The final stop of this alternative route requires a definitive detour inland, climbing along winding roads that lead into Collobrières, self-proclaimed the capital of the chestnut.
Protected by an immense and dense mass of cork oaks and chestnuts that completely isolates the town from the bustle and the traffic of the coast, this enclave lives at a pace that ignores the calendars of the tourist seasons.
At the Confiserie Azuréenne the famous candied chestnuts are produced following a meticulous artisanal recipe that requires weeks of preparation.
Walking along the banks of the Real River, which runs through the town beneath the twelfth-century stone bridges, offers a stark contrast to the saline brightness of the beaches visited just hours earlier.
Returning to the starting point, to the clean, white, and rational lines of Villa Noailles high above Hyères, completes the circle of a journey that, above all, functions as an antidote to mass tourism.
