Looking south
Moustiers was founded by Sainte Maxime, the bishop of Riez, who arrived from the Abbey de Lerins with a handful of monks in 434. (The Lerins Islands, situated off the coast from Cannes, had been inhabited by the Romans since the 1st century. They had attracted other island loving saints from afar, eg, St. Patrick who allegedly left Ireland to study there in the 5th century.) Initially the monks lived in caves and drank from the spring which flows out of the cliff face. The town has been a site of pilgrimage since 470. (I have written a bit about this in the post "This is not how I was expecting it to be" 8th August.)
The present village was built on platform terraces a hundred metres up the side of a limestone cliff on the site of a 10th century castrum, or permanent village. A stream which runs through a narrow rocky canyon divides the town into two. The sound of water can be heard all over the village, as it flows down its natural course or is channeled into the numerous fountains, as a drone under the babble of the huge tourist population who come to wander the medieval streets and vaulted passages, and buy traditional faience pottery.
heading east
The Gorges of Verdun
25 kilometers long and 700 meters deep
The turquoise colour is due to its glacial sources. The fine minerals,
"rock flour" are suspended in the water and is called "glacier milk".
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