France - Route Des Grandes Alpes - From Lake Geneva To The Mediterranean (11/151)

France - Route Des Grandes Alpes - From Lake Geneva To The Mediterranean (11/151)

The idea was conceived almost 100 years ago, at a time when car driving was still a real adventure. Back then the roads were still dusty and the engines had to be crank-started. In 1913, when the stinking vehicles were still forbidden in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, the motorised future was being envisaged in Paris. A road was to be built right through the French Alps, from Lake Geneva right down to the Mediterranean - the Route des Grandes Alpes. The route was to go over the highest passes of the Alps - six of them alone are over 2,000 metres high. The Col de l'Iseran was chosen as the "roof" of the route - not until 1937 was it possible to inaugurate this difficult section. The journey along the Route des Grandes Alpes has long since ceased to be a real adventure in this age of injection engines and servo-steering. The roads have become bigger and better and are, of course, all tarmaced. But the panorama is still spectacular...