If the biggest museums in the world share Paul Cézanne's oils and watercolors, Provence retains its muse: Sainte-Victoire. Blue, gray, orange or pink depending on the time of day and the mood of the sky, this mountain is a living spectacle. Its versatile colors, which fascinated the painter, continue to captivate budding artists and hikers. From Aix-en-Provence, through the posts where Cézanne set his easel, it is possible to reach Le Tholonet to set out to conquer this limestone giant, culminating at 1,011 meters at the Pic des Mouches.
On the shaded heights of the small village, the departmental area of Roques-Hautes is home to a deposit of dinosaur eggs, also world famous. The surrounding countryside, covered with pines and junipers, is the heart of Aix-en-Provence. The footpaths trace sinuous lines in these valleys of blood clay and meet at the Zola dam. The book recalls that in Provence, water is a treasure.
Designed by François Zola, the writer's father, it is one of the first arch dams in France. Its reservoir supplied Aix, its fountains and its fields during the second half of the 19th century. From there, the balcony paths advance with the Sainte-Victoire in sight. But the country walk in front of these Cézanne panoramas turns into a sporty walk if you decide to climb towards the ridge, up to the Croix de Provence.
View this post on Instagram
Had Cezanne seen Sainte-Victoire from this angle? #myprovence #saintevictoire #vacancesenfrance #naturewonders #wilderness #outdoors #hiking #trek #rando # summer2020
A post shared by Hello Adventure! (@jcurbain) on Jul 5, 2020 at 2:20 am PDT
A fragile environment
Nearly 700,000 visitors come each year to tread the trails of this 18-kilometer massif. Stretched from east to west, from the Var to the Bouches-du-Rhône, this mineral vessel has two very different sides, North and South. Mediterranean vegetation flourishes on its sunny side while alpine nature thrives on the other side. The entire massif thus hosts an exceptional flora of 900 flowering plants, or 20% of French flora.
Spectacular, with its immaculate cliffs, 600 meters high, the southern slope is the most popular with visitors. But it is also the most vulnerable. In August 1989, a terrible fire devastated the site on 5,000 hectares! Since then, Sainte-Victoire has been classified as a “special protection zone” and its access is regulated during the summer. Between the young pines, charred branches always remind us that nature is at the mercy of our negligence.
Trip
Reunion: an island with Dantesque landscapes, cut out for hiking
Trip
Athens has been worshiping good food since Antiquity
Information
To find out the conditions of access to the Sainte-Victoire massif from June 1 to September 30, three possibilities: the voice server of Provence Tourisme at n ° 0811.20.13.13, the site of the Prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône or the MyProvence Balade mobile application.
- Hiking
- Trip
- Provence
- Summer holidays