Bath of the Semite
Description
Pool of natural water suitable for swimming, also for children. To see/ to do also the canyon of the Bendola.
Technical Information
Altimetric profile
Additional information
History, culture and heritage
When, for the first time, tourists or bathers discover the natural pool of Saorge, called «A Bendoura soutana» by the locals, they are immediately captivated by the pleasant beauty of the site and especially by the purity of the water of this torrent. There, a few meters from the national road, the mountain at the peak on one side, the flat rocks serving as a beach for the bathers of the summer of the other, border the calm waters of the Bendola before they mingle with those of the bubbling and impetuous Roya.
It was only after familiarizing themselves with this place that they saw, engraved with a chisel on the cliff on the left bank, a curious inscription: «Le bain du sémite», surmounted by a date, 1892. Name in fact, quite singular in this valley of essentially Christian culture. And from then on, the most curious envisage a thousand hypotheses more implausible one than the other, especially if they know that for a long time, in the past, there was a Jewish ghetto in La Brigue, at the time important center of breeding and wool trade.
In fact, the origin of this inscription is much more prosaic. It is only the embodiment of a series of jokes made by the officers of alpine hunters, stationed at the barracks of Saorge before the war of 1914-1918, to one of their comrades. This one, of Jewish origin, great sportsman and swimmer emeritus, had taken on a real passion for this natural pool with so pure water. In all seasons, he bathed there, at least whenever his service allowed him to. I was told that he sometimes stepped into the icy water, naked on his horse. Which, of course, gave his comrades the opportunity to make a mockery of him, while secretly envying his performance. The latter took advantage of one of his departures on leave to carry out what they had planned to do to immortalize his passion: to engrave, in front of the beach, this inscription so that it would be known to all.
Extract from Haut-Pays N° 23 of December 1991
Products of Charles BOTTON
Contact
Phone : 04 93 04 51 23
Open period
All year round.
Updated by
Office de Tourisme Menton, Riviera & Merveilles - 13/01/2024
www.menton-riviera-merveilles.fr/boutique/
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Price(s)
Free access.
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