Le village d'Eze

I'm thoroughly glad that I didn't decide to have my first experience of Nice and the surrounding area be in the summer. The pace of this part of the journey (well, of the entire trip, to be honest) was soooo relaxed. 90% of the time the places I went to were so devoid of tourists (well, minus me of course!), leaving them quite peaceful - and yours truly in a similarly tranquil mood. It got hard for a bit since this part of the trip fell on a sad anniversary, and being completely alone for it was tough...particularly since it got a little rainy and glum during my day in Vence...and so it got a little lonely- but after a chat with some friends online at the hostel, I felt better and woke up the next morning determined to have myself an adventure...and on the plus side, no more rain!

So, after a bit of research I found out about the village of Eze. And let me say - after exploring the less glitzy side of the Cote d'Azur and in the off-season, I can't say how much people are missing out by sticking solely to the popular destinations of Cannes (it's a town), Monaco (well, it has nice cars?), and the city of Nice itself. There really is so much more to see if you dig a bit! Located on the coast a 1-euro train ride from Nice, I ended up that morning at Eze-bord-de-mer. Not exactly where I needed to be; my objective was about 400 meters up - the ancient medieval haut-village. Horizontally, it's all located very close. Vertically, however...

Maps are fun! If you click the picture for a close view, you'll see where I arrived on the Basse Corniche. Note the squiggly green line going off and up to the right through those steep mountainy-looking designs.

It pretty much goes from beach to "hey, cliffs!" in 200 yards. Now, there are two ways to get yourself to the haut-village. One is by bus in which you leave the village heading back west toward Nice on the Basse Corniche, then pick up the Moyenne Corniche to go up on the main road (in yellow on the map). The other? Walk. Choice was obvious.

Following the footsteps of Nietzsche...how a lovely place like this could inspire writings on existentialism I don't quite get.

It was overall a very pleasant, deliciously steep leg-working-out 45 minutes up (yaharr- beat the sign by 15 minutes without realizing, and including stopping to take photos - score!). Again, a plus of coming during the off season, I had the trail all to myself, meeting only one other person along the way who was out for a jog. I'll go ahead and make the obligatory statement of photos really not serving this place any justice, but it was so lovely and lots of fun. If there's anything that puts me in a good mood, it's pushing myself physically, resulting inevitably in a most excellent night's sleep. I also benefited from partial cloud cover, giving perfect weather for a nice quick hike.

 

A series of butt-kicking stairs, much steeper than they look - but hey, stairs nonetheless!

A little rest for the weary at the end of the trail, with more of that ocean view you enjoy all the way up!

There it is! Whoo hoo! Victory is mine.

As you can see, this entire village is basically perched on top of and carved into a cliff, under the ruins of a 12th-century castle at the village's highest point. It's apparently a much more popular tourist destination when droves of people come around during the summer, but during this time of year it was essentially deserted - and I do not exaggerate here. There were times when I felt like I was sneaking around a movie set, this place was that pristine, historical, and quiet. I can see why this place hasn't developed, even if it has hosted such famous people as Walt Disney and an actor or two - the village wasn't hooked up to running water until the 1950's (!!). You can definitely tell that things here are pretty much the same as they've always been.

The streets (if you can call them that) don't get much wider than this.

I find it cute that this one, lonely bench in a tiny square surrounded by houses qualifies as a place. (In French, a place is the equivalent of a 'square' I feel. And usually much more hoppin.'

I wandered the town for a while, exploring the local landmarks, then found my way to the church. Spent a good half hour in there reflecting (did a lot of that this trip, actually - very rejuvenating) to some lovely organ music in the background. Only one other person in the entire church, and every so often somebody would wander in for photos then back out again.

Eventually, I found my way to the jardins exotiques - and there is nothing to describe these gardens but exquisite. Located at the peak of the village and ending at the ruins of the aforementioned castle, they're filled with cacti and other local and foreign exotic plants. It also has absolutely stunning panoramic views. You can see the coastline laid out before you, and there's even a helpful panoramic map at the top that points out what is what (for example, you can easily identify Nice by its airport, and the

Statues like this are scattered all over the gardens.

Each woman has a name and little poem about her.

Panoramic map. How helpful! Can see as far as Cannes on a good day (looking west now)

Anais and Rose tucked in among the castle ruins.

Just a nice photo of a spiky tree and some cacti!

This is the espace de contemplation, coming complete with its own waterfall and lounge chairs overlooking the sea!

 I sat and chilled, of course, until some kids playing hide and seek with their parents came by and we chatted for a bit :) Met almost nobody here, too, but I enjoyed it that way! Every so often you can enjoy solitude, though I do say that I thrived on the conversations I had with strangers while on this trip...you need someone to talk to every now and again, or else you end up like Tom Hanks on Castaway and start talking to your volleyball (or that sort of idea, anyway).

So, these are some of the highlights of my day in Eze. I came back to Nice on the bus. Standing room only as it started to rain, but I was lucky enough to have a spot right up front where I could watch everything through the big front window as we passed through the pretty towns on our way back in. There was a parade going on in Nice when we got back, which we enjoyed from the dryness of our bus, haha. After all the walking for the day, headed to a grocery store and got some food to prepare dinner at the hostel.

Until next time, when I head back to Marseille via Antibes and then --- Corsica!