Grenoble sits at the confluence of three mountain ranges, the Chartreuse, the Vercors, and Belledonne, each visible from the old town depending on which direction you turn. The Bastille fortress watches over the city from its ridge, a nineteenth-century stronghold now reachable by cable car, and from its ramparts the geography of the place becomes obvious: this is a capital built by mountains, for people who intend to drive into them. Above the city, the road toward Alpe d'Huez climbs through twenty-one numbered hairpins, a stretch of asphalt famous enough to carry its own Tour de France mythology, each switchback marked with a sign counting down the ascent. It's a serious piece of road, engineered for cars that can hold their composure through a thousand meters of elevation change without losing the thread. Grenoble doesn't perform for outsiders the way the Riviera does. It simply has the mountains, the roads, and an Alpine engineering culture that expects precision as a baseline. Rent or hire a sports car with Zeus Prestige and the Alpe d'Huez climb is there whenever the mood calls for something more demanding than a Sunday drive.