Les Orres Provence-Beyond (Beyond the French Riviera) ® Hautes-Alpes (05200) Population: 455 Altitude: 1460 m Michelin map: #245 "France Provence-Cote d'Azur" Nearby:      [ Boscodon Abbey 19 km | Embrun 12 | Guillestre 33 | Le Lauzet-Ubaye 43 | Mont-Dauphin 30 | lac de Serre-Ponçon 14 ] Photos:             1  "Ferme du chateau" old farmhouse with round tower and pointed roof (44 k)             2  Mountain farm, with Les Orres Station on opposite mountainside (33 k)             3  15th century chateau wall ruins and rail fence (44 k)             4  Village farm house with wooden attic and balconies (43 k)             5  The Eglise St Marie Madeleine with watching lion on the wall (29 k)             6  Sculpted face relief on the church wall (42 k)             7  Ancient sculpted owl relief on the church wall (30 k) Below: [ History | O.T. | Sports | Hiking ] At the northeast corner of the Lac Serre-Ponçon, a couple of km south of Embrun, turn off onto the D40 and follow the twisty road up through the green hills and mountain farms and pastures to the village of Les Orres. The old house with the pointed roof end [photo, left] was a part of the chateau farm in the 16th century. The chateau ruins beside the village are now only a pair of stone walls in the field overlooking the valley [photo-3], but were once the sides of a massive chateau-fort, built in the 15th century as a defence against the Duke of Savoy. It's a very picturesque little village, but there's no commerce, cafés or "rest facilities". We did find on small fresh-fruit stand that's there only on Sundays, and one elderly lady who sells baskets, dried "chadrons" and some wood carvings from the front of her old farmhouse. Many of the village houses have slate roofs and the open-air wooden attics . The village itself is a collection of farm houses and some newer villas of the same mountain style. Houses have steep roofs, often of pale slate, and many with open-air wooden attics with long wooden balconies [photo-4]. A few large chalet villas and farms dot the hillsides just around. The resort area of Les Orres Station sits on the opposite side of a small valley [photo-2]. The Eglise St Marie Madeleine [photo-5] from the early 16th century (the Gothic doorway is dated 1501) is quite grand for such a small village. We especially liked the lion on the corner wall, the sculpted face [photo-6] and the ancient sculpted owl [photo-7] on the church wall. History Prehistoric: Several Bronze-age burial tombs were discovered at Mélezet, 1 km to the south. Celto-Ligurian: An annual procession to the source of the fontaine de Jérusalem is very ancient, and based on Gauloise superstitions. Medieval: The commune was aquired in the 13th century by the Hospitaliers de St-Jean-de-Jérusalem. Office de Tourisme Tel: 04 92 44 01 61; Fax: 04 92 44 04 56 Sports Les Orres Station, a couple of km south of the old village, is set up for summer and winter sports, with 2000-bed accomondations. The highest ski lifts go up to 2600 m. Hiking Maps: Didier Richard (1/50,000) #10 "Queyras Pays du Viso";