Lac de Sainte-Croix et le village englouti des Salles-sur-Verdon

Les Salles-sur-Verdon

With its striking turquoise waters, the Lac de Sainte-Croix covers 2,200 hectares between the Var and the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, at the exit of the Verdon gorges. It did not exist before 1974: it was created by the building of the Sainte-Croix dam by EDF between 1973 and 1974. The original plan was to drown several villages up to the 500-metre mark, but at the end of 1968 the level was lowered to 482 m, saving Bauduen and Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon. A single village was condemned by the rising waters: Les Salles-sur-Verdon. Its inhabitants had to leave their houses, the school and the church before the old village was swallowed beneath tens of metres of water. A new village was rebuilt a few hundred metres away, on higher ground, and inaugurated in 1974. In times of drought or low water, remains of the old village — foundations, sections of wall — sometimes resurface, recalling the sacrifice imposed in the name of irrigation and electricity. Today the lake has become one of the most photographed sites in Provence, framed by the road viaduct and the bridge over the Verdon, where canoes glide over water of an almost unreal blue-green.

Getting there : At the exit of the Verdon gorges, reached by the D957 from Moustiers-Sainte-Marie or the D71 from Aups.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound