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Gorge du Verdon

Europe France

Gorge du Verdon Itinerary and Activities

28th October 2017 - 13 min read

Les Gorges du Verdon or often called the Grand Canyon of Europe is one of the must-see natural wonders of Provence. We heard from Damar’s friend about this place for the first time. He suggested to go there for camping and he was right!! Frankly I never thought there is such place in Europe. I know I underestimate the nature that Europe has to offer too much. One of the reasons I think that way is because I am used to the flat ground surface of Netherlands.

Gorge du Verdon has such a great vibe. It is very touristy especially in the summer time. During summer time, you better try to catch the river quite early to avoid the crowd. It is worth visiting by anyone in need of a reality check on the passage of time. You should trust me when I say that floating along the lake Gorge feels super majestic. Just imagine centuries ago, it used to be a gigantic mountain and dropped little by little with water until it is split and become a beautiful blue flowing river. It’s called persistence! And I got to float on it 🙂

In this post I will walk through our activities in the 5 days 4 nights stay. Believe me, there’s no shortage of activities in Gorges du Verdon unless when the weather does not allow.

Day 1

We arrived in Nice airport in the morning and directly fetched our rented car that were awaiting. So happy that we got a car with open roof in such a sunny day. We stopped on our way to get all the utilities and food+water we might need in the camping site. On the way, we visit convenient store Intermarche in the city we passed by. The purpose was to be well stocked for our way and for the first 2 days in the camp at least.

We continued to take the route below, which is one of the most scenic drive in Europe. The last thing you would do is falling asleep in that type of scenery. Prepare a good playlist to listen while enjoying the beauty of nature or just have a life (or even trivial) talk with whom you have the drive with.

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One of a lot of stops we made on our way to Gorge du Verdon. Take your time and stop as much as you want, because the way back would be different and it’s worth the air you breath. 

After around 2,5 hours we finally arrived in our camping site. I was quite surprised with how western takes camping life to the very next level. Most of them are French, Dutch and German (obviously). They literally had every single thing ones have in the house except toilet. Whilst, our are just one mini tent that did not allow us to even stand tall. Luckily we both are small.

Somehow we were so tired, so after building up our tent, settled in and took a visit to the the close ‘beach’ that is just in front of our stay site, we fell asleep and woke when the sun was reaching to set. Look how beautiful it is..  We enjoyed it for a bit, cooked rice, instant noodle, and pouched eggs in our teeny tiny pot. Ahh the feeling to be in nature was just so worthwhile.

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Day 2

We got ready at around 9, but unfortunately the wind was not very cooperative with our plan to hike. So we had to wait.. The sport activity was even all cancelled due to the bad weather. We just walked around the camp and played table tennis until around 1, then we had lunch with our canned and instant food. I don’t know why but in camp situation where food are limited, canned and instant food taste so good!

When the wind got calmer around 1.30 pm we headed to route D71 and started our hiking there. It was not an official hiking track or anything. We found this route on google as I looked for level easy for 5 miles. We started quite late, so to be safe we took the easy way.  Turned out we ended up in the military terrace that is prohibited to trespass. Yes we did not reach the peak, but it is okay, because the purpose of me hiking is to engage with nature and be in wild just with Damar (and wind sound + bird chirping). I got all that and sweat was bonus, so that made me very happy. That was just how I always picture the kind of relationship and experience I want to go through with Damar.

After that we just go back on our way further to D71 and enjoyed what we encountered on our way

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Day 3

If you go around September, you should start checking the weather forecast in order to plan your activities. You will eventually find it by the feeling of increased temperature or rain or by the sport activities worker telling you not possible to play with water. But before all efforts you make, keep yourself updated with weather forecast as Summer has slowly gone in that period.

We were planning to do the sport activity but the wind was too severe that day. So we went up there and drove along the villages nearby the camping site location.

Moustiers- Sante- Marie

Do not underestimate this village!! After we parked our car in a street parking spot, which was easy to find, we made a wrong turn and ended up in the only restaurant we could see. So we took a break and had coffee. I thought at that time, how small this village is. It is up the hill and it let you see the scenery to the green forest area in the lower level. Nice but tiny.

Little did we know, there was another turn to the city that we eventually took. The view I was looking at was mesmerizing. There was a spring flows through the cliff in the middle of the town and creates a waterfall which is provides water power. There were many pottery shops which made me gasps, so incredible. I can’t imagine it’s all man-handmade and supposedly by the local people. The village was built on terraces and you can hike meters up in the side of a cliff. See the video in this link.

Above the town, a gold-painted star hangs on a 225m-long chain suspended between two cliffs. Its origin, according to a legend popularised by Provençal poet Frédéric Mistral, lies in the 10th century; the original star and chain have been replaced several times since then. The current star is about 50 years old. Ten years ago it fell after the chain snapped, and was rehung using a helicopter. (Source: Wikipedia

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Sainte Croix

The beauty in this experience is not the village itself, but the road we passed to get through this village. Actually I always want to go to the Lavender field, and we surprisingly drove through it!!! I only could play with my imagination how even more beautiful it would be with full lavenders. No wonder I already found a lot of lavender based products in the other village. Well, after all it’s Provance.

The fully bloom time would be around Jun-Jul and Jul-Aug for harvesting period. I guess there is always a reason to come back 🙂

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Lavender field without lavender

Day 4

Finally, although this is the day we would leave Gorge du Verdon, but it was exciting to do Kayak/Canoe in the beautiful famous Sainte- Croix lake. We went to the Bae de l’etoile. There are also another boat rental company in the opposite. Start early, but make sure that sun is already up to make a good picture lighting and also to give warmth.

We chose canoe out of ignorance. After that we learnt the difference and next time we would take kayak. The difference is canoe paddle has a blade on one end, while a kayak paddle is bladed at both ends. Canoe has the raising end in the boat and kayak has only one, the other end is flat.

By the way, the water was quite cold, but it’s worth to jump!Untitled

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We rented the canoe for 2 hours (30 eur) and once finished, we drove towards Castellane. On this way, we got hitch hiked for the second time during this trip. Funny enough, the 2 hitch hikers speaks quite a bit Indonesian. Damar and I were really surprised because they are French. They love Indonesia and they had lived there for 2 months. Oh what are the chances! For this hitch hike subject, I’d suggest to do it only when you feel comfortable. You’ll find a lot of them waving in the street.

My one and only thought, do something good and greatness will come back to you. Also as my dad says, be kind and positive, everything will be okay when your intention is good. We have extra seats and we love getting to know new people while listening to their stories. So why not? 🙂

Castellane

It is a small town in the Provencal Alps on the Route Napoléon. Castellane has about 1,600 inhabitants. It has the distinction of being the least in population sub-prefecture of France. It is quite big comparing with the other villages, unfortunately we did not have much time to go around. But if you have more time, it’s a must to explore! We aimed to pass the cliff side before dark.

Because we had such an early flight, we wanted to find a city nearby in which we could also explore a bit. We drove via D2 towards Cagne- Sur-Mer. We do not have pictures in Cagne-Sur-Mer but I completely fell in love. It’s so petite, beautiful and warm. There’s a castle in there and we stayed just next to it.

Handy Tips

In Gorge du Verdon: We stayed in a camping site called La source. Highly recommended. Price: 28eur per night

In Cagne sur Mer: We stayed in Chateau Le Cagnard. Price: 60 eur per night

Getting Around: Do yourself a favor and rent a car. You’ll be glad with that decision.

Pack: For Verdon Gorge you’ll definitely want to bring snacks and water. For more, check out my other blog post.

Kayaking/canoeing: We paid 30Euros to rent for two hours. The price includes a life vest and parking is free.

Europe France

Gorge du Verdon Tips and Trick

25th October 2017 - 9 min read

It is no doubt that South of France is a must destination to visit especially in Summer time. I had been there once and stayed in Nice as well as visit Monaco with my friends. Now, it would be a total different kind of experience since Damar and I wanted to go for camping. We always wanted to go camping to see how we liked it and if so, to repeat it in the future. Both of us love nature so much, so we started from the friendly one. Camp in the Camping Site is a friendly step, note that it is not allowed to wild camp in Europe. Although, we met a few hitch hikers who did such, BUT only for a night.

The nature was jaw dropping and I literally had so many breath taking moment. Gorge du Verdon is located in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. It is a river canyon that is often considered to be one of the most beautiful in Europe. The Gorges du Verdon is about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) long and up to 700 meters (2296.59 feet) deep. At the end of the canyon, the Verdon River flows into the man-made lake, the Lac de Sainte-Croix. The gorgeous turquoise-green color river.And oh! not forget to mention, the road trip via Napoleon route was a moment I would never forget.

Where to land?

We chose to fly to Nice, some people also goes to Marseille. More or less it takes around the same duration. We chose Nice because the flight was cheaper (obviously! :P). Why pay more, when it’s not more efficient?

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*Please note that the map is only to show the duration, not necessarily the exact same route we took.

Transportation

We intended to rent a car there in France. However, we had only a narrow option due to no credit card. None of the car rental would rent out their vehicles without a proof of ownership of credit card from the rider which is understandable. It is not a good example, but Damar finally found a way. He found the ‘snapcar‘ version of France, which is called ouicar. Knowing neither of us had no credit card, the owner was still letting us rent. I do think it’s against the rule of the company, but we were really lucky! Luckily also, we got a very cool car with open roof. We rode along the road feeling like a millionaire (just a little!).

So rent a car and arrange before your flight so you have a security once landed in terms of transportation. Public transportation is not recommended and it is quite difficult too to be flexible.

Here you can find some of options of car rental in France.

Road Trip and Route

Prepare yourself mentally and your photograph gear because this road trip would be one of the most beautiful car journey. It is one of the finest, most scenic and exciting mountain drives in the world. There is no other mountain road route of such duration and awesome beauty so rewarding to drive. Damar and I often gasped after making a turn, because what we saw next was more and more beautiful. At over 730M up we could see down into the gorge.Image result for napoleon route

Source: http://www.alsgodinzuidfrankrijk.nl/nl/routes/la_route_napoleon. The Route Napoléon is the route taken by Napoleon in 1815 on his return from Elba. 

 

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Our pose on our way

Driving the Verdon Gorge puts the car on the mountainside of the road. Some people wonder whether or not it is safe to drive along side the mountain. From Damar’s perspective, it was not as scary as he thought, because with the narrow roads, there were still barriers on the cliff side. Just make sure that you stay in the road and be extra vigilant with other cars. Sometimes they who come from the opposite way do not want to share the road.

From people’s review, during Summer (end of Jun, Jul, Aug), there are usually traffic jam where cars are in line, so maybe avoid it? That is when the people with manual car is tested with their driving skill 😉 It’s worth every nail-biting moment though.

A MUST PASS ROAD: D71, D952

Skip to 2:00 to see how the view in the road.

Where to camp?

There are literally a lot of camping site options in this area. We went to ‘Camping La Source‘ that rates 28 euro plus 5 euro of electricity. We had no complains, customer service was so good, the sanitary was always controlled hence super duper clean. I would suggest to search a camp in the area of the lake. Our camp site was just 2 minutes (100 m) away from the beach lake. Most of the time it was more quiet than the main lake, so you could have your own quality time with yourself, partner or family.

The camp site had some entertainment options, they had kayak-canoe0-boat rental as well as table tennis. It’s the heaven of water sport and the camping provided your needs. Too bad we did not have chances to use the rental facility due to the time restrain and bad weather.

Tips: Bring your own dishes cleaning tools! And no need to take electricity if you only need it for your phone. You can do this in the reception. 

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A view 2 mins away from camping site

What to pack?

  • During the period of September – October, the weather might be unstable. I did not really this coming because I assumed that South of France will still be relatively warm. During the day, sun was out but being in a shadow would make you chilled. And it could be windy as well which what happened in the 2nd day we were there. In that case always bring extra sweater, socks and some layers!!!!!
  • Tent + sleeping bag
  • Toiletries
  • Flip flop – for going to the toilet etc. Don’t bring the fancy expensive one as it would get wet
  • Sneakers or mountain shoes
  • Cutlery
  • Lunch or food box
  • Reusable bottle
  • Plastics for dirty clothes and bin
  • Water, food, snacks, rice can be bought in the supermarket there
  • Sunblock + swimsuit + sunglasses
  • Stove + gas (in our case, we need the cable connector to connect French gas and Dutch stove)

Where to shop?

The campsite backs on to the village of Les Salles sur Verdon which means that campers can make use of the many shops (bakery, supermarket etc. ), restaurants and other service.

You can buy your groceries at 8 à Huit which is 3 minutes driving from the camping site.

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