Vallouise

This is the village where AlpBase is centred. Vallouise is a small mountain village with a population of only 650. Vallouise is situated at the junction of 3 valleys, on a plateau at 1,100m with stunning alpine scenery all around. In summer there is mountain biking and hiking from the doorstep, and in winter snowshoeing and x-country skiing. The village has 6 restaurants, 2 bars, two small supermarkets, a number of stationeries and gift shops, three outdoor equipment and ski hire shops, a pharmacy, and of course the weekly market.

This Vallouise valley has variously been called Vallis Gerentonica,  Vallis Puta (the wrong valley) and finally Vallouise Vaudoise (vallis Louysia) under the leadership of Louis XI, from which the Valleys name originated.

At the centre of Vallouise Village is the historic parish church of Saint-Etienne. The Vallouise church was first constructed in the fourteenth and then rebuilt in the fifteenth century. Visible from afar, its bell tower is pierced by  two floors of mullioned arched windows. When you first arrive in village square in front of the building, the eye focuses first on a painted mural representation of St. Etienne.  But you are quickly guided away to the main entrance (adjacent to the chapel of the Penitents) built in the sixteenth century. It consists of a porch supported by two columns. This arched gateway is flanked by three columns behind, with an abacus decorated with grinning gargoyles and other motifs that include a lily, a dolphin, a moon, and a star.

The interior has a really unique sombre atmosphere which does exactly what it  was meant to do - literally put the fear of God into you - but only in a positive and culturally fascinating way!
In includes a barrel-vaulted nave, and vaulted choir stalls on intersecting arches, with two aisles, giving the building a feeling of vast proportions. The furniture is particularly rich, and includes a Pieta, an altar and a gilded wood tabernacle from  the eighteenth century.
You will also see some murals on the altar that depict the souls of purgatory (St. Paul, St. Anthony, St. Sebastian, St. John and St. John the Baptist ...) The church is open daily and a visit if staying locally should not be missed.
The other unmissable event in Vallouise is the village's weekly market. It is always on a Thursday and ranges from  a few stalls in the low season to a huge attraction in mid Summer that occupies the entire village and attracts hundreds of people.
SEE ALL THE PHOTOS OF VALLOUISE IN OUR GALLERY UNDER AREA