We continue to drive on...Husband said another half an hour, we should arrive at an old village, called Eze, a very easy name to be remembered.
I so look forward to visit those little old villages in the Provence, France. In fact,that's the reason why we had chosen to come here for this year summer vacation.
Before reaching the destination, we passed through 2-3 small villages in between.
The place was all so quiet, we hardly see anyone walking on the street. I guess that's because the time was still early, to European.
According to the sign board, Eve Village is around the corner..,
Not too long later, we were thrilled to see this hill top village...particularly me. Husband said that's Eze.
Eve Village sits beside the very busy Moyenne Corniche, the main road between Nice and Monaco-Menton. The road is usually very crowded, and in the summer extremely crowded. Luckily we had an early start.
Eze has been described as an "eagle's nest" because of its location overlooking a high cliff (427 m above sea level) on the French Mediterranean.
Husband said this is a fascinating medieval village worth spending a few hours for. After all these years' travelling together, I trust his 'favor'.
We parked the car at the parking lot, located just outside the village. Lucky we, for there were still many vacancies at that time. That's one of the good points being an early bird.
All of them had changed to wear a slippers, very 'local' feel.
While waiting for husband to settle with the parking fees, I looked around the place very quickly....
There are some small eateries around the parking lot, all are very pleasant.
A sundry shop with many fresh fruits and vegetables was just opened.
There was a Sunday market too, but the scale is too small, nothing is too special about it.
The time was 8.30 am by then. Husband think it's a bit too early to enter the village, cause the place is still in 'sleeping mode'.
So, we decided to take a light breakfast when we saw this road side restaurant-hotel.
Eze Village, perched like an eagles nest on a narrow rocky peak, overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. The ancient fortified village is still crowned with the ruins of its 12th-century fortified castle (torn down in 1706).
Besides the typical French breakfast, there are some other foods on the menu. For example this cheesy egg tart with mushroom, which is very delicious.
Also, wafer topped with Nuttella, thumbs up !
It's such a surprise to see that chicken wings are in the menu too.
At around 9 am, we walked up to the village...
At the entrance.
Some places, meant to be love at 1st sight. The moment we entered the village, I knew this is one of them....
An open air restaurant is greeting the visitors. If not because we had just taken a light breakfast, we certainly would like to sit here to enjoy some luxuries time.
This is the 6th year we traveled together to Europe, still like it a lot.
This small medieval village is famous for its beauty and charm.
A place like this will naturally have many shops, art galleries, hotel and restaurants. Consequently, Eze has become a museum village, attracting a large number of tourists and honeymooners.
Nowadays, only a few residents still live in. I guess the high cost in maintaining the old house is one of the reasons.
Even without a guide, one will be able to walk around this place without the worries of getting lost. All paths going uphill will eventually lead one to the top where the panoramic garden is located.
The old buildings and narrow streets are very well restored, with high stone walls and narrow roadways of red-brick centered stone.
Thanks to the trip manager who found this village, and drove all the way to bring us here.
The 5-star high class hotel restaurant in the village.
Welcome to my house, too bad I had lost my key.
This place is awesome! Everything is awesome!
Everywhere, everything can be a good object for photographing, simply picturesque.
Only the person with a good sense of arts can create this, right?
Walking up is such a nice experience...The longer I stay here, the more I love this place.
I don't know you guys, but mommy love this place dearly.
In front of an art gallery...
Every art gallery has their own style and uniqueness...
For example, this gallery focus on the work pieces made of glasses. Very beautiful but very expensive to take it home.
Since there weren't too many tourists around, it's not easy to find someone to take a family photo for us. Luckily we found one in front of this art gallery.
Beautiful...
Such a nice blend of rocks and plants.
Another art gallery, with its uniqueness.
Concentrate on the white dot 30 s, and close your eyes 10 s...what do you get to see?
Many of the residents are now artisans, and shoppers can spend a lot of time wandering in and out of the cave-like shops.
The shoes that made of shoes laces, cool.
One of the examples to show that creativity has no boundary...
Good thing is, they didn't make its surrounding a prohibited area to the non-guests.
We have taken quite some good pictures here...
My dearest, had grown up so big now....
The hotel's restaurant, I guess the intenior garden is overlooking the sea.
Husband told me the cost of living here for 1 night is around HK$ 4K-5K, too expensive for us.
Some more, one need to book the room at least 6 months before arrival, cause the number of rooms are very limited.
Like this arts?
This place is truly an art museum, even the growth of the cactus is so artistic.
The outer wall of Eze Hotel.
Fruits of the cactus?
William likes this place, especially this corner.
A peek inside the hotel room when it was opened for cleaning, looks very nice. I had the urge to go inside for a look, but nobody support me. Sigh...
Another restaurant.
A cave-like restaurant, with interesting design.
We continued the stroll around...
Fresh fashion, totally different from casual T-shirt + jeans look. When top with the hat, it can transform any woman into a pink lady.
Started to see more tourists as time pass...
Another kind of arts in a gallery...
The image of Elvis was made by screws.
The narrow roads wend their way upward to the well sign-posted Jardin Exotique, the panoramic garden.
Another terrace cafe, I like it.
Lovely....
Le Jardin d'Eze is known for its collection of cacti and succulents, as well as its panoramic views from its top (429 m).
Of course, admission is not free of charge. But the small fee is worthwhile, cause we certainly don't want to miss the panoramic view from the garden at the top.
The garden is filled with different varieties of cacti and other exotic plants.
We wandered around the garden in different pace. As usual, the boys are always at the front, husband in the middle, and I am always at the back.
The statue is equally interesting as well...
As we climbed higher, the view is even better.
This cactus, how to describe it? Exotic.
William asked what's the look of an exotic plant? I pointed to this cactus as my answer.
Standing next to this, made me look exotic too, haha...
My 1st time to see this rose-like leaves.
Besides green, there are red too...amazing.
Mediterranean Sea, often is associated with "romantic".
The ruins of a 12th-century fortified castle (torn down in 1706).
Resting under the shade of the ruin...
Can't imagine how's the castle look like before it was torn down?
The village beneath an eagle nest.
The clock tower, marked the time we were standing up here, at 10.30 am.
He had the habit to carry his binocular to go for outing now a days. I guess he probably the one who see the best among us.
Imagine myself became one of the statues in the garden....
We left the garden at around 11 am.
Such a nice place to chill out.
When we were back to the streets, many shops were opened for business already. Good.
Saw those porcelain dolls in Paris 3 months ago. Love it but didn't buy any of them cause it's hard to carry them around. So, when I saw them again, it's like I was given a 2nd chance again.
I especially like this one, cost € 69 (about HK$ 700). Thinking...thinking....
There are many colorful porcelain cutlery too, I bet my kitchen will look beautiful with their presence.
cute...
even the magnetic souvenirs are not ordinary.
My Princes...
The shop behind them looks very interesting...Since most of their sold items are very fragile, we asked the boys to sit there and wait for us. Since it's not a toy shop, they have no objection.
This is one of the best souvenir shops we have ever visited....
So cute, feel like wanted to bring them home.
This too, wanted to bring it home.
Seeing them had made me feel happy already.
Anyway, this one is the cutest, for sure I will bring him along everywhere I go.
All these are hand made, by a French lady. Basically, none of them are identical. So each and every one is unique.
End up, we brought home a window-mirror frame which is about the same like this one hang on the wall (on right),cost us € 58 (about HK$ 600)
The shop lady told us not just every piece is unique, they are sold exclusively in her shop only. It's true, we have never seen anything similar to this elsewhere in the region.
This one is very beautiful too, but cost higher since its size is almost 2x bigger than the one we have bought.
When we came out from the shop, about 15 min later, sons were still sitting over there, talking 'non-sense' to each other happily.
Before leaving the village, we walked in to the church to say a little prayer (though we are not Christian nor Catholic).
William had said his prayer openly that he won't need to deal with Ms C (one of his teachers in G4) forever, not for any subject in the coming G5. My my, I guess this Ms C had really terrified him a lot for the whole semester year.
If Ms C had ever knew about the prayer of a little boy, all away from a little church in a little old town, she would probably stumble from her chair, haha...
Foot note : now then the school has re-opened, this little boy is so happy to tell me that his prayer was heard.
I hope my prayer is heard too...Thank you.
Slowly, we walked out from the other exit, at around 12 noon.
Many tourists had started to swamp into the village by then. So, it's good that we had wrapped up everything and were leaving at the peak hour.
Good bye Eze, I wish you a longevity, and many prosperous years ahead.
There are 2 words to describe this place : Absolutely Fabulous !!
Husband said there are many beautiful old villages that he would bring us to for the coming few days. Wow, I can't wait to visit them...
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