Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française
Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française | |
|---|---|
A view of the village from the south | |
Location of Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française | |
| Coordinates: 44°10′04″N 3°50′33″E / 44.1678°N 3.84250°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Occitania |
| Department | Lozère |
| Arrondissement | Florac |
| Canton | Le Collet-de-Dèze |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2021–2026) | Patrick Valdeyron |
Area 1 | 50.99 km2 (19.69 sq mi) |
| Population (2022) | 494 |
| • Density | 9.7/km2 (25/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 48148 /48330 |
| Elevation | 194–925 m (636–3,035 ft) (avg. 245 m or 804 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃t‿etjɛn vale fʁɑ̃sɛːz]; Occitan: Sent Estève de Valfrancesca) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France.
The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson passed through the village on 2 October 1878, as recounted in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes:
I went down beside the Gardon of Mialet, a great glaring watercourse devoid of water, and through St. Etienne de Vallée Française, or Val Francesque, as they used to call it; and towards evening began to ascend the hill of St. Pierre.
The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (GR 70), a popular long-distance path following Stevenson's approximate route, runs through the village.