Seehausen´s Travels The World 2008 - 2015: Frankrig

I dag tager vi på tur med sønnike, Mutti og Daddy, vi skal ud og se Gorges du Verdon som er det europæiske svar på Grand canyon

Mutti og Daddy nyder en lile pause med denne fantastiske udsigt

Vi kommer forbi Gréolières som er en samling af ruiner

4kms, 50 minutes uphill walk through the woods, 30 minutes back! Gréolières, the oldest perched village in Provence, has less than 500 inhabitants, 4 restaurants, a mini-market, gift shop and a hairdresser. It's a sweet place to stroll about, and very un-touristy, but to really understand the history of Gréolières you need to walk a further 10 minutes up the mountain to the ruined old town, now known as Haute Gréolières. Only the chapel has been restored since it was left to the elements when the plague came calling.

The inhabitants of Gréolières fled the town and crossed the valley to the village of Cipieres, taking the plague with them. The survivors who returned vowed never to live in the old buildings again and rebuilt their village just a short distance away. Even today many of the locals still own a few walls among the ruins, but the decision to leave the old village at rest remains.

The commune of Gréolières extends to 5267 hectares and once used to be predominantly farmland. Le Foulon itself was a farm, with the present building being the Maison de Maitre, or in other words, the boss' house. The farm workers lived just down the valley.

Så er vi ankommet til dagens hovedpunkt Gorges du Verdon

The Gorges Du Verdon (in French: Les Gorges du Verdon or Grand canyon du Verdon), in south-eastern France (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), is a river canyon that is often considered to be one of Europe's most beautiful. It is about 25 kilometres long and up to 700 meters deep. It was formed by the Verdon River, which is named for its startling turquoise-green colour, one of the location's distinguishing characteristics. The most impressive part lies between the towns ofCastellane and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, where the river has cut a ravine to a depth of 700 metres through the limestonemass. At the end of the canyon, the Verdon River flows into the artificial lake of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon (in French: Lac de Sainte-Croix).

Because of its proximity to the French Riviera, the gorge is very popular with tourists, who can drive around its rim, rentkayaks to travel on the river, or hike. The limestone walls, which are several hundreds of metres high, attract many rock climbers. It is considered an outstanding destination for multi-pitch climbing. The variety of 1,500 routes encompass cracks, pillars and seemingly endless walls, and range in distance from 20m to over 400m. The climbing is generally of a technical nature.

During the Triassic period, the French region of Provence subsided and was covered by the sea, leaving thick layers of various limestone deposits. Several million years later, with the arrival of the Jurassic period, the area was covered by a warm shallow sea, which allowed the growth of various Corals. The Cretaceous period saw what is now Basse Provence being raised and the sea reaching the current location of the Alps, which were themselves erected during the tertiary era. As a result of the large-scale geological activity, many of the Jurassic limestone deposits fractured, forming relief with valleys and other such features. The origins of the Verdon Gorge can be traced to this era.

The dawn of the Quaternary period had large-scale glaciation, transforming water pockets and lakes into unstoppable rivers of ice, which remodeled the topography, scouring and striating the landscape. At the end of this activity, erosion by rivers continued, forming the Gorge as it is today. The Verdon’s riverbed was scoured for a second time of the accumulated coral and limestone sediments, by a water delivery rate nearing 2000 to 3000 cubic metres per second.