Europe 2007 Part 21 Col de Tende - Colle di Tenda

I travel up the Col da Tenda on the border between Italy and France in the Maritime Alps.

Col de Tende (Italian: Colle di Tenda; elevation 1870 m) is a high mountain pass in the Alps, on the border of France and Italy.

It separates the Maritime Alps from the Ligurian Alps. It connects Nice and Tende in Alpes-Maritimes with Cuneo in Piedmont.

A railway tunnel inaugurated in 1898 and a road tunnel inaugurated in 1882 run under the pass. The latter tunnel is 3.2 kilometre long and is among the oldest long road tunnels.

My channel on you tube : http://www.youtube.com/alanheath is one of the most prolific from Poland, although unfortunately not the most visited. With almost one film per day, one may be forgiven for thinking I do nothing else but I do have a day job as well. I have produced more than 400 original films, most in English but also in Polish, French, Italian, Spanish and the occassional hint of German and Hebrew. My big interest in life is travel and history but I have also placed films on other subjects

Please feel free to ask questions in the public area or to comment on things you disagree with. Sometimes there are mistakes because I speak without preparation. If I see the mistakes myself, I make this clear in the text. Please also leave a star rating!

There are a number of films here on the packaging industry. This is because I am the publisher of Central and Eastern European Packaging -- http://www.ceepackaging.com - the international platform for the packaging industry in this region focussing on the latest innovations, trends, design, branding, legislation and environmental issues with in-depth profiles of major industry achievers. Most people may think packaging pretty boring but it possibly effects your life more than you really imagine!

Central and Eastern European Packaging examines the packaging industry throughout this region, but in particular in the largest regional economies which are Russia, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Austria. That is not to say that the other countries are forgotten, they are not, but obviously there is less going on. However the fact that there are so many travel related films here is not from holidays but from business trips attending trade fairs around the region and the sites http://www.ceepackaging.com/articles/events/ and http://www.ceepackaging.com/articles/agenda/ give a pretty good idea where future films are going to come from! Every packaging trade fair is a new excuse to make another film!

In 1997 I founded Polish Business News http://www.pbn.com.pl .There are a number of business related films here and I intend to do many more on CRM (customer relations management).

My blog can be found via http://www.ceepackaging.com and http://www.pbn.com.pl and contains background information and more details of many of my films. This information is in English.

I have also a second blog on the site http://www.navigeo.net/blog/alan-heath-blog . This site has been recently started by a friend and I think it will soon be one of the leading travel sites in Poland, if not Central Europe. It contains additional information about some of the places and events shown in these films but most of that is in Polish.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Limone
• Tenda
• Tende
• France
• Italy
• Italia
• Piemonte
• Martime
• Alps
• mountains
• tunnel
• European
• Union
• Mercantour
• Merveilles

[codyboy5714]

At about 7.15 mins, Alan stops at a car park in the hamlet of Vievola on the French side of the Col. I know Vievola as some friends have an apartment there, which can be let if anyone is interested. From where Alan is filming, you can see some bends sweeping down the valley and the roof of a house. At August 2011, this house has an Ostrich in the yard, which is clearly visible from both carriageways. I don't think it's a native species! The house is on the uphill side of the road.

[alanheath]

@codyboy5714 I would like to confirm that it is a really nice place. I went on holiday in July 2003 to the Mercatour National Park which was wonderful!

[Phoenixace76]

Just a comment to let you know, at the time of filming, large vehicles were allowed to travel in one direction in the colle Di Tende every 20 mins, while cars could go both ways at all times. Now as of 2008 large vehicles can only pass between 10am and 11am on a morning and between 4pm and 5pm in the evening and are prohibited at all other times.

[alanheath]

So one would not wish to arrive in a lorry at two minutes past five!! 

Thanks for your comment!!

[sonofsun4]

What part of a year is this?-no foliage on the trees.

Thanks

[alanheath]

This is at the beginning of March.

[bestiaccia]

I'm from Tende! :-))

Thank you for posting!

[Phoenixace76]

Lol, I've arrived in a coach at 5.10pm! We got into trouble at the other end but the offer of an espresso calmed the carabinieri down lol.

[alanheath]

For those that like to complain about the poor quality of my films this is your chance to have some input.

My Sony Cybershot - used for all films here but one - has given up on me. I do not want to buy a video camera - just a compact camera which I can carry around in my pocket.

What camera should I buy and why?

[alanheath]

Wonderful place - I try to go there at least once a year!