The rest of the Briancon trip....

[Francois_Dumas]

..... lets continue our morning stroll through the Cité Vauban at Briançon then. We were just getting to the church....

 

 

 

There's the tourist office, just on the corner...

 

 

 

According to that sun clock it was 8:30 in the morning..... I told you we were early !!

 

 

 

 

 

We went inside. Always amazed by the grandeur of these churches, for such small towns.... Nina wanted to burn some candles for her mother of course.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can even get married up there..... I bet that would be a nice, special wedding!

 

 

 

Looking in the direction we came from the day before. Go all the way around that mountain on the right and you're headed for Gap.

Straight ahead you'll go south and will need to cross some passes somewhere....

And to the left is Italy, cross a small pass and get to Torino !

 

 

 

Looking west into the valley we had to go (and then turn south) to get back home.....

 

 

 

The church is pretty much on the edge of the fortress...

 

 

 

Walk around the church and we get back to the main entrance gate, the one we took with the bike earlier. Still cars parked inside.... in Holland this would all be 'pedestrian zones'!

 

 

 

Each fortress consisted of at least three levels deep of defensive structures. On those tri-angular areas they would have canon, shooting 'cross' to cover the terrain between them.

There were also walls between the cannon, so if the powder of one battery got hit it wouldn't take out all the defenses in one blow.

 

 

 

Wondering how many muskets and muzzle loaders peeked through this slat. And what the soldiers must have thought and felt in those days. Not much different from now I reckon ! But at least there weren't any aircraft to drop stuff on ya !

 

 

 

The three levels can be clearly seen here, with the 'canon triangle' in the center....

 

 

 

Hey, there are even a few riders hidden here somewhere !

 

 

 

A view from the main bridge....

 

 

 

And towards the other bridge, the one we walked over to enter.

 

 

 

From here we took the wrong way out of town, as I mentioned already..... fortunately the sun helped me. I figured I should not be squinting into it when riding west !!!

 

So we turned around and then continued our trip over the Col de Galibier and Col de la Telegraphe.

 

I've already posted those trips. But what I haven't shown you yet is the day BEFORE...... I will.

 

 

 

 

 

[Twisties]

Thanks!

[Paul_Burkett]

Very nice, I really liked the inside of the church, the pillars look like marble and the stones on the floor look well worn from years of good use.