Les Routes du Sel

NICE, COTE D'AZUR

I stood on the Plage des Ponchettes at the eastern end of Nice’s Promenade des Anglais and let the sea breeze wake me up.

“Imagine the boats coming to shore in the Middle Ages,” nudged one of my companions, Sophie Spilliaert, sustainable tourism officer for Nice Côte d’Azur.

“Small wooden row boats weighed down by sacks of salt, cutting through the shallow water, any noise drowned out by the squawking gabian gulls and the breeze whipping around the sailors’ heads.

Hopeful men waiting on the beach for gainful employment lugging the salt to the town square.”

I’ve spent a lot of time in Nice and usually at this point I’d be contemplating a mad dash down the steep shelve to splash inelegantly into that turquoise water.

However, I turned my back on its temptations and followed Sophie and her colleague Marion across the road into Cours Saleya, Nice’s centuries-old marketplace.

We were on a mission.

We were about to recce the first part of the Route Pagarine, a new 10-stage walking route between Nice and Cuneo, which follows in the footsteps of medieval muleteers and salt traders.

As Sophie peeled off the back of a red Les Routes du Sel sticker and smoothed it onto the shaft of the nearest lamppost, I raised my eyes to the cool hills behind the city.

In just a few hours, we’d be up there, taking a last look at the vibrant coast before diving into the hilly hinterland.

For now though, the early morning brouhaha of Cours Saleya was in full swing; it played an important role in the salt trade in this region, Marion explained.

“There was a lot of salt production near here and it was all brought to Nice to be unloaded on the beach and then packaged, weighed and taxed in this square.

“The building in the corner which is now the Centre du Patrimoine was where the traders had to pay the salt tax – or the ‘gabelle’ as it was called – before they were allowed to leave town with their haul to the border regions.”

Salt was incredibly important in the Middle Ages. They needed it for everything from preparing the animal skins, preserving the food and acting as a medicine.

But it wasn’t just salt that was being traded on that route. They would buy local delicacies like chestnuts, cheese and wine from the mountains, paper from Cuneo, rice from Saluzzo and fabrics from Piedmont to take back and sell in Nice.

Life as a salt trader was hard and hazardous, and the muleteers, their beasts and carriages would travel in throngs for safety and often operate a relay system to prevent exhaustion.

It’s estimated that 60-70,000 mules trod the paths each year at the height of the salt trade.

We hiked uphill through the jasmine-scented streets of Nice’s Cimez district, gawping at its Belle Epoque mansions and finally leaving the city behind in favour of scrub paths and dry hills.

Popping Les Routes du Sel stickers on pillars and walls at strategic junctions gave the walk an extra dimension and it was satisfying to think of the thousands of hikers who would spot our red squares with relief as they too followed in the footsteps of the muletiers.