Provence : Calanques de Marseille, Cap d’Antibes et Sentiers Méditerranéens | Trésors du Patrimoine

🌊 Du Cap d’Antibes aux calanques de Marseille, embarquez pour un voyage le long des plus beaux sentiers du littoral méditerranéen 🇫🇷 🍊

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À Saint-Honorat, les moines restaurent une tour-monastère millénaire. Près de Toulon, les cabanons de pêche racontent une histoire populaire du littoral. Dans les Calanques, le professeur Vicente lutte contre la pollution marine. À Vallauris, la fleur d’oranger amer renaît pour les plus grands parfumeurs. Et sur les hauteurs du Rove, la famille Gouiran perpétue un savoir-faire ancestral autour de la brousse du Rove.

“Sur les sentiers du littoral, du Cap d’Antibes aux Calanques”
Un documentaire de la collection Des Racines et des Ailes, écrit et réalisé par Reynald Merienne.
© ECLECTIC PRODUCTION
Tout droits réservés – AMP

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In the Bay of Cannes,
the Lérins Abbey is at the heart of an exceptional restoration project. It is one of the most
majestic sites on the Mediterranean coast. Founded at the beginning of the 5th century on the island of
Saint-Honorat, this monastery houses a monumental architectural heritage. In the
East, the monks had gone to take refuge in the desert to
live the monastic life. In the West, we don’t have a physical desert
as we understand it with sand dunes, etc. So the monks will
settle on islands. The Erin is one of the very first
and it is still one of the few that has remained active. There are no other examples, I think,
of a monastery that has developed such a heritage, in fact, over time. Every day, Brother Vincent walks along
the coastal path that runs along the edge of the island. This path is very important. It is the only route that allows you to go
around the island and discover the island in all its dimensions. So, it is a path very much taken
by the monastic community. When the brothers want to walk,
want to meditate and we will say also savor the beauty
and peace that we find here in Saint-Honorat. The coastal path leads Brother
Vincent to the foot of a spectacular building. It is the emblematic monument
of the island of Saint-Honorat. A very atypical monument from an
architectural point of view, because it is this tower which
gradually became a monastery. This tower, built from the end of
the 11th century, is today the object of all attention. Some of the consoles supporting the
Machicolations are in a worrying state. To replace them, new
stones were brought to the island. Brother Vincent wants to check with the
head of the masons, Jacques Denex, Bonjour. That they will fit
perfectly into the monument. Well, here we are going to set up a console. These new stones come from
an Italian quarry. To find them, Jacques Denex
conducted a real investigation. We searched for a while because it is
a stone that, peculiarly, seems white, but in fact, depending on the
sun’s rays, it becomes golden. You see that we have
very different tones. It’s a little bit of iron oxide that must
be in the rock that causes this color change. And that’s typical of the stone we have here. It’s a real enchantment,
the color of the tower. Sunsets in July
are almost orange. And we can clearly see
there were repairs by a Jules Formigier in the years 1903, 1904. And you can see that you have a
much whiter tiarbe which remains white. While the new stones are being
placed on top of the building, Brother Vincent wants to show us
the incredible treasure hidden behind the walls of the tower. Initially, this tower was
a simple refuge tower. In case of threats,
the monks came to take refuge there. And from around 1390,
they developed it to make it their permanent living space. They are going to transform this building and
enlarge it to include all the spaces and living spaces that were usually found in a monastery in the Middle Ages. The cloister, the chapel, the refectory,
and it is quite unique in the world to have a monastery
condensed into a tower. At the top of the tower,
Jacques Deneu ex prepares to receive one of the new stones. Here we have the whole problem of our
consoles, where we see that the stones are really very fragmented. You see all these little fragments. So, these small fragments can come
loose without damaging the work, but fall on someone
below. And then afterwards, we can clearly see that
the damage is significant, since we have cracks characteristic
of stones that are going to break. So, it is high time to replace them
with new consoles, new stones that will take over
this work more cheaply. This is the most
delicate part of the operation. The stone, which weighs nearly 500 kg,
is suspended over a 17-meter void. Orient, orient. Oriented. Oriented.
Oriented. Mold gently. Ball, ball, ball. There, it’s good, we’re picking up. It’s always tricky. We always approach
our profession with humility. You should never be too sure of yourself. Each stone like this has
more than seven tons of load on its back. There’s no reason why we ca
n’t succeed, but we still have to give it the attention it deserves. Around fifty stones will
be replaced on all the consoles of the tower. It’s a project you
do once in your life. This is the ultimate monument. Even though we are
on extraordinary and emblematic buildings all year round, here
we are on something, a place that has a soul, a place that lives
and carries a whole history. Throughout its history,
Lérins Abbey has been remodeled several times. The current buildings were erected
between the 11th and 19th centuries. Even today, there are still about twenty
months of isolation from the world. From here, at the top of the tower, you have a truly exceptional panoramic view of the entire island,
with the abbey in the foreground. We can see the woods, the forests. We see the small
Saint-Pierre chapel emerging from the vegetation. From here you can see the whole island. We are set back by this position
on this island which is about 15, 15 minutes by boat from the continent. And I really like, by coming here, to
remind myself that even if we take a certain distance from the world,
from society, it is a step back, but it is not isolation. We will soon be meeting Brother
Vincent again, in the heart of the Abbey of L’Hérince, to share another
highlight of monastic life. The coastal path of the island of Saint-Honorat
is part of a network of routes that crisscross the Provençal coast. From Cap d’Antibes
to the Calanque de Marseille, these paths open to all offer
a unique perspective on Mediterranean heritage. In the Var department, we arrive
at the Saint-Tropez peninsula. This
international resort is also a remarkably preserved natural space. As summer approaches, the
Var firefighters are placing it under close surveillance. Captain Delphine Vienco has been flying over
this territory for more than ten years. It’s always fabulous. It’s always a wonder. You know, we love our
Var department, but this site is truly something extraordinary. So here we are flying over
the magnificent village of Ramatuelle. It overlooks the site a little. It is a fragile site due to
the amount of vegetation. There are a lot of maritime pines,
umbrella pines and mixed vegetation. Along with the Var department,
summer is classified as a severe to very severe forest fire risk. It is a very beautiful site,
but very sensitive and must be preserved as much as possible. The helicopter is heading towards the Trois Caps site, one of the most fragile areas on the peninsula. It is crisscrossed by an
enchanting coastal path, carefully watched over by
the Var firefighters. The coastal path,
which is clearly visible, allows you to discover the
remarkable site of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. It is seamless. You can leave from Saint-Tropez
and go to Cap Lardier. And there, benefit from all the coves
and all the most fabulous views of this sector. The coastal path is rarely
accessible, of course, by vehicle. So, a simple sprained ankle
may require the use of a helicopter to evacuate people
who are injured in this area. To ensure the safety of walkers
and to deal with the risk of fire, the Presqu’Île firefighters receive
support from these water-bombing helicopters every summer. Captain Vienco is currently overseeing
an exceptional training exercise to coordinate the actions of
air and ground teams. We arrive in the
Cap Taillard area. These are really three
difficult capes to access. And so, that’s why we
train with the helicopter intervention detachment,
to be on the scene very quickly and to deal with any outbreak of fire. Delphine Vienco joins her colleague,
David Carpentra, on foot. How are you ?
How are you ? In 2017,
he was one of the first witnesses to the gigantic fire that ravaged this
part of the Saint-Tropez peninsula. At the end of July 2017, there was
a fire, suspicious smoke, in the Gigarou area in the late afternoon. It grew very
quickly given the aerodynamics. That evening, there was a very,
very strong mistral wind. And quickly, a
totally relentless spread across the sector. And in fact, we have
the entire massif that caught fire. So I was called in
as a coastal lifeguard to go and extract walkers from the path
at these sensitive points. The fire broke out
around 7:30 p.m. Aerial resources were immediately deployed to extinguish the fire, but darkness interrupted operations. On the ground, more than 300 firefighters
will fight all night. By daybreak, about 500 hectares of vegetation have gone up in smoke. It is precisely to prepare
for such disasters that the Saint-Tropez firefighters
train in the most remote locations on the peninsula. Raymond Vialla, the coastal guard in charge of the sector, came to witness the operations. The coastal path
is his daily life. The playground is great. I mean, when you’re lucky enough
to be able to work on this and suddenly you have your… For us, it’s our heritage. For us, it belongs to us. We know very well that it is in
everyone’s best interest, and it is particularly in the best interest of the Coastal Conservatory. But when you see this heritage
disappearing, when you have the fire stealing all of that from you
overnight, it’s 20 years of work that goes away. To intervene at the tip of Cape
Tailleh, the helicopters transported nearly two tons of equipment
and tarpaulins filled with water. The point of this kind of maneuver is to get used to it. There are operational techniques with equipment in
hostile terrain, as we see here. And all of these actions will create
a habit, not a routine, a habit of working
together, of developing techniques. Safe, go. Between those responsible and the
firefighters, to quickly be effective in the event of a
fire or any other scenario. Personnel secured,
you can proceed with the drop. Received ?
Well received. The highlight of the operation:
the intervention of the water bombing helicopter. A drop with surgical precision. Thank you, we will continue to treat
the edge with ground resources. Received ?
Yes, received. Our basic mission
is to prevent campfires, to prevent people from
smoking cigarettes in the forest. And when all that fails and
a fire breaks out, they are the ones who will be the last defenders of this heritage. Hence the interest in working together
and moving in the same direction. Once the exercise is over, Raymond Vialla leads
his firefighter friend along the coastal path, where everything burned in 2017. There, we see the vegetation,
the scrubland, reclaiming its rights. It’s good there because now
the trees have fallen, so it will hold back erosion. Yeah, that’s a big house of cards. Everything is, everything is lying down. Since the fire, the coast guard has
completely rehabilitated the path to channel walkers
and allow nature to regenerate. The charred remains of these
Aleppo pines will help him. We leave them because they represent
a biomass which is very interesting for wildlife and in particular
for wood-eating insects. So, we have wood-eating insects
that will nibble at the trunks. We can have species that will
come and nest inside. We’re going to have the woodpecker that’s going to come and land
on it and eat the larvae. And when it falls to the ground,
it will finish decomposing naturally and improve the soil. These subjects today will allow us to
give life to new species. And then to recreate what we knew,
even if it will take time. It’s time. At the eastern end of the Peninsula,
the Cap Camara lighthouse offers an exceptional view of this territory. With a light source located 130
meters above sea level, it is the second
highest lighthouse in France. An ideal observation post. It’s been over ten years since I’ve been
up there and it’s still just as impressive. It’s such a joy. When we look, we see Taillard,
Lardier, and in the background, we could believe that we have yet another
fourth cape, which are simply the Îles
d’Hier where we see in the foreground, Portcourolles and Port-Croux. All of this is a
magnificent playground. The whole seaside, all these paths,
all these forests, it’s something we do every day. It’s about
everyone trying to be in the right place, in order to have the most precise
and effective action possible, even at the risk of their lives. Yeah, sometimes. After following the
Saint-Tropez peninsula, the coastal path leads to another
unusual site on the Provençal coast. Built at the end of the 19th century, isolated from the world, the Foncin house overlooks a true natural setting. The Conservatoire du Littoral,
owner of the site, hopes to be able to open it to the public soon. But in the event of a fire,
its only few access paths, surrounded by abundant vegetation,
could turn into a trap for visitors. At the request of the firefighters, Sophie Sejalon,
from the Coastal Protection Agency, must therefore carry out
significant clearing. What is problematic for us
is that we are here in a site classified as a landscape,
in a 2000 nature site. And so, obviously, the Conservatoire
du littoral is keen to preserve these magnificent landscapes with the
extraordinary biodiversity that welcomes them. And so today,
this fight against the fires is a little painful for us. And we try to do this while taking
maximum care of these landscapes, because
we are planning to welcome the public and we must welcome them safely. While waiting for the house to open
to the public, Sophie Sejalon is one of the few people who can access it. This is one of the rooms in this magnificent
Fonsein house, for which we have kept the furniture as it was
given to us with this house. This house
is first and foremost a testimony of love. That of Pierre Fonsein,
an eminent geographer who, in 1894, offered his wife the home of her dreams. There is a special atmosphere
in this house because of these very, very large bay windows
which give a view of the sea. It feels like you can breathe better when
you’re in this house than anywhere else. In 1977, one of Pierre Fonsin’s relatives bequeathed
the house to the Conservatoire du Littoral with the requirement that
everyone be able to enjoy it. This house, as it is perched
on a rocky promontory and what’s more, it is very high. Indeed, we see it everywhere. It is like a lighthouse
for sailors, except that it is not lit, of course. It is very easy to see from the
coastal path because it is very high. And then also, we see it very,
very well from the road which runs along this Corniche des Morts. This house represents immensity. Already because it is extremely large,
600 square meters of floor space, very high, but also the immensity of the
surrounding landscapes, which are not undermined by urbanization,
which have been protected both by this family and by the fight led by
the Conservatoire du Littoral to protect more than 230 hectares
around this house. Across the entire Provençal coastline,
the Coastal Conservatory has saved more than
40,000 hectares of natural space from urbanization. A territory that Sylvie Baker
loves to observe from the sea. She is an architect and she is interested
in a heritage oasis of popular witness that has conquered
the Var coastline: the cabins. It’s completely magical. We are incredibly lucky to be here. There, we have just passed Carcérane
and we are going to discover the Caneba. And there, in the foreground, we have the boats
and after, we have terraces and cabins. A shed is a small construction. This little surface that is just
there to protect something. We’ll say a boat, we’ll say
tools, we’ll say equipment. That’s just it, initially. It’s made with a little bit
of everything and a little bit of nothing, a little bit of recycled materials. It’s often for the weekend
or for the holidays. It’s a piece of life
to enjoy, in fact, what? Of all that. Sylvie Baker now walks along
the Colne Noire massif. The coastal paths extend along the
balcony, to one of the highest viewpoints on the Provence coast. A little further on,
on the Pin de Galles beach, a new site of cabins appears. Its particularity
is that there are many cabins which have been transformed
into houses for some. So there are year-round residents. Afterwards, it’s true that when you look at it,
it’s a postcard that’s just magical and you say to yourself: wow,
I’d love to have my own little shed with my own little terrace. Sylvie Baker approaches one of the
most picturesque cabin sites on the Côte-Varoise,
nestled in the hollow of Anse-en-Père. For me, it is the
very example of the village of Cabanon. There is the very mineral cliff and in
fact, the houses are in continuity. And above, there is the plant
which underlines all of this. I like this side which
still remains somewhat untamable. Sylvie Baker has a meeting today with those we call the cabin dwellers. Every summer,
they meet here to enjoy these sumptuous panoramas and a
gentle way of life that has become rare. As an architect,
I am responsible for taking inventory of the region’s remarkable heritage. When we think of remarkable heritage,
we think of churches, chapels, military works. And for me, the cabin villages
that we find all along the Var coast are also
part of the remarkable heritage. And I want to understand,
to know the story, because knowing them better means protecting them better. Quite simply. Sylvie joins Gilbert Richon, one of the
historic cabin owners of Ance Sans-Père. All right. I’ll take you there and we’ll
go into my shed. Starting with the dining room,
where we eat our meals, we also sleep. And so there we have the original room
of my great-grandparents, from which we make a whole wood,
as you see, which starts here and stops here with
a very small bedroom on top. A shed starts like this. In fact, it starts even before that. The fishermen in the 1930s,
when they came here, my great-grandparents, they came,
they all lived in Toulon, they came to fish in the area. But they came,
they carried their canes. And then, to get to Toulon,
it was four or five kilometers on foot. So at one point,
to avoid having to bring the canes back, they said: We’ll build
a little lean-to to leave them there. And then, little by little,
it was: Maybe if we made a little terrace to eat there. And then, little by little,
it was: If we could sleep there. And so, suddenly, these cabins,
it started like that. It’s quite moving
because from the outside, we don’t really know what’s going on inside. And actually, there’s one room,
a second room, a third room. And with a view that is just phenomenal. I
adore. So, I feel, in a way,
proud of having been able to preserve that. For almost a century,
cabins have forged an original culture on the Provençal coasts. And the best way to approach them
is to follow the coastal path. A few kilometers from Saint-Père,
this part of the trail leads to the Lens-Méjean cabin. It’s a bit like the same configuration
as the village of Saint-Père. There are these houses that are on the slope
of the hillside, with all the vegetation that hides them at the top.
Above is the city. We are in Toulon. And when you look at that, you say to yourself it’s
improbable, completely improbable. Ansemé Jean has around
twenty cabins. Among them, that of Pierre Bonal,
one of the greatest experts in this history of the Var coastline. I’m the oldest here. My parents met here. My father was in these huts and my
mother was in the other one, a little further over there.
They were 13 or 14 years old. I’m the hyphen, if you will.
All right. Go for it.
Afterwards, I will explain to you. All right. There you are, in the main room,
which was previously a terrace. And then, well, after the war, it
was covered and we did the upper floor. At the time, it was workers
who rented the plot of land to the navy and part of it at the same time
to the DDE, since it was on public maritime property. And then, well, they came,
they spent the day. At the beginning of the 20th century,
Anse Méjean served as a shelter for amateur fishermen who came there to seek
refuge from the mistral. The navy, the owner of the premises,
then rented them plots of land. Over time, the cabin owners
built a real little hamlet here. There was never
a building permit. Never. All the sheds at the time,
people didn’t have the means. What were they doing?
Well, get, you know, a window. This window, for example,
comes from the Faron discharge. It was done like that too, you
have to know that. Since 1963,
we bought the land from the navy and we set up a CCI,
so the land is ours. Now, on the other hand,
if we want to touch, we have taken the right. For what ? Because we are in the part
of the Conservatoire du Littoral. So he has his say. And then, it’s normal,
we can no longer do things in an anarchic way, now. As a result of their success, these cabins are
now selling for a fortune. We take this little path. I’m going ahead of you,
please excuse me. Taking inventory of them
helps preserve their identity. So, this path
is the start of the customs officers’ path. And we arrive at the
highest point of the cabins. The holidays we had,
even the sons of kings did not have those holidays. Are you proud of this story? We can be more than proud. This is us, this is our story. We built it and we
had a poet here. He, at the same time,
wrote this story. He also wrote a poem,
My Legs in Paradise, which I also used in the posts
I made on YouTube. Yes, yes, that is paradise. Everyone tells us so, by the way. When he passes by, people say: You are
in heaven, I don’t need you to tell me. It’s true. So sometimes I tell them: Yes,
there is heaven and God is me. Which is not true. Around a hundred kilometers away,
in the heart of the Esterel massif, Christophe Pin Girardeau travels
along the legendary Corniche road. This is a road that
was inaugurated in 1903. It was supposed to be only a
pedestrian path, but it was decided to enlarge it and
make it a real road to connect the Var to the Alpes-Maritimes. It’s an exceptional road. We also have a view of the coves
just below, but also of all the
rocky spurs that are characteristic of the Esterel massif. On the border between the Var and the Alpes
Maritimes, the Estérel massif is one of the most captivating landscapes
on the Mediterranean coast. Right in the middle. As a forest ranger,
Christophe walks the paths that crisscross his path every day. Across the entire massif,
it maintains around 200 km of trails. One of the steepest runs along the Pic
du Cap Roux and leads to panoramas. A spectacular pattern. We are right in the middle of the Esterel massif. And it’s true that it’s a green lung. And we arrive at viewpoints
like here, where as soon as we turn our heads a little, we see the sea. And on the other side,
we are really in the heart of the massif. It is this entire Esterel massif that we
wish to protect in the future classification of Great Sites of France. This path is one of the
historic trails of the massif. Since the 5th century, it has even been a
popular pilgrimage route. Running along the cliffside, it leads to a monumental gate. Probably built in the Middle Ages,
it guards access to a legendary site. It was
here, in the Sainte Baume cave, that the monk Saint-Honorat is said to have
settled as a hermit around the year 400. Even today, it is a
particularly lively place of devotion. In fact, after his arrival on the coast
of Provence, he went to see the Bishop of Fréjust and asked for a site where he
could find peace and quiet to be able to pray serenely. So he settled here,
but after five years there were so many pilgrims
coming to see him that he decided to move. And coming out of the cave,
he saw the Lérins Islands and decided to go and found the monastery
on the island of Saint-Honorat. This morning, Christophe is organizing a
unique mission on the slopes of the Estérel, in the company of climbing specialists. We’re going to land a little higher up there,
on the small platform. A little bit about the entrance, here. For several years,
this side of the massif has been colonized by prickly pears,
an invasive plant which is gradually destroying Mediterranean vegetation. Here we are in a very special place,
on the cliffs of the Mediterranean, where salt-resistant species grow
, such as Jupiter’s beard, which is found here. And the prickly pears that were
imported into gardens for decorative purposes, in fact, colonized the natural space. And now they are spreading
throughout the area, to the detriment of these protected species,
and leading to the decline of these endemic species. For this mission, Christophe received
support from the Varsport Nature association. Actually, we climb here. It’s a climbing school
between the summit, here, and everywhere. There is a data viacorps that we
use very regularly. And we, of course,
want to protect Jupiter’s beard, but only as we please, to avoid having
thorns in our ropes. So, it’s a good collaboration with the ONF
so that we can clean up the site properly and for the use of the escadade
and for the preservation of the plants. While the volunteers abseil down this wall of Cap Ramon, the second team, led by Christophe,
positions itself on the other side to receive the uprooted plants. The operation is meticulous. Everything must be removed down to the roots,
otherwise the plant will grow back with disconcerting ease. This species grows particularly well
here because it finds sun and runoff water on the cliffs. And so, she completely
acclimated to this environment. So, we have both the
aerial part and the root system. So, there you go, when we ask to
really remove all the roots, it means that if we leave that part,
the plant will grow back naturally. And the other thing is that as soon as this
racket falls to the ground, all it takes is soil,
new roots will grow underneath and a new
foot will also develop. So, the principle is really to
collect everything in the bucket and to remove all the prickly pears. And here is a root, one. To facilitate the removal of waste,
a zip line has been set up. This is the first time that such
logistics have been deployed in the heart of the massif as part of a campaign
to remove invasive plants. There, we really have the mother foot.
This is the… The whole foot and root that
were hanging from the cliff. So, we see that we will be able to reproduce
this on a larger scale, with more arms, to really treat the area as a whole. In the Alpes-Peritimes department,
on the hills of Valauris, the bitter orange flower harvest is in full swing. This bitter orange flower produces
an essential oil that is used in the composition of the most
famous perfume in the world. Chanel number 5. Jean-Noël Falcou is a citrus grower. He is fighting to preserve this
culture on the hills of Valauris. The principle of picking
is to pick the open flowers. Well, with what we call
the pecouille, it’s the small stem that is under the flower and which contains
the most aromatic substances. So in fact, we really have to
go by hand, flower by flower, to remove this little bit which makes
the nirolli, in fact, the essential oil, so rich. Pecouille, is that the
official term or is it… ?
It is the Provençal term. The official term is peduncle. The peduncle, but here,
everyone says pecouille. So that’s the mess. These are even terms. There are many terms
attached to the cultivation of bitter orange, since it is an ancestral culture. So, there is even a verb,
it is to skin. To deseed is when you remove the… When you have the fruit, you know,
the bitter oranges, the oranges, you remove the seeds to make the jam. So we always bring the
peeled oranges to where we are peeling the fruit. So, there is also a whole vocabulary
around this culture. What makes bitter orange so precious
is neroli, the essential oil of orange blossom. A natural fixative highly sought after
by perfumers in Grasse. Here we are. This means that it is
a plot that I have been farming for 5 years, which had been completely abandoned in
recent years and which we have put back into production. Before, all the hills were
cultivated, so there were bitter orange trees everywhere. It was abandoned because there has been
a big decline in orange blossom cultivation in recent decades. So, little by little, we try to show
the inhabitants the value of what they have. After three hours of harvesting,
Jean-Noël sorts to remove everything that is not orange blossom. If
you talk to the elders, everyone picked the flower,
everyone sorted the flower, participated or saw friends or family participate. So,
it’s something that is quite deeply rooted in local tradition. To revive the bitter orange industry,
Jean-Noël advises small producers in Valauris, grouped into cooperatives. Because the potential is enormous. Each of the gardens on his
private properties is planted with precious bitter orange trees. A few meters from his orchard, Jean-Noël
goes to see Ghislaine and Tony Damiano. Hi Tony. Hello Jean-Noël.
How are you ? It’s good and you ? Having lived in Valauris for several years
, this retired couple also decided
to join Nérolium, the town’s historic cooperative. We found ourselves among the trees. So we said to ourselves: What are we
going to do with all these trees? They started giving us flowers,
so we said to ourselves: We’re not going to leave them like that. Justine, the first year we
picked two kilos, it was great. It’s true that there was a bit of fun
the first evening you brought two kilos to the cooperative.
Exactly. Justine arrived with her
little basket of two kilos. That’s exactly it. I was proud because we are aware
that it is a heritage and that it absolutely must be preserved. So, when we see that someone makes
a swimming pool by putting the bitter orange trees, the roots exposed, but that… Really, it bothers us
because it’s a shame. Then we put a palm tree,
but it’s not local. We should only put orange trees. Bitter, sweet, clementine trees,
but citrus fruits, that’s the land here. You see this leaf there,
I don’t know how… What does it mean? What do you think causes
leaves like that? There aren’t many,
but there are a few. What can we do? What are
you doing about it? You have the little bites there. You know, the little mealybug
bites. Oh yes, it’s the cochineal. Without organic, you get
the white oil treatment. You know you can do… There, the flowering,
you do nothing at all of course. But after, when you do the pruning
in a month, afterwards, you do your little white oil treatment. At least that way
it cleans everything up and you won’t have that anymore. Oh yeah, okay.
Ok. Harvest complete. Tony and Jean-Noël cross the hills
of Valauris and their garden planted with bitter orange trees. And finally, all these plots
are very close to the city center. There we enter the city center. So, we can’t imagine how many bitter
orange trees there were everywhere. There, the road we take
is called the green carpet. And well, it goes by its name. It was a plain and the whole part
to the left was just bitter orange. Only bitter orange. This is where the perfumers were. It’s hard to imagine. But unfortunately,
it is more concrete that has grown in recent decades than trees. It’s a bit of a misfortune with the bitter orange tree
, that it only grows in frost-free areas,
very close to the coast. And that’s where the
greatest land pressure is. Little by little, we realize that these
natural materials have something exceptional
and that they carry with them a history and a cultural heritage,
but also an olfactory heritage that we try to preserve and defend. In Valauris, bitter orange cultivation is
not the only activity that has made the town famous. The Provençal city is also famous
for having welcomed one of the greatest artists of the 20th century,
the great Spanish master, Pablo Picasso. Picasso lived in Valauris for 15 years. He was drawn to the
city’s ceramic tradition, of course. And when he discovered the land,
he tried it, he loved it, he worked for a
very long time in Valauris. And to thank the city, he offered
this bronze, one of those rare bronzes. He himself chose
the location so that the little children could climb on it. And now, it’s a bit of an emblem
of Valauris, Picasso’s man with sheep. Hi Julien, hi Pierrot.
Hello Jean-Noël. How are you ?
Hello, end of Christmas. Yeah, it’s fine. So what are you
doing? And we’re preparing a sun there. Julien Capron and Pierrot Bouzy are
the heirs of two great families of ceramists. They started their own studio,
directly inspired by the work of post-war artists. These little steel stamps
that ironworkers made back in the day. So it was grooved
by machine or file. And then with that,
when you have a bit of a hand, you can make decorations,
flowers, just by manipulating the object. And we can make like
little laces. There, I take it back,
I see a bit of a mango and I play like lace on it. And what’s cool is that they’re all
stamps from that era. It went through several hands.
Well, there are several. There are no tampons
that we bought in 2020. No, they don’t exist.
They’re all from… I don’t know,
the 50s, and then you see… Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So there’s a story with that too. It’s a bit of a secret that’s revealed. You have to understand that at the time,
Valaurie was made up of factories. It was really the whole town
that was working the land, making the ovens. There was smoke
all over the city. It was a factory. And like the orange blossom, it was
a plant, Nerolium, it is a plant. And everyone was working. And when there was the flower,
everyone stopped making ceramics. And they went to pick the flower. And everyone would go and pick the flower. And when it rained or was
cold, everyone went to the factories. At the end of the 19th century,
Valauris was one of the most important centers of production
of culinary ceramics in Europe. The city has several
dozen factories. Exemplary know-how
that attracts many artists here. Pablo Picasso, the most famous of them,
was inspired by it to create more than 3,500 clay pieces. Alongside him,
big names will considerably influence the development
of artistic ceramics. Like Roger Capron,
Julien’s grandfather. We are inevitably influenced
by the people who came before us to Valauris. I was immersed in it,
so there were a lot of my grandfather’s works at home. But it’s also Picasso, since there
were posters, things like that. It was all these ceramists from the
50s who left their mark on Valauris. And that’s a bit of the DNA
of the workshop today, in fact. A few meters away, Jean-Noël goes to see his friend Justine Ribera. Justine makes culinary ceramics. She arrived in Valauris about
ten years ago, at a time when activity was declining sharply. Valauris, although on the French Riviera, is not Cannes or the Antilles, so there are not crowds
of people in the streets and everything. And I quickly realized
that I couldn’t wait for the customer. It just so happens that at that point, Instagram,
social media, all that stuff, kind of started. As soon as I shared a little bit about my
job, people were very receptive. And very often, in the shop,
people come in and say: Well, I follow you on social media,
I really like your work, I’m on vacation in the area,
I said to myself: I’m going to come to Valauris to see your workshop, your creations.
Ten years ago, Valauris was asleep, let’s say, and suffered from the decline
of ceramics, the decline of orange blossom. So, we were still using an
old model that no longer worked, in fact. And it took the arrival of a new
generation to realize the richness of this heritage and to
showcase it in a slightly different way, in fact,
than what the elders did. There is both respect for the elders
and a real modernity in our city’s approach to heritage. A few minutes from the Valauris Center,
on the historic site of the Nérolium cooperative, Tony and Jean-Noël come to
bring their orange blossom. The members bring
the flower one by one. We weigh it and then spread it on the ground
so that it doesn’t heat up, does n’t ferment, and
keeps its optimum freshness. So there, we do at the end of the carpet. She is beautiful. All night
it will rest on the cold tiles and tomorrow morning, first thing in the morning,
we will bag it, load it into the truck and take it to the distillation. Is this your egg?
Gorgeous. Eh ?
Look at this. Folded neatly, there isn’t a single sheet. The enthusiasm of these small producers
convinced Chanel to invest in Valauris orange blossom
for its prestigious perfumes. 5 tons of flowers are
produced today. The goal is to double production
over the next ten years. It’s not just
orange blossom, though. It’s a story, it’s a heritage,
it’s families who get involved. And it’s a huge job that’s
not done for the money, not at all, because that’s not what motivates the members. What motivates members is,
I tell you, respect for the elderly, local roots,
the desire to share, the desire to bear witness,
the desire to disseminate, to give back to future generations. And it’s something very strong
that binds us to each other. So it’s a lot of emotion. Once his work is completed, Jean-Noël takes us
to Cap d’Antibes, on one of the most beautiful routes along the coastal path. This trail is called
the Hair Puller Trail. Hair puller because there is a lot
of wind and it pulls the hair. But afterwards, the people of Antibes called it
the smugglers’ path, because there were a lot of smugglers. This is where
the goods were received, so this was their route. It’s a rock, there’s no land,
so there was no agriculture, so there weren’t really any houses
built or neighborhoods established on the Cape. It was also a swamp
that was drained very late. And then it was bought by wealthy
people to create large estates. These properties made Cap
d’Antibes famous, like the Domaine de la Croée, where the former King
of England, Edward VIII, and his wife, Wallys Simpson, lived. Behind this estate is
the town of Villa Hélène Rock, an architectural folly
built at the end of the 19th century. The coastal path leads directly,
as in Jean-Noël, to the old outbuildings of the villa. And there, we arrive at the old private port
of Villa Hélène Rock, with the pontoon which is even
further out to sea, the quay, the Solarium. And then there are quite a few
adjoining buildings, that is to say integrated into the rock. There is the summer lounge,
the outbuildings, the promontory. And now it’s open to the
public again and that’s a good thing, I think. Now, we can no longer
privatize parts of the coastline as has been the case for years. In fact, many
private pontoons, private ports, and private swimming pools on the sea have been destroyed. So, there are still some remains. But now, there is really nothing more that can be
done on the public maritime domain. Fortunately.
Owned by the city of Antibes, Villa Hélène Rock was built according to the plans of Charles Garnier,
the architect of the famous Paris Opera. At the time, the villa’s sponsor
was a wealthy Dutchman, ready to do anything to seduce his sweetheart. He fell in love with this
rocky spur facing the sea. And he decided to build a house there,
not for himself, but for his wife, whose name was Cornelia. It is the anagram of Cornélie which gives
Hélène Rock, the name of the house. Unfortunately for him,
when his wife arrived here, it was the countryside, worse, the desert. And she said: I do
n’t like this place at all. And not only did she leave the house,
but she left the husband. And the story goes that,
mad with grief, her husband sold this house for next to nothing. Isabelle Paschini is the director
of this villa, transformed into a veritable palace at the beginning of the 20th century
by an American couple, the Beaumonts. We enter the large drawing room
where Madame Beaumont, as you see, usually dressed to receive her
guests, among whom were Rudolf Valentino, the Aga-Camp,
the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who were
Madame Beaumont’s neighbors, since they lived at the Château de la Croée. And here we enter the
winter garden, which was a very popular room in Madame
de Beaumont’s time, simply because it allowed guests,
and Madame Beaumont at the same time, to enjoy the landscape
while protecting themselves from the wind. Because at Cap d’Antibes,
it’s very windy. So people would settle here and
enjoy the view. And at the same time,
we had this sun which warmed this room, which we find
in all Anglo-Saxon homes, since people sheltered while taking
advantage of the light and the little sun. This winter garden has
just been restored. The ceiling was completely covered
in silver leaf, as Mrs. Beaumont had wished at the time. She is also the one who created this
wall decoration which tells the story of the multiplication of fish, a scene taken from
the famous tale of One Thousand and One Nights. So Jean-Noël, look. There you enter
Mrs. Beaumont’s bathroom, which is a unique room. I think it’s the only one in the world. So you have this green marble bathtub
that was carved on site. That is to say, the block
of marble was brought on the back of a mule, with the small cart. So far, the block has been hoisted up with
ropes and cut on site. The little gray one that’s
under the bathtub. So the small grill
is simply the central heating. So of course, there was no gas,
no electricity, no fuel oil. It ran on coal. There was someone feeding
the boiler with coal with the shovel, really like the
locomotives were scared. And we had this heat throughout
the house, including the bathrooms. Here you have the first jet shower. There is one small detail, safety,
at the time, we didn’t attach much importance to it, because you see,
the ceiling light is right next to the shower head. So, we could either use just
the shower head, or we could open the little taps on the side,
and we could simply have the spa. 1930.
Isn’t that beautiful? In 1982, Hélène Beaumont bequeathed her
property to the city of Antibes. Hélène Rock has continued
to write the legend of the Riviera ever since. This one will come out. There are some exceptional colors there. It’s beautiful here, isn’t it? Barely. Barely. Off the coast of Toulon, gourmet chef
Julia Viliéti goes fishing with her friend Jacky Jacky Fiesky. The first time I went
fishing with him, I was 20 years old. We are lucky to be able to
enjoy this setting, to be here. We are…
On the other hand, it is cool. We are… The sun, the cheese, it’s coming out, you see? So. It’s 7:08. Yesterday he also came out at the same time. Every morning, Jacky sets his nets at the foot of the Capsicier. So, Cap-Sissier
is the most advanced point of France in the Mediterranean. Yes, it’s there, Cap-Sissier. That’s unthinkable, because we
‘re always sheltered from the wind there. Facing Cap-Sissier,
stand two rocks emblematic of this part of the coastline. These are the two brothers.
These are the two brothers. These are our rocks. Rock of the Sissier point, in fact. We can… That’s it. That’s them there.
Jacky has been working in the shadow of the two brothers for almost 40 years now. Fishing is his whole life. We already call the profession itself
a small profession. Well, to do a job like that,
you have to be passionate, anyway. My treat is to pull in
my net every morning. There you go, I’m enjoying myself. So. And we’re off. The two brothers’ factory. Julia, too, is a child of the country. Born into a family of restaurateurs,
she took over from her father in 2002. I wasn’t asking to tell you everything, but… Her specialty: rockfish. I like working with Jacky
because it’s a family affair. It’s a family story. Dad started working
with him when Jacky was 15. And then today,
I sincerely think that it is a luxury to be able to work with
products that are so similar. There, we are in the local,
in the locavore, in the zero kilometer, in the end. That’s a chick. Gallinette is one of the fish used
in bouillabaisse and therefore in rock soup. But look how pretty it is. Look at the fins,
look how beautiful it is. However,
the catch that day was rather modest. I think we have enough to cook with
and these gentlemen have enough to work with all year round. You shouldn’t insist on only having
500 gram sea bass, you just have to accept the vagaries of fishing. I think Jacky would have preferred to make
a little more fish though. I’m always happy. It doesn’t bother me. Because I know that what I do
n’t take today, I’ll take tomorrow. We’ll take it tomorrow. What if we go home? Well, to leave, Julia and Jacky follow the Cap-de-Sicier massif. This spectacular promontory
dominates the surrounding area from all angles. The coastal path that runs through it
leads to Anse de Fabregat. It is here, at the foot of the path,
that you will find the restaurant where Julia spent a large part of her life. In the dining room, it is Pierre,
Julia’s husband, who officiates. He was 15 when he first
came here. When I arrived, I met my future
father-in-law, Daniel, and a colorful, Pagnolesque character. So, we felt like we were
back in the 60s, 50s. And then, a gentleman who was a bit… With a rather
hard look at first. When you’re 15, it leaves a bit of an impression, yes.
So, we felt… Well, I felt the family history
when I arrived here, really, yes. Peter, look, will you come and
help me, please? Look how beautiful it is. Oh yes, magnificent.
Stunning. I’ll let you bring it.
Yeah, here we go. Yeah, that’s nice.
THANKS. The restaurant,
with stunning views of the Mediterranean, has been run by Julia’s family
since the beginning of the 20th century. This is where it all began,
a hundred years ago, with my great-grandparents, Elie and Julia. They fell in love with it and
bought the original building. They made a bar, a restaurant. And then they developed a little
later. They did ballet in the evenings, on weekends. Ballet, the dance evening. And they were playing fart. It was still cool though. Four generations have helped each other
run the restaurant. My parents, who stayed
together as a couple at home for a little over 20 years, Daniel, my dad,
cutting up lobsters because that was
his trademark. Suspenders, tie, always. He was the true Provençal,
the true patriarch. I liked this job because I saw
my parents working with pleasure. It’s true that my parents
were happy every day. My mother was at the checkout,
my father was in the dining room. I think I saw them
smiling and laughing and sharing moments of laughter and everything so much that
I thought: But this is great. And that’s how I
learned to love this job. Hello Bruno.
Hello Julia. 200 meters from the restaurant,
Julia arrives at the Fabregat estate. Bruno, Bruno Oberti, who has been our organic market gardener in Fabregat for 5 or 6 years. It’s been 6 years for me, okay. It was great,
when I learned that… It’s true that you arrived here,
I said: It’s great, this place 200 meters from the restaurant, it’s a luxury, you know. Bruno Oberti is located
on an estate of 72 hectares. Close to the city,
these former agricultural lands were also threatened by urbanization. They were purchased by the Conservatoire
du littoral, which wanted to restore them to their original purpose
by entrusting them to a farmer. Bruno immediately applied. I very quickly felt that the
farming world needed arms, needed labor. And I felt
this vocation in myself very early on. It didn’t happen right away. I’ve been in the restaurant business before,
in the dining room, at the bar and in the dining room. And it’s a project that has been in the making for a long time. And when the first
step It was taken. I got sucked in. Bruno cultivates around forty
species of vegetables using permaculture. I
still leave a lot of wild herbs to proliferate, even if it means
having a bit of competition in my crops, because it generates
a different flowering each time. Lots of different flowers. These flowers attract other insects
that will be beneficial to my crops, as
the populations of these insects will regulate pests. Hop. Small zucchini. The little one, yes, she is beautiful.
Yeah, she’s pretty. This afternoon, Julia is organizing an
event meal at the restaurant. It shines and everything. More than vegetables, what she comes
here looking for is inspiration. So, these little flowers that look like
bindweed are sweet potatoes. Yes.
You should know that the leaf is edible. Is there a difference in taste
between purple and green ones or not? No, not too much.
No ? Texture-wise, maybe,
but taste-wise, it won’t change much. It’s true that raw
it’s not at all unpleasant, but cooked, I’d be curious to know
what it would be like. And if we manage to keep
the cooked color of the mauve and the green, it can look nice on a plate. Once, Bruno, I remember,
you said to me: You don’t have a list when you come? I said: No, I don’t make a list
because it’s based on what I see on your stall. And that surprised him, but actually,
I think that’s how we should work.
This is the approach. Like him, he has diversity,
we accept it and then we think a little more in the kitchen too. It avoids having to do a
stupid and nasty job like that. We always work on the same thing. Now that’s a challenge. Hey, today
there are no zucchinis, but I do have 10 kilos of eggplant. Okay, let’s think about our recipes
to work with the 10 kilos of eggplant. Another old eggplant variety.
These are pretty. They are very fine, they are not
bitter at all, there are very few seeds. The estate’s produce is sold
on site twice a week. Given the success he is having,
Bruno hopes to soon be able to cultivate four
additional hectares. I think that one of the first dignity
of man is to be able to feed himself, to be able to feed himself. So, I don’t do it for myself,
I do it for others too. But in any case,
when your people, when a locality is able to provide for its
basic needs, notably food, it regains its dignity. So. Well, but it’s going to be time to eat,
to cook, to eat. At the restaurant, service has begun. Like every Sunday this summer,
regulars came to enjoy a large fish barbecue,
one of Julia’s specialties. Hello David. Good morning. It’s a simple kitchen. I like the taste of the product and I’m
generous, apparently, from what I’m told too. Julia always knew that
one day she would take over from her father. But at first, his family
imagined him more in the service. It’s true that there were almost
no women at all in the kitchen. Even for my dad, he did
n’t understand that a woman could be at the stove. It wasn’t in the mentality of the time. They were gentlemen chefs. We had to assert ourselves. My pleasure. Hi.
Hi. Hi.
Hi. Please. And here is the duo of my wheels and the
roasted Mediterranean cereal, citrus marinara and alozei. As a garnish, pattypan squash,
eggplant, zucchini and fennel. A very big thank you.
Thank you so much. THANKS. Good morning. Good morning. How are you ?
It’s good and you ? GOOD. GOOD ?
Great. The fish was excellent. What we are trying to perpetuate
is a family and friendly spirit. In fact, it’s a home
more than just a business. We’ve all known each other for
almost three decades. Some only in summer,
others all year round. Cedric is the fourth generation to
come here, his daughter, for example. This is a bit like ground zero,
the focal point, here. We always meet up whenever there are
important events, birthdays or whatever. In general, it is found here
to stay in a setting that we know and appreciate. There you go, with people we love. And that’s what makes
the restaurant so good. And it’s very good.
Health. To the well. To the family. When we look at Fabregat,
we are suspended in time. There is nothing that tells us what
year we are in. Really, there are the calabateaux,
old houses, the wild side. And we are a little more
connected with nature. My father told me late,
but he was proud. That he was proud that it stayed in the same
family and that I was a hard worker. He always told me
I was a hard worker. That’s a compliment from someone
who was 86 at the same time. For them, it is a very great
quality to be hardworking. This is our house. Off the coast of Marseille,
this boat takes a team of amateur divers and scientists
to the heart of the calanques. Another jewel of the Mediterranean coast. The trails that crisscross these
limestone cliffs offer a privileged balcony over the territory of the
Calanques National Park. A
land and sea area of ​​more than 50,000 hectares that Professor
Nardo-Vicente spent his life studying and defending. It is exceptional on the
Provençal coast, but exceptional on an international level. It is known all over the world. It is a mine for biodiversity,
for archaeology, for the relief which extends
into depth, with extraordinary rock falls , faults,
caves of flora. This site has been dear to me since the beginning of my
research, since in 1960, we came to study the fauna and flora. The first inventories have been made. It is a dream for every diver
and a joy for old-timers like me to find these bridges again. Nardo Vicente is one of the most eminent
specialists in large Mediterranean mother-of-pearl. Today he is hosting the 17th edition
of an operation called: Species that Count. This citizen science project
allows amateurs to collaborate on a research program. The operation consists precisely of going to
identify the species that count in the Mediterranean,
the emblematic species: the grouper, the crow, the great
Mediterranean sea bream, the Mediterranean seabream. And I have a compass,
a depth gauge. And then, something even more bizarre,
a dressmaker’s tape measure, a dressmaker’s tape measure which allows me
to measure my large mother-of-pearls. Today, unfortunately, I think
I won’t have to use it. Every year, around a hundred divers
meet here to measure the health of the Mediterranean seabed. At 84, Professor Vicente
participates whenever he has the opportunity. I get in the water and I pass by there.
Ok no worries. Here we go. For this dive, he is accompanied
by marine biologist, Éric Charbonnel. It is on the immediate coastline that
the maximum amount of life normally occurs. All this had been altered by the discharges
of the cities, by the aberrant developments of the coastline, by the concreting. In the 70s, everything went
to the sea without any purification. Nardo Vicente was one of the first
scientists to alert the public authorities about the state of the Mediterranean. An awareness which led
to the creation of the Calanques National Park in 2012. Very quickly, the divers
come across the first groupers. For Professor Eric Charbonnel, a
member of the grouper study group, these encounters are
extremely encouraging signs. It is often said that when the grouper goes, everything goes. It is at the top of the food oaks. It is a super predator. It’s a bit like the land wolf. And so, it’s a very good indicator
of the overall quality of the ecosystem. The environment here is so rich
in habitat and food that there is room for everyone. A
little further on, Professor Vicente tries to spot Mediterranean mother-of-pearl. Along with the tropical clam, it is one
of the largest shellfish in the world. But on this side,
as the scientist predicted, the news is frankly bad. With climate change,
there are dormant viruses, parasites, and germs that explode
and attack various species. And the unfortunate mother-of-pearl, well,
which was decimated from September 2016 by a parasite,
a very small parasite, it’s a protosoir a few millimeters in size,
but which has toxic spores. And she dies within 24 hours. And today, we only find this
narque in a few privileged areas which are the lagoons
and coastal ponds. After 30 minutes of diving,
the scientists had more pleasant encounters. In recent years, crows
have returned to the park’s waters. The crows here, in 2012,
there were zero before the park. And today,
there are perhaps forty, a small population that has
settled there, a beautiful family. And this is the site where there are the most
crows in the Calanques park, it’s here. With around fifty crows and more
than 200 merals observed, this mission met the divers’ expectations. The crows, they are all alone. They’re all alone, actually.
No, but they are still alone. Yes, everything in place. I feel happy every time
I put my head under water. This dive in particular,
as I say, with people who participate in these observations,
who participate in this science, this participatory science and who
bring us a huge amount of data. What I’ve noticed recently is that we’re
seeing grouper of all sizes. A few years ago, we saw
big groupers here and there. There, now, we see
small ones, big ones. We really have the entire chain
spread across the entire surface, from top to bottom. What’s been happening
here in the last few years is huge. The idea of ​​the park
is crazy for us. As for the mother-of-pearl wick,
I think we will save the species in places where populations
continue to thrive. These are the ponds, the coastal lagoons. Enthusiasm is the only virtue.
And that’s the truth. For over 60 years, Professor Vicente has been studying the natural heritage of the Mediterranean coast. And the best way to do that
is to live in the middle of the Nile. Along the entire Provençal coastline,
there are a multitude of small islands, most of which are
grouped into archipelagos. Only eight of them are inhabited. Off the coast of Siffour-les-Plages, the island
of Ambiés is one of the best preserved. It houses the
Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute. Nardo Vicente, its scientific director,
resides here for the second half of the year. What is extraordinary about this island
is the vegetation, the vegetation characteristic of Provence. And then, here you have the only
natural beaches that have not been fertilized. There is no longer
a single real natural beach on the coast. There is such erosion
that to maintain them, we are forced to fertilize them
by bringing in considerable quantities of quarry sand every year, which,
of course, has nothing to do with the marine sand itself, which has formed
over time over millennia. Ambiers Island is
a jewel of the Mediterranean. A still wild landscape,
heavenly coves. These are 95 hectares of nature preserved
thanks to the stubbornness of the famous industrialist Paul Ricard, who acquired it in 1958
. The project of Mr. Ricard,
who was a lover of the Mediterranean, was to have a personal territory
where he could realize his dreams, be isolated on the Mediterranean,
but also share it with as many people as possible. You know, islands in general
are sanctuaries of biodiversity, both terrestrial and marine. And in fact, you feel a kind
of magic when you arrive on this island. In 1966, Paul Ricard went to war against industrial pollution at sea. He created a marine observatory at Ambiets,
which would later be called the Oceanographic Institute. He wanted this observatory to
work on the environment that surrounds us. And that’s when he
called on me to create a research team. Since the institute’s creation,
Nardo Vicente and his team have been looking after a unique site in France,
traditionally called the Brusque Lagoon. Here, in fact, we are
not in a lagoon. That, in a way,
is an abuse of language. In fact, here, it is a lagoon with to the south,
a string of islands with passes, natural passes and to the north,
a barrier reef of Posidonia. It is a marine plant that will
completely close off this space. And since we have the operation with
natural passes on one side, the barrier reef on the other,
we find ourselves in a lagoon. And it’s really the only lagoon we have
on the metropolitan coast, ultimately. Every week, Rémi,
Simeid and his colleagues monitor the lagoon’s seagrass beds. Just a few years ago,
this underwater lawn had completely disappeared. It disappeared because of the
sand that was added year after year to the surrounding beaches. With this contribution of sand, ultimately,
from an artificial beach, we have a grain which is completely
different and which is devoid of organic matter. So ultimately there are no more
nutrients for the plants. They can no longer develop. So at first,
they regressed, almost disappeared. And now nature is reclaiming its
rights, but very gradually. It is
a reservoir of Mediterranean biodiversity. 20 to 25% of
Mediterranean biodiversity can be found in our seagrass meadows, particularly in Posydonia. It is also an excellent
nursery area for young coastal fish which will provide a beautiful
biodiversity diversity, but which will also provide enough to
support small- scale fishing or recreational fishing. It’s a rejuvenated team. We have injected new blood and so it is
a considerable contribution because they arrive with their own vision
of research in the field. And so this allows us to considerably enrich
the work of the Institute. We are back on the island of
Saint-Honora, facing the city of Cannes. Summer is coming to an end,
and as every year at this time, the monks of Hérince are organizing their
harvest, helped by a few volunteers. Brother Marie and the
vineyard manager. This foot is a jackpot. I filled the bucket with that foot. We are reaching the end of a cycle. It’s a pleasure to reap the fruits
of a year of work, patience, and waiting. But it is also the fruit of an adventure,
because nature is always full of surprises. The harvest is also a culmination,
it’s a lot of work. This is why the vine, ultimately,
is very representative of the cycle of human life. We arrive, here, after the process of
growth, of maturity. Grapes are harvested
to make good wine. So we try to
cultivate all of this well, like… We also ultimately cultivate our life
to try to make it yield, to produce good fruit. Well, I’m out of money, champagne. Carrier. Please. For those who want,
we will go and sing lauds on the other side, next to the olive trees. And even for the grape harvest,
anyway, because then the vineyard is finished. We’re going to harvest on the other side. The Father Abbot has just
interrupted the work. It is time to celebrate the office
of lauds, the morning praises. We meet Brother Vincent,
the heritage manager of Ile-Saint-Honorat. That by your noble lineage… Despite their many responsibilities,
the monks of Lérins participate every day in eight years of prayer. We have a working time of about 30
hours per week, I think, from Monday to Saturday. Then we have times for prayer,
for rest, for meals. A rhythm of its own. Things are moving slowly. The important thing
is not to let yourself get overwhelmed. It essentially requires discipline
and organization to do things without rushing. Until the heavenly reward. Everything in its own time. You can keep the sheet heated. After 15 minutes of reflection, the
Saint-Honorat family returned to work. It took them 20 years to
revive this long-neglected vineyard. We were two brothers who were
put on a mission to restructure the vineyard. But as I told the priest
at the time, he said to me: Look, we chose you, we thought of you to relaunch. I told him: You know,
I’ve never touched pruning shears in my life, I’ve never done any grape harvesting.
He replied: Well, you will learn. It
took 20 years to put everything back in place, choose the grape varieties and then,
above all, train and equip ourselves to try to make good wine. For the moment, we can’t
say that it’s bringing in much money. We can’t go
into an aggressive commercial approach where we only show that image
of the abbey, ultimately. The positioning is One day,
a ruler that is not always easy to find, but we are working on it. In the abbey’s agricultural buildings,
40,000 bottles of wine are produced each year. Brother Vincent is responsible
for labeling the bottles. Being on an island, we had to
equip ourselves to have all the material. We would have been on the continent. For labeling, for example, we could have
called on a service provider who would have come with his machine on a truck. In a few days,
he labels all the bottles. Here, we chose to
have our own machines. We work on it throughout the year
depending on the needs, in fact. Depending on the orders,
depending on the sales rate, we will label as we go. Then the other advantage,
I would say, is that the machine makes noise and therefore,
it avoids chatter, because normally, we don’t talk while working. So there’s the machine that makes it so we’re
not tempted to talk, because there’s been so much noise that… The bottles are now ready
to be shipped to the continent. Some are intended for export,
since Saint-Honorat wine is distributed as far as Japan. On this island, which is a 40-
hectare island with a very rich heritage inherited from past centuries, so
many buildings which will necessarily deteriorate over time,
which also has forests, a very vast natural heritage. Well, it’s very important for us to have
an economy that will allow us not only to live, but also to
maintain this heritage. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Hey ! Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He is a hill border who is
trained to voice and whistle. Oh yes, yes. The voice is Welsh,
since he comes from Wales. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to keep. The final stage of this itinerary
along the Mediterranean coastal paths takes us west of Marseille,
to the hills of Rove. Franck and Marc Guirand grew up here. They are the heirs of one of the
most famous families in the region. For 17 generations,
the Guirand family has been raising goats in the very place where the breed
was born, 2,600 years ago. So there, in the background, you see, it’s
the village of Rove, the center of the village. It should be noted that before, in 1900, there
were 4,000 goats for 400 inhabitants. Today, we are the last family
to raise Rauve goats, in Rauve. We’ve been doing this for 600 years. It’s something we carry
within us, it’s in our DNA. We couldn’t see ourselves doing anything else. The Rove trails lead
the herd to the heights of the Côte-Bleue.
Come on. The view from my office window,
there’s Pierre anyway. Saved from urbanization in the early
1980s by the mayor of Rove and the Conservatoire du Littoral,
these hills today offer an unexpected panorama. In the background, you see,
it’s the city of Marseille. Where the Rove goat arrived
2600 years ago, at the same time as its creation,
sailors who came from Greece, from ancient Mesopotamia, came
with animals on board, especially goats,
and by an exchange of barters, as they did at the time. And the local shepherds collected them
and then stripped them over the centuries to give the rove goat. And then today,
2,600 years later, they are still there, in the same place, in these hills
that have remained unchanged. So it really makes sense,
it’s important. There is no day off. It’s 5am, Monday to Sunday. There are very few holidays. But then I tell myself that maybe we
‘re on vacation all year round, maybe. Maybe that’s the thing, actually. Franck and Marc Guirand have spent their
lives exploring the trails of Rove. And it was together that they chose
to succeed their father at the head of the farm. We have a relationship that is
very close. We spend more time together than we do with
our respective wives, actually. It’s lucky that we’re both there,
because that also helps us to overcome this somewhat restrictive side. In addition, it is moral and physical support. We’ve both been side by side every day for 35 years. It’s not easy every day. Sometimes we get a little drunk. It doesn’t last long.
It doesn’t last long. It lasts a series of goats. Yeah, kind of like
I always win every time. Throughout the day, the rove goats eat typical
Mediterranean vegetation. Kermes oak,
rosemary and thyme give their milk its very special flavors. The afternoon is drawing to a close and it is
time to proceed with the second milking of the day, in a
perfectly executed choreography. It’s very important
for the animals to get their milk out, it gives them a lot of relief. This is where we take stock
of the day, if the animals are okay, if there is any care to be done, if there is anything.
That’s it, every day, morning and evening. We meet there and spend two
hours with the animals, but we end up happy. It is created by hand.
For what ? Well, first of all, it’s a
deliberate choice. And then, it also allows me to see and
control the quality of the milk. Our hand being directly with the milk,
we know if there is a problem, if there is We see it immediately. This manual milking alone
represents around 5 hours of daily work. It’s a fight every day.
We are really… We are going against the industry, completely. We are marginal in this. What’s important to us
is the finished product, what we’re going to give to people. We prefer to sell less,
but produce well. At the end of milking, Franck has to
bring the milk back down to the village. He is expected to begin making
a cheese that is the pride of an entire region: the Rove bush. At the heart of the family home,
it is Marie-Ange, the boys’ mother, who knows all the secrets. For
me, it’s been 40 years. I started in the
80s and so… I’ve been doing this for 40 years. It remains artisanal. That’s really how he
did it back then. We kept the same recipe. Manufacturing has not been modernized. We wanted to keep the
traditional side as it was back then. And there, it is really as it
should be, very fine. It has to be very thin
for it to be good. I was born here and I
see it as a small child. My mom, when it was crazy,
threw me on her knees. He had a bucket, he was trellising. We had a picture, you have a bucket,
two and a half years ago, I think. He had a bucket, he was already trellising. We put him in the sheepfold
with us when he was born. There is no nanny. I raised my children
myself. No nanny like they do
now, nor daycare. So my children were raised
in the cauldron and in the sheepfold. They always followed us everywhere. The recipe for making
Rove bush cheese has remained unchanged for 600 years. Raw milk heated to 90 degrees
and an acidifier. This is white vinegar. This is what will make the milk curdle. We call it making the milk brown,
so it was a verb that only existed in Marseille, making the milk brown. We have the milk which thickens,
which will later make the brousse, which is small flakes
which rise to the surface. It really all comes down to the temperature
of the milk, the amount of vinegar and white vinegar. And the mother knows
the temperature of the milk by heart, she doesn’t need a thermometer. Others would put a thermometer,
the mother knows it by heart. And the quantity of white vinegar, everything is
done by eye, everything is done by experience. Excellent expertise rewarded
in 2020 with a protected designation of origin. This is a We came to fight for more
than 10 years, led by the father, led by other breeders also from the region. Today, there are seven of us,
so on our own, we’re going to go bushwalking in Europe. And it’s a great source of pride for us,
yes, it protects the product. And then, the rock bush
deserved its name. I am convinced. With 290,000 Brussels produced each
year, the market remains very modest. This is what makes this cheese
a particularly sought-after delicacy. In the heart of Marseille,
Franck now delivers his Brussel Rove cheeses to one of
the city’s most famous restaurants. Ah Franck, how are you? Le Petit Nice, run by chef
Gérald Passedat. That’s extraordinary.
Frankly. Look at this. It is one of the finest products
from Marseille in the region. Give me a plate, please. Look, look. This is great. Great, look. I’ve known this since… I was a kid, my grandmother used to
make them for me, can you imagine? I’m 60 years old, so it’s been a long time. And at first, it was a little ungrateful,
the first time, when you tasted it as a child.
For me, it’s a given. And then we say to ourselves: But how
good is it, how light is it. Our merit
is the return of people. It’s there, the fact.
That’s the ultimate goal. Gérald Passedat and his pastry chef,
Guillaume Villalonga, have prepared a surprise for Franck. Small puffed spelt, that
‘s really good. Really, it’s super good. There, it is
precisely the brousse which has been reworked to refine it
a little more with honey to have maximum smoothness. And there, we will put a bush opaline
which was made from birch sap. It’s not sugar. It is birch sap that creates this
opaline like that to remain transparent,
in visual simplicity. But on the other hand, taste-wise, it’s
quite complex and very interesting. I decided to treat it as a dessert
because it could have been treated very well as a starter with tomatoes,
basil, olive oil. I preferred to be on something
more, not consensual, but more gourmet,
more in line with what I currently think of cooking,
which should be as gourmet as it is light. And always adapt this digestibility
which is dear to my cooking. The cherry on the cake
is Bruce’s sorbet. Well done Guillaume, superb. I attack.
It’s made for that, listen. I take everything.
A little taste of thyme there. Thyme is here. The finesse, the bush, it has everything. There is everything. It’s really good. I like the crispiness too. There
is even something rough that reminds us a little of our lands,
our aridity that we sell in France. For us, it’s also a reward
to be able to work with such beautiful products and try to enhance them. That’s our job, actually. If you don’t sublimate what you are given,
what you are given, what nature is capable of giving you,
with the work of man, we have understood nothing. A true link between land
and sea, coastal paths forge
territories and characters with a unique identity. It’s a way of life,
it’s a state of being too. We remain our rebels, like our goats. Marseille, a city a little on the fringes of all the cities in France. Myself on the fringes with my work. Actually, we get along well,
that’s a good idea.