Taxi Nice — Sisteron

Sisteron is one of Haute-Provence's most spectacular sites, a fortress town clinging to a dizzying rock above the Durance cluse, the narrow natural passage where the river has carved its way between two mountains. Nicknamed the 'Gateway to Provence' because it marks the climatic and geographic boundary between the northern Alps and Mediterranean Provence, Sisteron impresses with its Citadel, a medieval fortress remodelled by Vauban in the 17th century, dominating the town from a 500-metre rock pinnacle. The Nights of the Citadel festival, featuring music, theatre and open-air dance each summer, uses this grand natural setting as its stage. The Rocher de la Baume, opposite the Citadel, offers an astonishing geological spectacle with its limestone strata folded vertically by tectonic forces, forming a stone organ unique in Europe. The old town of Sisteron, with its 'andrones' (medieval covered alleys), towers and fountains, retains authentic charm. Napoleon, during his return from Elba in March 1815, crossed the Durance at Sisteron, a key episode in his 'Flight of the Eagle' towards Paris. The journey from Nice crosses the entire Southern Alps, ascending the Var valley then traversing Haute-Provence through Digne-les-Bains, offering a voyage into the wildest and most luminous landscapes of the region.