Nice and Èze Village

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Today I had a lay in, but did have on the agenda to go to a little village called Éze. It was about 9 km from Nice and 5 km before you go to Monaco, which I caught a tram, and then a bus to get to the little village. It took about half an hour, as the bus drove up through the mountains to get to the Village which is more then 450 metres above sea level.

As soon as I arrived of course a nice cup of coffee and to the office of tourism to get a little map. Onward and up hill into the village where there were private residences, and lots of little shops. The roads (well walkways) were no more than 2 metres wide, and some of the shop doors were shorter then me.

First of all though I walked down a stone pathway, to a lookout, over the French Riviera, and overlooking a beautiful private garden (someone who had been there on a tour had told me that it was owned by Bill Gates, but unsure of this). You could take pictures of the beautiful garden, from the lookout point.

There were cobblestone steps and ramps of stone to walk on and it was all uphill. It was like a maze, where you could easily get lost and without the map, I could still be there looking for an exit. I was amazed and found a little private home, where the owner had an outside cooker and a couple of tables with chairs. It was his business where he sold coffees, drinks and made crepes for the passers by. Of course I had to stop for a crepé and a soft drink for lunch.

Eventually I made it to the top of the village, where there was a cactus garden built on the ruins of what used to be a lookout. There were statues there overlooking the Riviera, where you could see down over the rooftops of the village, over toward Nice and beyond at the hills, the new township of Éze and toward where Monaco is behind another hill. It was something you wouldnt expect, a village on a small peak type hill, where homes were built into the hill.

If you ever visit Nice, it is a definate to visit this village. Onward back to Nice (Monaco, I could have visited, but due to not being 100% for the first time of my holiday, I decided to go back home). I decided to go for a little walk through old town Nice then back through Parc Messina, to my room. A little rest, and then out for dinner, and I had the best Calzone ever - from a little authentic Italian Brasserie just down a little from my hotel.

An early tonight, as I was to rise at 5am to catch my next flight onto Bordeaux. 😊 Happy Times.

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