The High Alps are the best the European countryside has to offer. They are one of Europe’s last genuine wildernesses, bearing only the lightest touch of human hands, majestic and of a sublime beauty.
But as always with great beauty, there is a catch. The Alps are not just playing hard to get, they actually are.
Hikes on their mountain trails require a major time commitment and a good deal of organizational effort, not least since even the more accessible areas are a day’s journey away from just about any major traffic hub.
In a perfect world, there would be an easier way of experiencing them.
Well, there is, in a way, even in this woefully imperfect world of ours. Barren landscapes above the tree line, snow-covered rocks and ice-blue lakes – they will, alas!, remain outside the reach of the lazy day-tripper.
But for a walk through pre-alpine countryside with glorious panoramas, the southern French city of Grenoble is the ticket, a little more than an hour away by train from Lyon.
Grenoble: The Alps for Beginners
Grenoble is the top choice for the Alps for beginners, an alpine experience “without toil”: for one, because the town is so much nearer to the mountains than any other Alpine city that we have ever visited – walking though its streets, you might be forgiven for thinking you were in an Alpine ski resort, a thousand metres up in the clouds.
But Grenoble’s ace in the sky is its téléphérique (aerial lift).
Granted: these cable cars do not take you up to a major summit. Grenoble is too low for that (with an elevation of approx. 300 m) and too far away from any of the truly big beasts (the peaks that you see from around town are all about 1000 metres high).
But they do take you up to the Bastille, the old fortifications above the city centre. (You can walk up, too, but hey: we are not called “EASY HIKER” for nothing.)
For much of its unsettled history, Grenoble
was a border town. The original Bastille goes back to the 16th century and was built by the Huguenot army to block the very approach from where they themselves had come to chase the Catholics out (this was during the French Wars of Religion).
When Vauban – Louis XIV’s Master of Fortifications – visited the site 100 years later, he was very unhappy with the Bastille’s state and personnel (it was “run by a vintner with eight goats and twelve cows”, he fretfully reported to the king) but also its design.
His own plan for a new citadel was never implemented, but new fortifications were finally completed in 1847, after Grenoble had become a border town (again).
But in 1860, when the neighbouring province of Savoy was annexed by France, the border threat disappeared, and no shots were ever fired from the Bastille.
It soon became a major tourist spot instead, attracting (today) 600,000 people per year with its spectacular views …
… and quite a few other things to see: the well-preserved old keep, powder magazines, all the military installations are still there.
On this Alps for beginners hike, have a good look around and leave the site through the exit for Mont Jalla and the Memorial National des Troupes de Montagne, because that’s where we are heading.
Look for the red-and-white markings of the GR9 trail (which follows the course of the Saone northward), where we shall guest-walk, mixing with quite a few “hard-core” hikers.
First stop is the site of the Mandrin caves, which were built as a gun emplacement to open fire on enemy troops who might be besieging the fortress.
The caves – which are connected to the Bastille by a network of tunnels and stairways that are open to the public – were named after a famous outlaw who is said to have buried his treasures in this spot. (But don’t bother to dig: he died 100 years before the caves were constructed. If anything had been there, those guys would have found it.)
Continue your ascent on GR9 through the countryside which varies pleasantly between the lush …
… and the near-Alpine …
… and which provides great views of town …
… as well as country.
All the while, the trail rises gently upward: you will climb a total of 140 metres during a walk of approx. 45 minutes from the Bastille.
This Alps for beginners provide the scenery, but remain more of a distant threat.
For the final stretch, you must leave the GR9 and follow the yellow markings towards the Monument for the French Mountain Soldiers, built specifically for the 150,000 who fell in the various wars since the establishment of the unit in the 1880s.
As much as I can tell, no special event in the history of this unit occurred that would have distinguished this specific former garrison. When the French Army was searching a suitable site for their memorial, they probably wanted something with a majestic view that would be accessible not only for climbers and official visitors who can always be brought in by helicopter.
The top of Mont Jalla – which is where we are now – suits that description perfectly. It is not the greatest of alpine peaks, with a rather modest 635 m, but when you are standing there, it feels all yours.
There is no summit cross (strictly speaking, Mont Jalla is a promontory of Mont Rachais another 500 m further up), but the view of the stone ruins against the Alpine landscape gives the site an air of undeniable majesty.
Now you have to walk the same way back, for a hike which will last in total just under two hours from the moment you leave the Bastille.
Before your descent, you may want to rest a little on the Bastille’s viewing platform. You may even see Mont Blanc from there, which lies only 100 km away and can be easily spotted on a clear day. You will, at any rate, agree that the panorama well deserves a second look.
