Téléphérique Bastille Grenoble

Imagine a dewy morning, slightly cold, shy sunbeams carressing your skin and a soft alpine wind blowing in your hair, a spectacular view of a urbanised glacial valley before your eyes, while the snowy mountain caps of the French Alps loom on the horizon, right above the city.

It is that times 1000000 you will experience in Grenoble, while going up the Bastille hill with the spherical cable cars built especially in order to foster this happy situation of the "capital of the Alps". Not only that you get to "fly" over the Isere, the river at the base of the Bastille that crosses the city, making it the subject of some very old mentions dating as far back as Cicero, who notably wrote about the bridges that the Gauls managed to build over the famously furious river. 

The cable cars' starting point is on the left bank and the way up gradually uncovers a majestic view first of the old part of Grenoble, with gracious architecture and the traditional narrow streets labyrinth, then of the rest of the modern city, surrounded by numerous facilities and small, mountain villages as far up as the Bastille on the three sorrounding mountains, the Chartreuse, Belledonne et Vercors. They all become visible and more than that, evident in their splendour, while going up to the top of the hill, where a restaurant, a museum, a couple of monuments and the remains of an very old fortification hosting all these. In fact a big part of the Bastille is still reminiscent of the old days of the Revolution and the world wars with its remaining stone walls built to defend France and prevent any unwanted presence from getting past the Alps and to the lower lands in the centre of the country. It is a sort of last resort, since only a few other moutain tops follow before entering the highland region. 

All in all, except maybe your accidental polluted day, the visibility is great and offers a unique perspective, easily accesible, but hard to forget. One can even reach it by foot, if fond of trekking, and the path continues to  the natural park of Chartreuse, which I recommend for its unmatched rendering of alpine geography and the historic significance of the paths on which it relies, that used to be those that local postmen would walk day in and day out, donkey or no donkey, to get news from one small, heavenly village to another and between these and the outside world. 

At all these you can catch a glimpse while up on the Bastille with the cable cars, and maybe more, that I leave you to discover on the spot. Enjoy!