"National 7, we must take it that we go to Rome, to Sète". Charles Trenet made it a hit. During the post-war boom, this road embodied the joy of going on vacation after the privations of war. In 1956, paid holidays were reduced to three weeks and the car became more democratic. More and more families are moving down south. The motorway does not yet exist, so the Nationale 7, 996 kilometers long from Paris to Menton and which crosses 15 departments, will experience its heyday.
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The hours spent in the back of a Citroën DS family heading for the French Riviera, the road map on his knees, Thierry Dubois, 57, now a car designer, remembers them well. "It was hot, it was very long. We had only one desire: to dive into the Mediterranean", he says. "At the time, the cars were much more outward-facing. There is no air conditioning, people circulated with the windows open, which allows for a lot more contact," he recalls. -he. "Traffic jams made the fortune of the nougat makers of Montélimar. It took almost three hours to cross the city!"
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The arrival of the highway
The route of the Nationale 7, nicknamed "the road of the sun", was gradually deserted with the arrival of the motorway in 1970, and the opening of the A6. 15 years ago, Europe 1 handed the microphone to a nostalgic lunchtime retiree on the side of the road. "Here, it was the land of brooms. Vacationers stopped by the side of the road to buy a broom or a duster. It made the traders work," he recalled.
However, more and more holidaymakers are starting to roam the tar of the Nationale 7. Slow tourism enthusiasts, who want to immerse themselves in French heritage.