A road called Route des Crêtes (First part)

By Cherie Mercado Santos

First of two parts

In all those decades I’ve been dreaming of setting foot in southern France, I would never have guessed that my favorite place would turn out to be a stretch of road.

Not that southern France was disappointing that all I could point out as a favorite was a lousy stretch of road. On the contrary, it was even more beautiful than I had imagined. But just as one wise man said, “Life is full of surprises; let life surprise you,” this stretch of road (or, more aptly, a “snake” of road) took my breath and my husband’s away.

It offers the best views in France, and maybe even in the whole of Europe.

Let me introduce you to Route des Crêtes (La Ciotat).

Route des Crêtes (La Ciotat)

Thanks to the First World War, this high-altitude road in southern France was built.

The purpose was to enable the faster movement of French troops from one valley to another. But now, this beautiful coastal cliff passage offers a rare majestic feast for the senses.

Discovering Route des Crêtes was a happy accident. It did not come up on my extensive research on places to visit on the French Riviera.

We were lucky enough to have been tipped off by the kind owner of the charming Le Mas d’Entremont hotel.

Just before leaving his beautiful property in Aix, Nicolas shared with us a sweet secret: take a slight detour on our way to Cassis and pass through Route des Crêtes. “You’ll get to see the Mediterranean from one of the highest points in Europe and the highest in France. You won’t regret it.” We loved Nicolas and his farmhouse estate, but after seeing Route des Crêtes, we loved him even more.

This 15-kilometer snake road opens to a jaw-dropping panoramic view of the sea and mountains, rocks and wild scrubland, limestone cliffs, and rugged vegetation.

The whole nine-mile stretch gives you a 360-degree view of one of the most breathtaking views of Provence. Every few minutes, a look-out point emerges, allowing you to indulge in its majestic splendor from several angles, with the deep blue Mediterranean as a constant backdrop.

This is where you get the chance to stand on top of France’s highest sea cliff, the Cap Canaille, a headland of red ocher rock that drops 394 meters.

From afar, looking toward the town of La Ciotat, you’ll see the lush, wild Provence vegetation, with its pine trees, Mediterranean oak, even wild rosemary and thyme and some wildflowers during spring anchored on ancient rocks, and several shades of ocher soil.

On the opposite side, toward Marseille, you could see the soft lacy fringes of the Calanques (an inlet or cove walled with steep rocks, such as limestone) majestically resting on the shore.

The Calanques are a series of rugged rock formations along the Mediterranean. It’s so beautiful, so dramatic and so ancient that it makes me wonder why I didn’t put that as my favorite place in southern France. But I know why, it’s because something very special happened in this ruggedly zigzagging, breathtaking, amazing road called Route des Crêtes, and that I shall reveal later. Plus, I have not explored the whole of the Calanques. I shall save that for another trip, but I just might write about those legendary majestic fjords in my next article. Who knows where my frivolous mind will take me.

Route des Crêtes is located between the beautiful coastal town of Cassis and neighboring area La Ciotat in southern France. Five kilometers E from Cassis, 35 km E from Marseille, 54 km S from Aix-en-Provence, 200 km W from Nice. In driving time, that would be just 10 minutes away from Cassis, 40 minutes from Marseille, an hour from Aix-en-Provence and two hours from Nice.

By the way, route des crêtes is a generic term meaning “road across the crests”: there are other routes of the same name elsewhere in France, for example, in the Vosges mountains in eastern France and in the Gorges du Verdon.

This particular one is in La Ciotat. It’s a dream destination for bikers, hikers, cyclists, nature-trippers, rock climbers, summit-seekers, lovers and camper-van enthusiasts. For the less athletic, a comfortable car ride can bring you there quickly and conveniently.

I’m at a loss for words describing how it feels to be standing on the rocky ledge, with a thousand-foot drop to the vast deep blue Mediterranean, my view slightly blurred from time to time by a thin fog.

To be concluded next week