 Under
a virtually permanent blue sky, Aiguilles offers the visitor a wonderful
vista of pretty brightly coloured red and blue houses, topped by
shingle roofs, with beautiful fountains enthroning statues, and
sundials. If you look carefully you'll notice the architecture is
often rather unusual for a mountain village, reflecting South American
influences. As in Barcelonnette (see the section on this town),
many locals emigrated to South America following the terrible fire
of 1829, and returned home many years later, much richer, to build
these houses, as bourgeois as they are peculiar.
 A
good example of this architecture is Château de l'Auche, built at
the end of the 19th century by the Challe family on their return
from South America, which today houses the village school. Other
curioisites: Grand Hôtel (1910) and Maison Eiffel, both entirely
built from iron and designed by an engineer called Duclos, who worked
for Gustave Eiffel's firm.
Aiguilles is the geographical and commercial heart of the Queyras
region. In winter it is a family-oriented village ski resort,
perfect for people who are attracted by authenticity. The resort's
cross-country ski routes take the forest tracks, passing through
magnificent larch forests, home to roe deer, chamois, mouflons and
ibexes.
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