Fréjus the flirtatious strut,
different from its picturesque neighbors
1- The historic center of Fréjus
The historic town caps the top of a hill, from where the main shopping street, wide and without sidewalks, zigzags a little in its descent then flees to the left towards the south then towards the east, taking the route of the enclosure that delimited it in the past.
We discover it, quite clean, of meticulous restoration, but so rigorously clean that one takes nostalgia for a pinch of nonchalance, to let go.
The reflection of the sun on the facades vibrates between the vigorous branches of the plane trees.
Of which we know on the other hand to what excess of abandonment this can lead in other metropolises of the south, Marseilles especially, even a little Nice.
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A few well-kept places open a deliberately very clear perspective.
Almost empty of seats and benches, we do not know whether we owe this organized emptiness to the municipality, or to the coronavirus which would have hidden the storefronts (except the terraces of cafes, their chairs and their tables).
Passers-by are rare, even seem in a hurry.
The picturesque city center can be seen in the south, a cousin of that of agglomerations, towns and coastal villages from the Massif des Maures to Italy.
Here he exhibits himself, asserts himself in a tone that is still authentic, but rather supported, demonstrative, almost peremptory. "I order you to watch how much I look like them."
In its immediate periphery, the modern and well-maintained buildings which are its extension are no more attractive than elsewhere.
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Like a fulminating reproach from man to his god.
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In the center, against the imposing and massive town hall building with its elegant facade, stands St-Léonce Cathedral, which adjoins its cloister and the Archaeological Museum.
From the beautiful and vast square which surrounds these buildings, the severe old bell tower (13th century) in square keep crowned with an octagonal tower with a sharp and colored roof seems a weapon or a finger, which points towards the hard blue of the sky.
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All eras are identifiable, at least from the Paleo-Christian, the Romanesque, to this beautiful very Renaissance side entrance.
The radiance of the sun-struck stone on the outside meets an obscure and sober Romanesque majesty inside, in which it is unlikely that Father Sieyès ever officiated.
The configuration of the cloister, of modest size, is traditional, harmonious, almost austere.
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The bishops of Fréjus knew how to live: they fled the scorching summers of the coast for a little freshness in their Château de Fayence , less than a day by coach to the north.
As in other of these places, the modernist touch is reflected here by a glass wall which “protects” an entire bay of the upper gallery.
The central garden and its well, would be sufficient in themselves, but seem dryly staged on a parterre of concrete and gravel.
She enhances the beauty of the rows of fine twin pillars, and a superb original wood ceiling (12th century) in the upper gallery.
The educational trail recounting the ancient trades and arts that contributed in their time to the construction of this monument is perfect.
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2- Aurelian hill and umbrella pines
From one of the coastal roads, a hill densely wooded with dark balls of parasol pines from which emerge the green candles of the yews lets guess on its summit a sort of mysterious palace.
The whole evokes Italian Tuscany.
In fact, towards the north-east of Fréjus, precisely on the route of the Roman aqueduct, a very large park opens up, covering a slow slope.
It is the "Aurelian park", named thus by what it is located, like Fréjus, on the Aurelian Way .
Umbrella pines
What strikes first here, like an intense natural setting, is the forest old and vigorous umbrella pines spaced apart. They stand out with exactitude on the slow slope of the hill.
Powerfully decorative, they are emblematic of the region.
The bare undergrowth, barely encumbered with thorny bushes, is lined with pine needles under which their gnarled roots crawl like motionless snakes.
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Darker and more fantastic than the monotonous Landes pines, more elegant than the maritime pines, of which they nevertheless regain the frozen momentum that the mistral has given them over the years, sometimes also sculpted by the hand of man.
Typical of the local climate, they are very resistant to strong heat but also to frost down to -15 ° C.
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Umbrella pine is everywhere here. Altier by the sea, it also populates the short valleys and hills in successive waves of the small northern suburb of Fréjus.
It embellishes the setting of individual villas and beautiful summer subdivisions, guaranteeing discretion and protective shade in summer, along a network of roads winding enough to spontaneously slow down speed.
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Aurelian (or Palladian) hill
First in the park, we find a few arches of the Roman aqueduct and, just flush upstream, its conduit cut in stone.
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The park itself remains pleasantly semi-wild, maintained without excess, and leaves some pleasant surprises as you climb the slope to the top of the hill and cross it.
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Under a mostly decorative, abandoned brick bridge there may have been on rainy days a meager stream that had dried up for a long time.
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Elsewhere on a small, roughly delimited plateau, in a sort of garden in the ground, superb flowers bloom in barely pink calyxes, probably the amaryllis belladonna (the true amaryllis say the horticulturalists; not the indoor amaryllis) which blooms in the fall.
There, they dart their pistils and strut.
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Next to it, slightly overhanging another wild garden, a square building nestles under the pines, surmounted by a dome at the top of which are threaded the 3 usual Arab-Andalusian spheres but which the crescent does not overcome.
Well closed, what is its function?
The tall umbrella pines stretch out and mimic the romantic poplars in a Sisley painting.
Finally, after having crossed a few passages of very thorny bushes, voluminous cactus bushes, sight of prickly pears laden with fruit, crossed sumptuous agaves, here we are at the top of the relief, and at the foot of the palace, called the "Palladian palace".
Perfect situation.
In the sun, the beautiful building with galleries and columns outside as well as inside, shines the pale gold of its facade.
A bit like in an Italian house or a colonial house in the States of the American South, all that is missing from the painting is a young girl under a parasol, pensive and captivated, contemplating the panorama of the valley in the distance.
From the outside, it exudes an incomparable charm, even if it is surrounded, without recoil, by the vegetation.
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Inside, the ground floor and the very high 1st floor are distributed around a central hall by a monumental marble staircase, lit to the north by huge finely decorated windows, and at the top by a very large horizontal bay window, probably not very accessible for cleaning services, where Art Nouveau plant motifs are displayed.
The site is a place for indoor exhibitions and concerts in the modest outdoor space; at the moment it is a military exhibition about the French colonial period. The bust of a former putschist general, Salan, stands at the foot of the stairs.
What origin?
James Hiscutt CROSSMAN, heir to a rich English brewer, like many other subjects of his majesty seduced by what has been called the Côte d'Azur only since 1887 (the "French Riviera" across the Channel), makes build this "Château Aurélien" in 1889.
The other achievement in France is in the Jura.
The French architect who engages in this brilliant variation is from Marseille and was named Henri LACREUSETTE.
The neoclassical style is "Palladian", that is to say from the many Renaissance buildings of the great Italian architect André Palladio (1508-1580), especially in Veneto.
It was on the occasion of successive inheritances, precipitated by the financial abyss of the work and the lifestyle of its owners, that it ended up falling in 1913 to a line of bankers, and then being renamed "Villa Aurélienne ".
To finally return to the city of Fréjus in 1988.
