マシューの天然記念物・トップ5

A little "kick in the pants" to get out! Cool and in the shade!

The coolness in these gorges is much appreciated when it's close to a heatwave on the plains! And the wild atmosphere of the small road through these gorges (before reaching a busy road for a beautiful descent) is good (a little "kick in the ass" to get out!).

A tourist attraction in this area is Lake Paladru, which stretches from the village of the same name in the north to Charavines in the south. If you walk around the lake from a distance rather than on the paths directly along the shore, the hills offer some very beautiful views of the landscape. But not only that: on the outskirts of Bilieu – on the eastern shore of the lake – we pass a small sacred monument: a simple wayside cross made of two massive wooden beams (without a body or INRI inscription), which already shows the wear and tear of wind and weather.

A tourist attraction in this area is Lake Paladru, which stretches from the village of the same name in the north to Charavines in the south. If you walk around the lake from a distance rather than on the paths directly along the shore, the hills offer some very beautiful views of the landscape. But not only that: on the outskirts of Bilieu – on the eastern shore of the lake – we pass a small sacred monument: a simple wayside cross made of two massive wooden beams (without a body or INRI inscription), which already shows the wear and tear of wind and weather.

Here we encounter three stone cubes stacked on top of each other, each smaller than the one below it. The gray cubes each have a white field in the center of their sides, with a cross carved into it, painted blue and standing out against the gray/white background. This construction forms the basis for the present small sacred monument: above it rises a radiant gold figure of the Madonna. From this prominent position, the Virgin Mary – venerated in France almost always under the title "Notre-Dame" ("Our Lady") – gazes far into the country, and has done so for more than 120 years. @Rainer N. has already explained the date and reason for its construction in his short post.

Very peaceful walk on the Via Chartreuse from the gorges of Crossey to Entre-2-Guiers. I saw 1 passage under 30-40cm of water in June 2024 during the heavy rain episodes

one hour walk (round trip) from the village, in the woods, occasionally passing a meadow or a clearing.

With its views and its picnic table, this place is an ideal place to pass. The statue was erected in 1903 to protect the vines against the phylloxera virus which devastated so many winegrowers.