Medieval village of Sainte Agnes
written by vicuna
on April 27th, 2008
(0 votes)
This little village is a rare photographic, historic and romantic spot on the Cote d’Azur. Sainte Agnes has the official title of the “highest coastal village of Europe”!! Indeed, it’s only 3 km far from the sea and 800m high, so you got a great point of view about the whole coast of Menton (also very nice little old town…) and the beginning of Italy, and the pre-alps mountains (Mercantour parc, great place too…) behind you. An old castle (mostly in ruins) is on the top of the mountain and was built at the beginning of the 14th century with the village just below. It was a main place to control the coast and to see quickly the enemies approaching from all around. Between 1932 and 1938 a military base of the “ligne Maginot” was built inside the mountain (it was part of the defensive line between France and Germany and Italy) with big artillery towards the sea and Italy!! Nowadays it’s empty and you can visit it without problems, very interesting :)
For taking pictures it’s a great place: the view point is unique and when the sun goes down behind the mountains, you can play with it, with the shadows and rays for good shots… The city of Menton is at your feet, you can see the whole valley with the mountains surrounding it. The wide blue Mediterranean sea is in front of you and sometimes, early in the morning, you can see the reflection of Corsica island (not the true island, but a kind of strange phenomenon that gives you the “shadow” of it), a real beauty for your eyes and for your camera’s lens :)) It’s understandable why the people in the middle-ages chose this place because you dominate everything. Love this place!!
To go there, it’s very simple: take the A8 Highway from Nice or Monaco, and follow the direction “Menton”. Take this way out (“Menton, Ste Agnes”) and follow the direction “Ste Agnes”, the road is climbing high on this littlle mountain (if you are going down to the sea, you’re wrong….) and follow the road (it’s the only one) to Ste Agnes and you’ll soon discover the castle on his rock and the little village. Enjoy! :)
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