of cogourdes come on then let’s go
finishing mixing my squash with two egg yolks and we put about half a kg
of crushed walnuts so we made walnuts as an aperitif we still make them with them
it’s very very good and then we mix them for the shelves but then what a strange idea
to mix walnuts and squash it’s because in our country they were mainly producers
of walnuts and squash they said hey we’re going to put the same thing the squash you know very
well that it doesn’t come from another it comes from the Americans well okay it arrived here in the 16th
15th 16th century and then it was quickly adopted so the walnuts the walnuts and imagine that in
the country of An there were thousands thousands thousands of walnuts so much so that there
were three walnut oil mills and around the 1820s the German timber merchants
came to buy the walnut trees because they needed walnuts for their factories to
make rifle and revolver stocks you know a little but there are walnuts which come
from the area of ​​walnut trees that have been replanted or wild walnut trees that remain a little bit
wild walnut does not exist and the best walnut tree misleader the best walnut planter
of all is who no it is the crow because the crow has a small head finally that is what we
say and when it goes to take nuts to take them home to its young to bring them
for the winter and instead of taking two or three in the beak it puts five or six and naturally
when it sees the it sows one or two fall there and that makes new walnut trees we have the
strength you have already prepared the dough yes uh it is a dough it is a noodle dough you do that like
a pro how did you learn the recipe oh well the recipe you know from very small when you see the
old people around you you know that in Provenzal old it is not pejorative of the everything eh it’s true
that there are lots of my ancestors boys who also cooked so now it’s the
fateful moment we’re going to start putting our stuffing go on let’s go so I’m not scared I’m
putting my fingers in so I’m making a kind of grid there you go good so now we’re going to
spread all that out as evenly as possible hop pim then [Music] we go and there we have to crush
quite a bit ah you press hard say so yes you have to cut them there gently some work so there you see it’s good that you’re here because you
always need help to do that wait go on here I have a little hole there hop it
cooks for a long time it boils so it cooks for a long time it depends between 4 minutes and 20 minutes there you go the
fork is wide ah no but we taste and you taste one one one rayonne because the
rayonne provinç it’s the rayonne go we’re going to taste so we’re going to taste here we go, let’s
go, enjoy your meal, the squash rilloles in walnut sauce, if you like it, let’s have another
taste, ah yeah, it’s excellent, the walnut takes over, it’s super good, the weight is
terrible, from the fugé who wrote a poem of 64 stanzas on the rayoles, a little bit, I won’t tell you
everything, eh, everything about the rayoles, everything about the rayoles, and then it ends wonderfully,
it ends, divine but delectable stew that kings don’t know, I love to see you
at my table, swelling under the sauce of our kings, if the kings were not lucky enough to
know this typical recipe of the region, they nevertheless gave their name to
a place well known to the inhabitants of Anot, it is in search of the
king’s room at the very top of the Anot forest, Cannabelle finds Nathalie Lequet,
a regular at these mysterious chaos of rocks, the gré from Aot we often come with
my children it’s great you can climb everywhere but there I’m sure that you’re going to
tell me lots of things that I do n’t really know and then I’m going to
show you also maybe the king’s room there are many who pass by
without finding it it’s a little hiding place this forest of gigantic gray blocks
was inhabited from the 4th century semiogloditic dwellings testify to what happened when the Anotins came to
find refuge on the heights of the village and there you don’t notice anything Nabelle
stairs too big for me and yeah you saw this step there it’s very high
so imagine that these steps give access to the roof which is used for the shelter go discover and the
first step if it was so high it was to prevent the animals from being able to climb
on the roof and we can even imagine that the ground was lower so a small ladder was needed
to be able to climb to the access the first step but here we are in a
rock shelter subdivision that is to say that there is one here but there are a little bit everywhere yes yes yes
imagine that on the ground only uh of anot uh there have been uh counted about 130
rock shelters more or less ruined and so the traces of these shelters we can still see them
completely you show me of course we go there [Music] ah that’s great I had never seen it it’s
magnificent it was inhabited by a large family I imagine the animals at the top and it went up
like that the animals at the bottom and it’s true that they made holes to put beams
because the rock was not enough uh oblique and did not allow them to have a
large roof so we can imagine an overhang with wood and there the gutter is the gutter
the gutter which is superb which is magnificent and what you notice is that it starts
from the middle of the rock shelter and it goes for and it comes to die on each side we can
imagine that it collects rainwater also if the shelters or rocks have been inhabited
for centuries other places are imbued with mystery halfway
between history and legend this is the case of the king’s chamber where Annabelle and
[Music] Nathalie arrive come on Annabelle one more little effort in a few meters
we finally arrive at the rocky cirque of the king’s chamber you will see it’s
magnificent we feel very small [Music] wow superb ah super impressive always
it’s majestic there it’s the king’s chamber no not exactly we are in the rocky cirque
of the king’s chamber the king’s chamber it is a little further to the left it was a
hiding place come on we will find the king’s chamber you see how it is not only men
who manage to build cathedrals nature will also be on your left on my
left it works I crawl I go there and yes you have to crawl it was a damn good hiding place and yes he did
n’t want the Saracens to find him according to the legend wow we can’t imagine at all that there is
this height there when we pass by the very small mouth incredible there is almost
more than 25 m high it was a damn hiding place it’s fabulous [Music] in this
extraordinary pile of Roch the legend says that a great lord would have asked for asylum at the time when
the Saracens attacked lower Provence he was then offered this magical cave
the rock cathedral of the king’s chamber thank you Nathalie it’s great but I
beg you this ends our journey in the Alpes de Haute-P a department
which will seduce you with its multiple facets and its innumerable riches
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Le département des Alpes de Haute-Provence, aussi riche que varié, conjugue à merveille les eaux turquoise des lacs et les falaises éblouissantes et abruptes de grès.

Pour découvrir les merveilles des plus belles régions de France, c’est ici – Abonnez-vous 👉 http://bit.ly/3zjR2Vj 🙏

Dans les hautes montagnes de l’Ubaye, l’architecture de la ville de Barcelonnette est un héritage bien singulier venu tout droit du Mexique. A quelques pas de là, à plus de 2000 mètres d’altitude, se trouve le lac Noir. Dans le pays de Banon, au coeur d’un paysage si cher à l’écrivain Jean Giono, on peut admirer le village perché de Simiane-la-Rotonde et l’abbaye de Valsaintes. Enfin, impossible de manquer les splendeurs des gorges du Verdon et la forêt pleine de mystère des Grès d’Annot.

Réalisé par Mélodie Prost
© MORGANE PRODUCTION