As we arrived late in the evening the day prior we budget the today’s morning for a visit of Briançon. As it sits close to the border with Italy, and previously Austria it was a strategically important town that was heavily fortified by Vauban to protect against any potential invasion. And now those fortifications have been declared a Unesco World Heritage Site and we will try to visit them at least from the outside.
But first we have to get into town from our hotel which is just outside the fortified town. Even the town itself is quite heavily and impressively fortified from the outside something that we weren’t able to appreciate the day before.
There are some great views over the surrounding valley from the old city that is in a castle like position near the top of a hill.
In the old town we walk up the main street, Grande Rue, that we also walked the night prior searching for restaurants. It is a different vibe during the day, with more shops and kiosks open and lots more things to look at. We also pass by the impressive Notre Dame Church but we don’t enter it as it is closed.
Looking down the walls and around we notice that the sheep and goats in the area behave quite differently. Sheep are creatures of the night and seem to seek the shadow while Goats are creatures of the light and we find them in the sun. Or at least this is how it would be in a game, likely this is random but still fun.
We continue on towards the Fort du Chateau, Castle Fort, which is surprisingly closed. Or you have to be very thin to enter….
At least we can enjoy the great views of the nearby bridge and the gorge below. It is much deeper than we realized, not something that we are going to be able to try today.
We continue on trying to see if there is an alternate route to the fortress. Unfortunately there isn’t as the secondary road leads us to an active military(?) station that is closed to the public.
After returning to the hotel we decide to try to other side of the valley to get a different view of the city. It is quite worthwhile as we can get a better idea of how extensive the fortifications were, almost every hilltop is protected by a fort at the top.
There are also a few scenic villages on this side that we explore while finding a couple of geocaches but then it is getting late and we have to leave to continue our northwards journey.
Returning to the main road we pass through some beautiful orchards and forested patches, the fall colors are in full swing. And then it is time to leave the area as we make our way slowly through the Alps towards Chambery.
