Saint Vallier de Thiey

Taking the historic "Route Napoléon" is an adventure in itself. Saint-Vallier de Thiey is a stopover on this Napoleonic trail, and a very agreeable one.
The village was a seigneury until the Revolution, then a summer climate resort made fashionable by families from Grasse in the 19th century. The village has many interesting features, both historical and natural.

It sits on a limestone plateau beside a large verdant meadow, surrounded by medium mountains such as Montagne de Thiey (1552 m) and Plan de la Malle (1308 m), shaded by pines, oaks and beech trees.
It is a bucolic village particularly attractive to those who like the outdoor life.

Natural curiosities include: the natural tuff stone bridge at Ponadieu, a "druid's" stone and above all many converted caves and cavities (more than 50 in all). If you like underground mysteries you'll be in your element.
If you like underground mysteries you'll be in your element. Visitors can descend 100 metres underground in the sinkholes of La Malle and La Chauve-Souris. The Baume-Obscure caves offer a very long route, 800 metres, so that's not one for the claustrophobic!

On the heritage side, Saint-Vallier has a rich historical past, from prehistoric times to the Napoleonic era.
Dolmens, burial mounds and oppida can be visited at the Celto-Ligurian prehistoric camp, at Castellaras de la Malle.

But the old village itself also offers some wonderful sights to those who like to nose around: a 12th century church built from beautiful iridescent dressed grey stone, superb with its square bell-tower and campanile.
As you stroll along the narrow streets, after going through the old town gate carved out of the remains of the ramparts, you can admire some beautiful 15th century houses and old sheep barns, a superb polychrome marble fountain dated 1866, doors with sculpted lintels, vaulted passageways, little fountains, wash-house, etc.

Saint-Vallier is proud of the fact that Napoléon passed through the village on his return from the island of Elba (1815), as indicated by the commemorative column with a Corinthian capital and a bust of the Emperor.
Perhaps the locals will tell you the legend about a clever inn-keeper who took advantage of Napoleon's visit to his establishment to sell "the glass from which the Emperor drank" for a period of 20 years, and who having become wealthy deserted his village one fine morning and disappeared without a trace.

Today you will not be able to drink from this famous glass, but you can spend a night at the Relais Imperial, a fine hotel with a painting on its facade showing the Emperor on horse-back.