Les Grandes marmites
The Grandes Marmites are one of the sites of the Loup gorges, in the Alpes-Maritimes, at the entrance of the defile, at the place called Pont-du-Loup, on the road linking Grasse to Tourrettes-sur-Loup. The Loup has carved rounded excavations in the limestone there, which are called marmites here.
From the bottom of the gorge, you only need to look up to see the village of Gourdon, perched on the cliffs, several hundred metres above. A viewpoint set up near the Saut du Loup looks onto the Grande Marmite, a natural basin shaped by the river's erosion, as well as onto the neighbouring Demoiselles and Pétrifiantes waterfalls. The area also keeps traces of the past: three arches remain of the railway viaduct mined in 1944, and a nineteenth-century aqueduct runs along the cliffs. The gorge road, the D 6, leads to Gourdon.
