La Croix des Pins

A lookout, a viewpoint

Heritage and history

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Aups, character village nestled at the foot of the Espiguières mountain in a privileged environment with rich heritage.

A hike that begins with the old streets of Aupsùs village, full of heritage and historical riches, then you will follow the circuit of the chapels to finally climb up to the Croix des Pins where you will discover a nice view on the village, the lowlands and the Var summits.

9 points of interest

Patrimony and history
Aups the insurgents village !
On December 2, 1851, our villages rise up to defend the Republic against the coup d'etat of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. Few people remember it. Peasants, bourgeois, artisans took up the weapons. They will be killed, arrested, deported, imprisoned. In Aups, a monument to the dead is erected for these fighters, the place is named Martin Bidouré in tribute to a young man shot twice. So many facts that place the village at the heart of this revolt, provincial and rural.
Produits du terroir
The truffle house
Provence is a land of truffles, and Aups one of the most emblematic places of its production. Here for a long time, the truffle is cultivated, harvested, venerated, sold, shared, and eaten. The truffle house that was born in 2015 is dedicated to this strange mushroom called "The Black Diamond". In a museum space dedicated to the terroir of Haut-Var during the interactive, fun and educational visit we discover the world of the Truffle, its history, its legends.
Produits du terroir
The Verdon black gold
Aups is famous throughout the region for its famous and highly anticipated market of the famous black truffle with perfume and incomparable taste, which specialists call Tuber melanosporum and the Provençaux, Rabasse. It takes place every Thursday morning from mid-November to mid-March. It is the most important market of the Var.
Patrimony and history
The Clock Tower
The clock tower was erected in the sixteenth century, first as a watchtower to protect the village and then served as a prison in safer times. Topped with a wrought iron campanile, inscribed in historical monuments, there is installed on the facade a clock. Inside the campanile is a sundial of great precision dating from 1760 with the motto "Ruris and urbis normal laborum" (I regulate the work of the family and fields).
Patrimony and history
The Aires door
The public areas, where the grain was trodden but also where the local tax was levied in kind until the revolution, were often in height, in windy places which allowed to better separate dust and screenings of the grain. They gave their name to this neighbourhood. We are outside the medieval district whose eastern limit is constituted by the street of the Aires at the bottom of which rises the Clock tower.
Patrimony and history
The Chapel of Our Lady of Deliverance
This large chapel, which dominates the agglomeration from a vast terrace, was built in 1852, in a neo-Gothic style. The events relating to the insurrection against the coup d'etat of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1851, made Aups the "center of the red Var". The order is restored in this year 1852, the prince-president became the Emperor Napoleon III. He amnesties the city which then decides to make this building, thanks to a vast subscription launched among the inhabitants.
Patrimony and history
Freedom, Equality, Fraternity
On the pediment is written the motto of the Republicans "Freedom, equality, fraternity" Indeed, the Var insurgents against the coup d'état of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte took refuge in the collegiate Saint-Pancrace during the "Battle of Aups" of 10 December 1851. At the time of the promulgation of the law of separation of the Church and the State in 1905, the Aupsois decided quite naturally like other communes of high Var to affix the motto of the French republic on the portal of their church.
Produits du terroir
The Verdon green gold
In many villages there used to be one or more oil mills where people entrusted their harvest to enjoy their "oil". Most disappeared in the early twentieth century, relayed by larger cooperatives. Yet the olive tree, symbol of Provence, was throughout the nineteenth century one of the main cultures of the Var region. It is from the olive oil that is manufactured the famous "Marseille soap" of Savonnerie marseillaises.
Patrimony and history
Holy Trinity Chapel
Small Chapel of the tenth and eleventh centuries.We do not know much about the Holy Trinity chapel. We can note successive reworkings of its architecture. A double door was pierced on the side. This kind of modification is found in chapels converted into barns. A military marker served as rubble at the base of one of the walls.

Description

From the tourist office, pass the St-Pancrace church and walk up Aups through the medieval streets (attention, the yellow markings begins at point (1). Pass at the foot of the Tour de l'Horloge, follow the Aires street and exit the ramparts through Aires Portal Turn left and follow the road to the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Délivrance and then, on the other side of the road, on the rural path of Devensaux.

1- At 150 m, leave the small road and turn right on chemin de la Trinité. The dirt road becomes tarred after college. Climb up by the path to the chapel Sainte-Trinité, pass below, and join a dirt road to the first caves of Aups. Continue on the road for another 300 m to reach, nestled in the wall, the Sainte-Magdeleine chapel. Continue the route under the green oaks, and follow a low wall to reach an intersection.

2 - Go back along the path to the valley on the left and access the forest track. Take the track on the right. Continue for 1 km, then join a cistern and the junction with the track of the Grand Colle. Follow it on the left. It is tarred for 400 m, then continue on the dirt road to the Col de Brès.

3 - Just before the Col de Brès, climb on the path to the left. The climb lasts 800 m to the top of the Espiguières mountain. The path continues on the plateau up to a tank (1 km).

4 - Take a small path on the left in the woods to quickly reach the Croix des Pins (round trip). Return to the track and continue the crossing. Go down the path through the forest and then join the forest path of Croix des Pins at 1.7 km.

5 - On the track turn to the right and 800 m later turn left on the small Devensaux road. Return by the latter to the village and lead in point 1. Continue on the road up to the Aups’s doors. Return to the starting point by the small streets of the village.

Departure : Tourism Office, Aups
Arrival : Aups
Towns crossed : Aups

Forecast

Altimetric profile

Recommandations

Provide 3L of water minimum per person, a hat and walking shoes. Consult the map of fire risks in the link "know more" during the summer period from 15 June - 15 September. Preferred seasons : All. But leave early in the morning to avoid the strong summer heats.