Sundial at Madone de Fenestre, France - Sundials on Waymarking.com

At the end of the road from up from St Martin de Vésubie, high in the Mercontour National Park, is an ancient pilgrimage site, Madone de Fenestre. On Chalet Alexis to the left of the church is a simple sundial. The motto is “Hora pulchrae vita brevis” The hours are beautiful, life is short. We agree and set out on an excellent hike on a beautiful clear day up to the Col de Fenestre, traversed Pas Padres and returned. By then the clouds had rolled in. “Hora pulchrae vita brevis”.

The sundial is a minor part of the patrimony. The focus here is the annual pilgrimage carrying the statue of “Marie la Madone de Fenestre “ to her summer home, the old church high in the cirque. The tradition dates to the 12th century. We visited in mid October well after the statue was returned to St Martin de Vésubie in the valley. The church was open as was the CAF alpine hut but the hotel was closed and the few houses unoccupied. The weather and hiking was great.

The Mercontour National Park is in the Alpes Maritime on the Italian border. The mountains here soar to over 3000m (10,000 ft) are less than 100 km from Nice and the Mediterranean Sea. Hiking here to enjoy the high alpine terrain was a great experience. The patrimony was an added bonus.

Sundial Type: Vertical - Wall mounted dial plate Related Web Site: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Only one log per location per person. You should log your own waymarked sundials as well.
GPS in photo optional.

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