Riviera to Champagne ~ via Le Route Napoleon

So now for one of the highlights of our road trip, the drive from Grasse through Digne to Sisteron along the Route Napoleon.

The current Route Napoléon, first opened in 1932, follows the route taken by Napoléon I in 1815 on his march from Elba to Grenoble. Napoléon had abdicated in April of 1814 and headed to Elba.  In March of 1815, he began his journey with the intention to overthrow Louis the 18th.

The historical aspect makes this road even better, Napoleon traced the route through the Alps leading to fabulous scenery and history.  It traces the foothills of the French Alps, at one stage going over the top, just below the snow line which is still present in mid June and through the valley floor.  It is a serious road to drive and is brilliant; but you never know where to look.  This part of the drive is just over 200kms but it took between four and five hours and was worth every minute.

And then we arrived in Sisteron, sitting high on the cliff walls running along the River Durance. Wow.  One of the most spectacular scenes arriving in a town I’ve ever experienced.

And there’s the hotel across the river – one of the most dramatic hotels we’ve ever stayed in and a lovely little town.

After we checked in, we relaxed with a few quiet refreshing beverages, admiring the picture postcard views.  Eventually we dragged ourselves away and wandered these beautiful streets, dotted with all kinds of interesting stores, bistrot, bars, tabac – craft and music filled.

After wandering aimlessly, and stopping for the odd refreshment, we happened upon a lovely small bistrot, (built into the side of the cliff) and the back half was a cave – amazing.  It was run by two charming young ladies named Claudin and Charmain.  Lamb is a regional specialty here so we obliged.  They also brew their very own craft beer – and it was very good.  In fact, to avoid being rude, I sampled a few of them.  I mustered the courage to have half a dozen escargot – which I hadn’t had in many years.  This time in a blue cheese sauce. Magnif. They were sitting in a pastry type shell that you eat at the same time….which I didn’t do because I thought they were shells.  Embarrassment…..

As much as we loved Sisteron, we needed to keep moving….Next section of the drive was also beautiful, heading north through Haute Provence to Aix Le Bains.  Through Castellane and a hundred gob smackingly beautiful villages, we struggled knowing which side of the car to look out….

Up and over the Alps, just on the snowline, and some serious photo opportunities presented themselves.  The road was wicked, but so enjoyable to drive.  We found several places to stop and just enjoy the view along the way.  We’d filled a picnic basket with lots of local goodies – cured meats and salamis, CHEESE CHEESE CHEESE, fresh batard, olives, pate, and of course a bottle of wine.  Now THIS is how you road trip !

We actually stayed in a place called Gresy Sur Aix which was forgettable a good location to explore.  The highlight of Gresy no doubt was a visit to the thermal baths and mineral springs.  Sensational!

We headed to the beautiful little town of Annecy and it was gorgeous.  Lovely little river running through the town, and it was packed visitors attending an animation convention! Really?  Great vibe and as we were heading toward the Swiss/German border we indulged in a simply beautiful three cheeses fondue. Haven’t had fondue for twenty years! It was brilliant.

Our drive continued north to the fairy tale picture postcard little town of Colmar.  To get there the best way was actually through Switzerland and Germany.  The French autoroutes are pay as you go and expensive.  The Swiss have a completely different system for their auto routes.  You buy a vignette, or a sticker to place on your windscreen for €38 and it gives you access to all roads in Switzerland for a year.  Or a day as was our case….lucky we found out about this, because failure to display a vignette costs you €200 fine.  Lots of cool towns along the way including Wankdorf, Wanger, and the exits which are called ausfahrts. Lots of excellent gutter jokes along the way while checking out the Swiss and French alps as you’d expect.

Colmar is the town which inspired Walt Disney to create Beauty and the Beast.  Lots of Gaston type houses and we were waiting for Belle to appear at every corner. Just picture postcard perfect. Keeping on the local food theme, the girls had potato Rosti and I had schnitzel.  Outstanding.  Beer and wine continues to be good.  It all seems so surreal….

Our good friend Peter would be in his element all along this drive, as cyclists almost outnumber cars, but they have the best roadway system and the cyclists stay in their allocated lanes and the cars leave them alone.  We could learn a lot from them.

We even saw lunatics like Pete trundling along carrying all their worldly possessions looking like they were about to die from exhaustion – generally near the top of a ridiculously high peak.  That’s why God made cars !!!

The last leg of this part of the road trip was another sensational drive through the Champagne region up to our base for a couple of days – Reims.  Which somehow is pronounced “Ransss”. Figure that out.  This area produces 100% of the worlds true Champagne.  Looking at the vineyards around its not hard to see how they can do it.  Vines as far as the eye can see.  Beautiful.

Reims is the commercial centre of the Champagne District, with more offices, restaurants, bars and nightlife and is right in the centre of the Champagne-Ardennes region.

It is also the home of a very significant event in world History.  On 7th May, 1945 the official surrender documents to signal the end of WWII were signed in a bunker set up by Gen Eisenhower and were signed on behalf of the German forces by General Alfred Jodl.

It was from this old school house, that Eisenhower plotted the American tactics that brought about this surrender.  The school house, containing the bunker is now preserved as a fantastic museum and a stark reminder of the events of the 1940s across Europe.  Very moving and informative – I didn’t know this place existed !

Short drives or train trips from Reims take you to the outlying, or working villages.  We took the train down to Epernay, which is about half an hour train drive and is the home to most of the major and not so major champagne houses.  Wow.  What a day.

The main drag is called Ave de Champagne.  Very original, but it is what it is.  The champagne houses are spectacular and you can do tours (paid of course) of their facilities, or just wander in and ask for a tasting..which we did of course.  Some are free, others you buy glasses of champagne as you wish and sit in a lovely garden, or their tasting cellar, or room enjoying the product.

Most cost between €5-7 and the premiums cost €8-10 so the value is terrific.  When you think that some of the champagnes we tasted were over $150 a bottle, spending $10 for a glass was pretty reasonable.

This is the home to Dom Perignon and Moët & Chandon which we visited, but we spent more time in the obscure houses and sampled a lot.  A lot.  We also bought a few Demi bottles, basically half bottles for between €9-11 of the ones we particularly liked.  Not sure if any will make it home, but they are good.

We wandered into an old house that doubled as a Champagne House, which allegedly produced some of the oldest Champagnes in the region.  By this stage we’d been on a tasting rampage for quite a few hours…..Anyway – into a lovely parlour where the three of us sat and were welcomed (maybe not the right word) by one of the partners.  She was hard work – nevertheless, we had the option of trying some of their Premium Product – “Why Not?”.

So, out came the three glasses and a bottle that looked a thousand years old.  When it was poured, it was quite dark in colour – almost amber, like beer I guess.  Now, at this stage of the day we were “experts” and proceeded to test the ‘nose’ of the champagne.  Immediately we all decided it was “rubbish” and smelled like a barn.  Onto the taste and our opinion got no better.

A second bottle was produced and a similar result from us – although we weren’t as vicious on the second tasting.  The host returned and asked our opinion…..bad move…..

Alas, she took no offence, although she did usher us out hastily, after charging us not much really – 30 euro – and proceeded to tell us that the first bottle that tasted and smelled like a barn had been continuously made from the same fruit for over 200 years and the bottle we tasted was 75 years old and sold for about 200 euro a bottle and had won myriad awards all around the world…..heathens !  Didn’t matte, it still tasted like crap !

Fantastic day out – one of the tour highlights.  Back to Reims for our last French dinner so we went full on – Karen had foie gras and a veal dish, I had cote de boeuf and Erin had a hamburger……standard. A great way to finish of our French adventure.

We finished our last full day in France with a tour of the Taittinger Champagne house and tunnels.  It was brilliant.  First a movie then down 18m to the chalk caves which go for over 200 kms and hold over 20 million bottles of champagne! It is simply insane And three blokes have the job to manually turn the bottles. True.

What a wonderful morning and a great way to end this French Road Trip.  With some supplies on board, we headed off for the shortish drive back into Paris, through country fields, champagne vineyards dotting the horizon as far as the eye can see, hot air balloonists above – it’s like a scene from a movie….until…..

Trying to find the rental car place at Charles de Gaulle Airport before our flight to Belfast….took nearly as long as the drive from Reims !!

So in just over two weeks, we have driven approx 3,400 kms, spent €200 in road tolls and about the same in fuel. Brilliant. And I’d do it all again tomorrow.

I guess if we could change anything it would be to have an additional four or five days to do this itinerary. A couple of our stops, like Annecy, Colmar and Aix en Provence deserve more than a 24 hour hit and run. Having said that, we just didn’t have the extra days and it’s better to have done it like we did than not at all. I would definitely recommend doing the drive yourself thing rather than trains and/or buses.  So much freedom, flexibility and adventure.  It basically cost us AUD$1,000 to have the car. Great value in my mind.

Overall France was fabulous. Terrific food, beer, wine, champagne everywhere. Didn’t have a bad feed and some beers and wines were just a bit better than others.

Scenery and fun stuff to do everywhere you turn, history, culture – it has the full monty. Our basic French got us through most of the time but did lead to some funny situations and the people in the main are very accommodating and friendly.  One particularly funny episode – well Karen thought it was hysterical, me not so…..we were driving south of the Loire Valley down toward Arles and Marseille and we had to pay to go over a bridge. Tollway number 400 for the day….anyway, in a bit of a panic this toll booth was different to most where you pay a flat fee on the spot rather than taking a token and paying on exit – or at some random toll booth.

Anyway…..I may or may not have gotten a bit flustered at this change of procedure…..the lovely toll attendant wished me a good journey (in French of course) so in my desire to return the compliment, I just blurted out the first thing that came into my head which was a good old stand by phrase that I had used a thousand times.  I looked at her as I said it and she gave me a weird stare/glare….how rude……  Until I saw Karen wetting her pants.  As I drove away,  I realised that I Said “yeah, I’m good!”

Well, it’s not far from the truth. Carry on.

France is expensive though. Eating and drinking out in bars, cafes, restaurants is not cheap. Supermarkets, patisseries, tabacs are very good value for money if you have your own facilities to cook and prepare meals. Parking is cheap, local transport is cheap. We often got supplies – bread, cheese, meat, water, wine and stopped for picnic lunches along the way.  Brilliant.

Now the restaurant/bistrot thing is one of the highlights of visiting France.  Cute locations, beautiful surroundings, good company to chat with, great food options. But we rarely spent less than AUD$100 a meal.   I guess the exchange rate doesn’t help.  Basically the cost of meals and drinks are the same as at home until the exchange kicks in.  For example a pint of very good draft beer is generally €7-8.  That’s what you’d pay at home in Aussie dollars but the exchange rate makes it about $11 or $12. Same with wines and food – same face value but 50% dearer. Entrees were £7-14 and mains were €15-30+ so, same face value as at home…

When we travel through Asia and some other European countries like Greece, Portugal, Spain for example that would feed us for three days.

Don’t get me wrong, we fully expected this and it’s not a complaint – it’s just an explanation and observation of how you need to plan ahead financially, otherwise you’re likely to suffer wallet burn out. Advice to anyone is just be prepared and don’t even think about the exchange rate.  You’ve got a pocket full of euros, that’s what it is. Simple.

Anyway – would we do it again? Absolutely. In a heart beat.

For more of our pics in Castellane click on this link

For more of our pics in Aix le Bains click on this link

For more of our pics in Annecy click on this link

For more of our pics in Colmar click on this link

For more of our pics from the Champagne District click on this link