Les Forts de l'Esseillon

One of the neatest things about the part of France we were in was the multitude of forts in the area. It seemed like everywhere we looked there was another fort perched on the mountainside overlooking the valley below. At first we thought these must have been some sort of lookouts built for use during the first World War, but then we saw signs indicating that they had been built in the 1800's. Armed with that information, we concluded that we knew very little about the history of Europe pre-WWI. In that sense, traveling around over here has been great - prior to this trip, it had never even crossed my mind to consider what have gone on in the history of other parts of the world. Living here has definitely been mind opening!

Well, we finally got to learn a bit about the history of the area when we hired a guide to take us rock climbing. After asking him about the forts, we learned that the region of France we were in used to be a small kingdom called l'Esseillon before it was a part of France. To protect themselves from French invasion, the people of the area decided to build forts that would guard the valley - France's only real option for an invasion. Unfortunately, France invaded just before the forts were completed and so many of them were never actually put to use. Today some of them are nothing more than ruins while others have been fully restored.

The first fort we visited was Fort Marie Christine. It has been restored and turned into a restaurant. You can tell how amazing it must have been in its day:

Ordering proved to be a bit of a challenge since the menus were in French and the waiter didn't speak a lick of English. Luckily, Jason was able to translate enough of the menu that we were able to have a rough idea what we were ordering. Unfortunately, sometimes the "in between" words get ignored when they are actually quite important. For example, we knew that jambon is the French word for ham. I like ham and, judging by the plethora of French words surrounding it, I made the assumption that I was ordering some sort of dish that included ham. I was WRONG. What I actually ordered was the hugest pile of ham I've ever seen in my whole life - that's it! Being the meat lover that I am...Jason got to share his dinner with me! To my delight, Jason saved his best French skills for ordering dessert, a course for which he seemed to understand every word. He ordered the most amazing chocolate souffle' and ice cream I've ever had!

While Jason was attending his conference, I decided to explore another nearby fort:

(Side note: As I was writing this up I thought to myself, I should translate this sign for my readers. Upon doing so, I discovered that the bottom line reads, "Historic Monument - DANGER - Visiting is highly discouraged"...Oops!)

The fort from a distance:

I have never felt more torn than I did while walking around this fort. It had some of the neatest opportunities for photography and I was having a blast taking pictures of it, BUT it also had what must be the highest concentration of lizards anywhere in the world. I couldn't take more than a few steps with one scampering across my feet - AGH! I made myself be brave and not leave, but there were definitely quite a few blurred pictures due to my inability to completely ignore the creepy creatures.

Some photos from inside the fort:

Usually I'm not a big fan of black and white photos, but for some reason I really like them for the fort!

The final fort we visited was Fort Victor-Emmanuel (all the forts were named after kings or queens of l'Esseillon):

In a moment of madness, we decided to visit this fort a little bit differently than the others... We hired a guide and began our hike...

...to la via ferrata:

La via ferrata translates roughly to "the way of metal." If you look very closely at the picture above (you might have to click on it to get a better view), you'll see pieces of metal rebar sticking out of the cliff face. These were our path to Fort Victor Emmanuel. It turns out that paths such as these were the most effective way of moving troops around the mountains and so la via ferrata can be found in many areas throughout the alps! Our route began from where I stood to take this picture:

It passed under this bridge and up to the dark black spot you might be able to make out near the top-center of the cliff face in the picture below.
Jason making sure his helmet is on tightly!

Getting ready to set out:

Jason pretending to fall - NOT FUNNY!

Stopping for a rest:

Spiderman!...notice the bridge in the bottom right of the picture. This was the first time I realized how far (and HIGH) we had come!

Storming the fort (notice the river in the top right of the picture, we are climbing straight up the face of the cliff!):

We made it! This particular path ended by climbing through an opening that was constructed for a cannon:

The light at the end of the tunnel:

Crossing the drawbridge:

Heading home...we survived!