Page 70 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

68  PROVENCE AREA B Y AREA

2Puget-Théniers Paris Commune in 1871. A year
later he was imprisoned for life
Road map E3. * 1,920. £ n RD
6202 (04 93 05 05 05). Closed Oct– and served seven years, having
Mar. ∑ provence-val-dazur.com already spent 30 years in jail.
This attractive village lies at the 3St-Cézaire-
foot of a rocky peak, nestling at
the confluence of the Roudoule sur-Siagne
and the Var beneath the ruins of Road map E3. * 3,850.
a château that belonged to the n 3 rue de la République
Grimaldi family (see pp82–3). The (04 93 60 84 30). ( Tue & Sat.
old town has some fine medieval ∑ saintcezairesursiagne.fr
houses with overhanging roofs,
but the chief attraction is the Dominating the steep-sided
13th-century parish church Siagne valley, St-Cézaire has
Notre-Dame de l’Assomption. been inhabited since pre-Roman
The delightful altarpiece, Notre- times. The walls and gates of
Impressive upstream view of the upper Dame de Bon Secours (1525), the village are reminders
Gorges du Cians is by Antoine Ronzen. of its feudal past. At its heart
Inside the entrance, the is the 13th-century Eglise
1Gorges du Cians altarpiece of the Passion Paroissiale Notre-Dame
(1520–25) – the de Sardaigne, which houses
Road map E3. k Nice. £ Nice,
Touët-sur-Var, Valberg. n Pl Charles masterpiece of the a Gallo-Roman tomb dis-
Ginésy, Valberg (04 93 23 24 25). church – is by Flemish covered nearby – a fine
craftsmen, working with example of Provençal
Among the finest natural sights the architect and sculptor Romanesque design.
in the region, these gorges are Matthieu d’Anvers. From the medieval part
a startling combination of deep Beside the main road, of the village, there is a
red slate and vivid mountain the statue of a woman magnificent viewpoint.
greenery. They follow the course with her hands tied To the northeast of the
of the river Cians, which drops is called L’Action village are the Grottes
1,600 m (5,250 ft) in 25 km Enchaînée, by Aristide de St-Cézaire-sur-
(15 miles) from Beuil to Touët- Maillol (1861–1944). Siagne – iron-rich
sur-Var. At Touët, through a grille It commemorates L’Action Enchaînée, in caves filled with
in the floor of the church nave, the local revolution- Puget-Théniers square beautiful rock
you can see the torrent below. ary, Louis-Auguste crystallization.
Approaching from the lower Blanqui. He was born in the Dramatic stalactites and
gorges, olives give way to town hall in 1805 and became stalagmites have formed on
scrubland. It is not until Pra one of the socialist heroes of the the cave ceilings and floors,
d’Astier that the gorges become
steep and narrow: at their
narrowest, the rock walls entirely
obliterate the sky. Higher still
up the gorge, you may spot
saffron lilies in June.
At the upper end of the
gorges, overlooking the Vallée
du Cians, is the 1,430-m (4,770-ft)
eyrie of Beuil. Now a military
sports centre, it was first fortified
by the counts of Beuil, members
of the aristocratic Grimaldi
family (see pp82–3). They lived
here until 1621, despite staff
revolt: one count had his throat
cut by his barber and another
was stabbed by his valet. The
last, Hannibal Grimaldi, was
tied to a chair and strangled by
two Muslim slaves. Stones from
their château were used to build
the Renaissance chapel of the
White Penitents in the 1687
Eglise St-Jean-Baptiste. Antoine Ronzen’s altarpiece Notre-Dame de Bon Secours (1525), Puget-Théniers
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp198–9 and pp208–11