« This village takes it's name from a pre-Indo-European root kl-, which was common at that time in words relating to steep slopes. The etymology is well suited to the ruins of the old village, which is situated at a heigh of around 1,100 metres and gives an exceptional view of the surrounding peaks. Esclangon has suffered the same fate as other hilltop villages in places that would not now be deemed suitable for human habitation. It comprises just a cluster of houses between sky and rock, far from the main arteries of communication. Its mule track and ruins overgrown the horn bushes are fossilised tributes to a lost way of life. The dwindling population either had to move to the bottom of the narrow valley or leave the area alotgether, since no suitable road led to the village at the time when the modernity arrived in Haute Provence, between the end the the 19th century and the start of the 20th. »
Reisetagebuch
