Embrun, a rainy day in the French Alps

Of course, when the weather is nice everything is more pleasant, especially when you're out and about visiting towns and tourist spots. I expected much more from Embrun; people had always spoken very highly of it, and when I went there, unfortunately, it was raining.... It's a nice little town, large and equipped with everything you need, but it disappointed me a bit; I expected more on the artistic, historical and scenic side. The centre is bare, with bars and shops that on a Sunday in July were almost all closed. The viewpoints are lovely, since the town stands on a rock, and so are the few historic monuments, among them the Cathedral, the tower and the Maison des Chanonges, the garden with the monument to the poet Clovis Hvgves, the old houses of the historic centre and the town hall square.

The centre was bare that day, few tourists, ice-cream parlours open but with closed outdoor seating, shops closed and pouring rain. I found the town hall square lovely, with the flowered gazebo and the fountain; it's a large, scenic, historic square. The alleys are narrow and the houses tall on either side of the streets, simple squares and all around the French Alps. There isn't much to see, or at least we didn't find it; the most historic quarter is the one around the Cathedral, and the tourist office was closed..... What can I say..... perhaps the most picturesque thing was seeing a slice of Lake Serre-Poncon from the viewpoint, amid big black threatening clouds and a few lonely rays of sun...