Olive
Trees and Edelweiss
The
land that lies between the tumultuous Rhône—a
river the historian Michelet called “a raging
bull”—and Europe's loftiest peaks, a
land that embraces glaciers and olive trees, ancient
cities and untamed wilderness, is still in the process
of forging its modern identity. Comparable in size
to Switzerland or Belgium, Rhône-Alpes is
France's second-largest region. It forms a counterweight
in the nation's southeastern sector to Paris-Ile-de-France
in the north. Though it is swiftly becoming a major
European crossroads, Rhône-Alpes is more a
political construct than a coherent cultural or
geographic entity—the Région Rhône-Alpes
is a very recent creation. Paradoxically, perhaps,
the stunning diversity of the region's topography
counts among its prime assets, and is surely its
primary attraction for travelers.
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Mont-Blanc |
Follow
the course of the Rhône River, and look east
to majestic Mont-Blanc, as it surveys the Chablais,
Faucigny, and Aravis massifs. Climb still higher
to the Vanoise, Belledonne, and Chartreuse massifs,
to L'Oisans and Le Vercors: you are enveloped in
infinite blue. Listen to the fury of torrents rushing
down the mountain at the Rouget waterfall (called
“Queen of the Alps”), or the 30 thundering
cascades that come alive in summer at the Fer-à-Cheval
near Sixt in Haute-Savoie. Then hear the sudden
stillness as these mountain waters spread silently
into Lake Geneva, Lake Annecy, the lakes of Le Bourget,
Aiguebelette, Monteynard, Nantua, Paladru... The
water stretches out and lies in lake and riverbeds
down in the plains as far as Dauphiné, giving
the Rhône-Alpes more shoreline than any other
region. Travel farther south now, still following
the Rhône. Endless vineyards and orchards
promise huge harvests of fruit. The Drôme
wears a mantle of lavender. Everywhere gnarled olive
trees spread their low branches, and in the fragrant
herb-filled scrub of Ardèche cicadas chirrup
at the sun.
The Rhône Valley and the Alps preserve thousands
of acres of unspoiled nature. Sure-footed chamois
skitter through Alpine pastures dotted with edelweiss,
hide under pines or behind a rhododendron, then
skip upward to join their ibex cousins on the snowy
peaks. Beavers busy themselves by mountain streams
while otters tease and frolic. The four national
and regional parks of the Écrins, Vanoise,
Vercors, and Pilat, as well as 28 nature reserves,
including the Ardèche Gorges and the Aiguilles
Rouges mountains, invite you to discover forests,
lakes, high pastures, craggy peaks, and austere
plateaus.
Sports for Every Season
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Cheese
Fondue |
In
winter 3,700 miles of manicured, well-marked ski
runs show why the Rhône-Alpes region was chosen
three times to host the Olympic Games, at Chamonix,
Grenoble, and Albertville. With 220 ski resorts
ranging in style from chic—Courchevel, Méribel,
Megève, or Alpe-d'Huez—to rustique
(Gex, Vars in the beautiful Queyras), there are
plenty of opportunities for Alpine and cross-country
skiing. The département of Savoie alone boasts
well over 500 miles of ski trails that thread through
the awesome mountain scenery of La Maurienne and
La Tarentaise. Resorts at Corrençon, Autrans,
and Villard-de-Lans provide fabulous cross-country
terrain for novices and veterans alike.
In
summer the mountains are a paradise for climbers
and hikers. At Chamonix, where alpinism was born
in the eighteenth century, the history of the pioneers
who first scaled Mont-Blanc is retold at the Musée
Alpin. No one should leave Chamonix without making
an excursion to the enormous glacier known as La
Mer de Glace, but only the daring will want to climb
12,000 feet in a cable car to the Aiguille du Midi
peak. The Isère River, which rises in the
Alps and flows down to the Rhône, challenges
whitewater rafters to descend its turbulent rapids,
but these trout-filled waters also invite anglers
to try out their fly-fishing techniques.
Mountain air rouses the appetite, whetting it for
hearty Alpine fare. While the tonier spas and ski
resorts boast world-class tables, simple auberges
also have their charm. Their menus feature mountain
charcuteries (Pormonier sausage), raclette—melted
cheese with potatoes—and fondue, both convivial
après-ski favorites, and such local fish
as trout, pike, and lake char, often accented with
wild mushrooms. The cheese course is always worthwhile
in the French Alps, where superb Beaufort, Reblochon,
Tomme de Savoie, and crumbly Bleu de Gex are made.
An Age-old Artistic Legacy
The art and architecture of the Rhône Valley
and the Alps tell a mesmerizing story of the region's
past. An artistic legacy built up over thousands
of years still bears the visible signatures of the
civilizations who crafted it. The wall paintings
of the recently discovered Chauvet Cave in Ardèche
reveal the talents of Magdalenian artists who lived
20,000 years BC. The Orgnac Caves lead spelunkers
into a spectacular subterranean maze; above ground,
the Prehistory Museum illustrates early humans'
workshops, shelters, and tombs. At the Marzal Caves
a prehistoric “zoo” recreates the huge
monsters that roamed this land long ago. Down in
the shivery Choranche Grottoes of the Vercors, an
underground lake and amazing stalactites await,
along with the ghosts of Resistance fighters who
launched guerilla attacks against the Nazis from
these caves and hills.
The huge Gaulish fortress of Larina at Hières-sur-Amby
near Grenoble was occupied from Neolithic times
until the eighth century of our era. The archaeological
park on the site documents the life of the Gauls—Allobroges,
Ambarres, Segusiaves, Helvians—who passed
through the region, paving the way for settlements
of the kind the Romans discovered when they came
to conquer. The Temple of Augustus and Livia in
Vienne, the Temple of Diana and the Baths at Aix-les-Bains
still speak of the glory that was Rome. On a smaller
scale, and perhaps more moving because of it, are
the second-century Roman villas of Saint-Romain-en-Gal
not far from Vienne. Set amid fountains and colonnades,
the dwellings were decorated with vivid polychrome
mosaics of seascapes and floral motifs—the
latter were copied throughout the empire. There
is an instructive Archaeology Museum on the site.
The vigorous spirituality of the Middle Ages still
radiates from the abbey church at Cruas on the Rhône,
the Alpine cathedral of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne,
and the cathedral of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux
in the Rhône Valley near Grignan. The Gothic
style made few inroads in the region, but the austere
elegance of the Romanesque reaches a pinnacle of
perfection at the monastery of La Grande Chartreuse
(which does not admit visitors), at the abbey of
Talloires, in its splendid site on Lake Annecy,
the Cistercian abbey of Léoncel, and at the
Chartreuse du Reposoir in the Aravis massif. On
the western shore of Lac du Bourget, in a sublime,
isolated site stands the abbaye of Hautecombe, founded
in 1125 by Saint Bernard. A community of Benedictine
monks continues to lead a life of meditation inside
this abbey, the burial place of the dukes of Savoie.
As heir to disputed borderlands and to the powerful
medieval states of Savoie and Dauphiné, Rhône-Alpes
bristles with a legion of fortresses and châteaux.
Just as Savoie's ducal castle watches over Chambéry,
Annecy is guarded by the twelfth-century fortress
of the counts of Geneva. Viewing the ramparts built
in the 1600s by Vauban at the Forts de Maurienne,
one can easily imagine the onslaught of an invading
army... A less bellicose spirit imbues the Renaissance
châteaux of Grignan (immortalized by Madame
de Sévigné), Tournon (in a ravishing
town), and Vogüé.
The venerable urban centers of the Rhône Valley
and the Alps preserve notable examples of civil
architecture. With Pérouges, in the nearby
Bresse region, Crémieu is one of the finest
medieval villages in France, rivaled perhaps for
sheer loveliness by Viviers on its perch above the
Rhône. Early Renaissance town houses in the
old quarters of Vienne, Valence, and Romans-sur-Isère
irresistibly evoke Italian exuberance. So, in a
more stately fashion, does Grenoble's Palais de
Justice, built under Louis XII. As you travel through
the upper Maurienne and Tarantaise massifs, don't
be fooled by the sober façades of the churches
and chapels in Valloire, Lanslevillard, Peisey-Nancroix,
Saint-Nicolas-de-Véroce: inside, the Baroque
explodes in an orgy of gilt, twisting columns, and
polychrome altars.
A Huge Fruit Basket
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Vieux Lyon |
Industry
developed early in this part of France. As far back
as the fifteenth century Romans-sur-Isère
prospered from a booming trade in clogs and shoes.
Still the capital of French footwear, it honors
the shoemaker's art in its unique Musée de
la Chaussure. Hats have their own museum in Chazelles-sur-Lyon,
where they have been manufactured since the Renaissance
(though the industry is in steep decline), and Sévrier
on Lake Annecy hosts a museum that commemorates
the famous bells cast at the Paccard foundry. The
silk industry that flourished in nearby Lyon until
the nineteenth century fostered the spinning, weaving,
and printing factories that once were scattered
throughout the Vivarais and Dauphiné. Today
pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and nuclear energy fuel
the economy of the Rhône Valley, while the
Alps, with their immense hydroelectric resources,
continue to draw industries (steel, aluminum, chemicals)
that require tremendous reserves of energy.
Heavy industry isn't the whole story, of course.
Grenoble still employs watchmakers and leatherworkers.
Quality handcrafts abound: the pottery of Dieulefit
in the Drôme is renowned, but all over the
region you can visit glass blowers, stained-glass
artists, and wood carvers who open their workshops
to the public. And skilled cabinetmakers perpetuate
the traditional country furniture for which Savoie,
in particular, is noted. Farmers and winemakers,
cheese-makers and sheep herders account for a cheering
proportion of the population.
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Hermitage |
From
vineyards around Ampuis and Tain-l'Hermitage come
the mightiest of the northern Côtes-du-Rhône
wines—Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, Cornas.
Ardèche also produces delectable little country
wines, and the herb-fed lamb and tangy goat cheeses
that partner them so well. The Drôme supplies
local markets with honey and truffles, as well as
olives and their gloriously perfumed oil pressed
in the mills of Nyons. In fact the entire Rhône
Valley is one huge fruit basket, overflowing with
strawberries, cherries, melons, raspberries, blueberries,
peaches...
Charming Towns and Cities
The
exceptionally beautiful cities that grace the Rhône
Valley and the Alps are a pleasure to explore. Rising
mountains surround Grenoble like the tiers of an
amphitheater: “au bout de chaque rue, une
montagne“ (“at the end of each street,
a mountain”) is how Stendhal, the novelist
who is Grenoble's most famous son, described the
city where he was born in 1783. Ride a cable car
up to the Fort de la Bastille, a citadel set above
the Isère River, and take in the heart-stopping
view. You'll understand why Grenoble is called the
“Gateway to the Alps.” Recover from
your emotion at a café on Place Grenette,
then make time for a visit to the distinguished
Musée de Grenoble, an art museum that opened
in 1994 on Place de la Lavalette in the city's historic
center, with collections that range from Egyptian
antiquities to Pop Art.
Noble Chambéry, the heart of Savoie, still
beats with the glory of its ancient dukes, whose
(heavily restored) château gazes down on Place
Saint-Léger and old Chambéry. In this
artfully refurbished vieille ville shoppers and
strollers amble through narrow, winding streets
unimpeded by traffic, among Italianate houses that
date from the Middle Ages to the Empire. Jean-Jacques
Rousseau made his home in Chambéry. His spirit
lingers at Les Charmettes, just outside of town,
where he lived with Madame de Warens in idyllic
happiness.
Chambéry's eternal rival, Annecy admires
its reflection in the limpid mirror of its lake.
The city's pride is understandable: the exquisite
harmony of mountains and pure, blue water make Annecy
resemble a jewel poised in a setting of snowy peaks.
Masses of flowers brighten the quays along the canal,
and the old town's cobbled streets brim with charm.
The best way to see the lake is by boat (cruises
leave from Quai du Thiou), for fabulous views of
castles at Duingt and Menthon-Saint-Bernard, or
fabulous meals at Talloires (L'Auberge du Père
Bise) and Veyrier-du-Lac (La Maison de Marc Veyrat).
From the feudal fastness of Aubenas in Ardèche
to the bustling market town of Valence on the Rhône
and the Alpine crossroads of Gap, charming and historic
towns are scattered throughout the region: romantic
Aix-les-Bains, Vienne with its summer jazz festival
staged in a Roman theater, the nostalgic spa towns
of Thonon-les-Bains and Évian on the shores
of Lake Geneva... The Rhône Valley and the
Alps offer more varied sources of wonder and excitement
than a traveler could exhaust in several lifetimes.
Back to The
Rhône Valley & The Alps
Images courtesy of La
Maison de France
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