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After the Gorges du Verdon, the Nesque Canyon are the most spectacular canyon-like clefts in Provence, one of the most beautiful hydrogeological carvings in the south of France. A fantastic and wild canyon with towering rocks.

The Rocher du Cire

The Nesque Canyon reveal themselves on the winding and meandering road that links Monieux to Villes-sur-Auzon.
Rich in tunnels and panoramic viewpoints, it is recommended to stop at the viewpoint of Castelleras opposite the imposing Rocher du Cire which is named after the wild bees that lived there. Frédéric Mistral, attached to ropes overhanging the precipice of 300 meters, came with the intention of visiting the beehives of the wild bees. He tells of his adventure in the poem ‘Calendal’. Part of his text features the stone statue erected in 1966 at the viewpoint.

The Roman Chapel of Saint Michel de Anesca

At the foot of the Nesque Canyon, on the riverbank but totally sheltered by an enormous overhanging rock, above which  two other shelters in the rock are to be found, inhabited in prehistoric times, nestles the chapel of Saint Michel de Anesca (of the Nesque). It is an unpretentious but interesting construction  because of its situation, its antiquity (12th century)  and its history. Inside, it harbours a well preserved, Gallo-Roman funerary stone which is supposed to have served as an altar in the Middle Ages.

The chapel was totally restored in 1643 – according to the engraving on the central stone of the arched entrance.Two paths lead to this chapel that was a place of pilgrimage until  the nineteenth century; the first path starts at the small lake of Malaval, the second in the village of Monieux (GR9).

Discover the Nesque Canyon by foot the Nesque canyon_walk

To know more, a book about the Gorges de la Nesque (published by” les Alpes de Lumière”) is at your disposal at the tourist office.