The best road cycling routes around Fontan

The historic old town of Menton, the “Vieille Ville”, impresses with its labyrinth of narrow, shady streets and the striking, pastel-colored house fronts that stretch picturesquely up the hill.

In the old town, there are numerous opportunities to buy lemons, lemon candies, lemon soap, lemon cake, and lemon ice cream. The famous lemons of Menton differ from other varieties in their elliptical shape, lack of bitterness, more vibrant colors, and oil-rich peels that impart a more pronounced fragrance.

The Old Bridge is a fortified bridge located in Sospel, over the Bévéra, in France[

“Menton. Italy is beginning, you can feel it in the air,” wrote Flaubert. The old town has an air of la dolce vita. It’s easy to get lost in the narrow streets, stairways, and shaded squares, lined with luminous ochre facades. Within the old fortified walls, the medieval crosspieces and the Baroque complex of the Parvis Saint-Michel reveal the weight of history. And everywhere, absolutely everywhere, the Mediterranean reminds us of its presence with its dazzling blue. A marvel for the eyes and the heart!

The Sospel bridge is located on a major road linking Nice to Piedmont via the Roya valley and the Col de Tende.

Sospel is located 20 km from Menton, at an altitude of around 350 m, at the gateway to the Mercantour National Park.

The early years of the 20th century saw the opening up of the Haut-Pays with the construction of tramways. The main lines served Menton, Cannes, Grasse, Estéron, Haut-Var, and Vésubie. The most spectacular line was the one connecting Menton to Sospel with the famous 120-meter-long Caramel Viaduct. This line, operated by the Nice and Coastal Tramways Company, was intended to bring construction materials for the railway line from Nice to Breil-sur-Roya. The project was declared of public utility by ministerial decree of February 10, 1906. The route was approved between 1907 and 1908. The line was inaugurated on March 30, 1912. The damage caused by the First World War made the Menton-Sospel tramway line unprofitable. Competition from the Nice-Breil-sur-Roya railway line, opened in 1928, and the development of coach lines increased its deficit. The line ceased operation permanently and was decommissioned on June 20, 1932. The viaducts remain the only evidence of the line's existence. The Caramel Viaduct is omega-shaped, allowing the tramway to loop along the mountainside. It is 120 m long and has 13 arches.

The Col de Castillon is a mountain pass in the Southern Alps of France, located at an altitude of 728 meters, in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It marks the junction between the Bévéra Valley to the north and the Careï Valley and Menton to the south.