A hill raises(brings up) the landscape and the soul : one speaks better with God if one approaches it. Doubtless it is one of the reasons of Forcalquier's nobility, this town that for me evokes the atmosphere of Giono's stories, although this one ignored it rather magnificently in the course of the work...

Embeded among a hank of hills which takes quite naturally place in a light this afternoon Latin this afternoon alpestre, the city keeps(guards) its air(sight) of capital, the time when it was the pit(core) of a powerful county allied to the ruling families of Europe.

But it was there is indeed for a long time, and maintaining the fortress, which down from its mound realized the comtal power, fainted in the wind ; of the Acropolis however one always dominates the country and the roofs of the city, the double city more exactly because Forcalquier left for part(party) his(her) hill - mother to take his(her) ease on the flat(dish) and on the nearby hillside, illustrating the syndrome of the bald which is allowed push the beard as the baldness wins. The high city lived then this strange alteration(transfer) where the nature resumes its rights on the architecture, and bit by bit became an arboretum where from appears just the chapel-grenade Notre-Dame-de-Provence.

The intermediate city remains lived by houses full of contradictions, where the sculptured door the Renaissance flirts with the metal shutter(sector), and where numerous patrician houses, which did not look after themselves any more for centuries, blow a doubtful breath; there is so a strong potential of works for the amateurs of restorations, but also big happiness, and especially it is there that the History of the city blows.

Towards the collar of Bourget (because it is well collar that it is a question, even modest), the city takes its speed(look) of sub-prefecture, with all the attributes of this function(office) - public buildings(ships) in the a little bit outmoded elegance, terraces of coffees(cafes), trade and social forum - and it is here its most seductive side. The last part(party) of the city, behind the Place of Bourget, is less historic but more brightened up, and there, in rather noble gardens (which(who) to be perfected should buy themselves big Florentine potteries stocked with lemon trees) pushed small houses to the lively colours, set on pedestals of pink(roses) and iris ; of their windows, the sight is a picture(table) on Forcalquier-la-Belle.

Text and photo : Extracted from the book "Country of Lure, Forcalquier, Manosque" Publishing Edisud