Sunday, September 22nd - Day 12 Morning - Eze Village - Castle and Market

Eze Village is located high up on the corniche to the north of us.  Eze Beach is directly below.  The Phoenicians had a temple on this spot dedicated to Isis, goddess of magic, fertility, healing and rebirth.  It was inhabited as early as 2,000 BC.  In fact the town’s name of Eze may stem from the word Isis.

This medieval town, perched on the peak of the mountain, offers some of the best views of the French Riviera.  The village itself is tiny but does have a tourist information office, post office, pharmacy, and grocery store.  There is underground parking - invaluable because thousands of tourists visit Eze every year and a handful of tour buses can always be seen.

It’s an ideal place to wander around. Red brick paths wind through the ancient alleys and archways, and stone walls contain tiny gift shops and art galleries.

We followed the advice to arrive early to avoid the crowds.  First we visited the excellent Tourist Information Office to see about printing off our absentee ballot forms.  The tourist person there offered to print them off for free!  So we each got a ballot and 2 envelopes printed (inner and outer mailing envelope) that were coded to match each other.

On Thursdays and Sundays, there is a market in the village square where you can visit stalls selling clothing, fresh produce, nuts, olives, honey and preserves, and the fabulous nougat. displayed in huge blocks.  We picked up some nice fresh veggies at one of the stalls - the woman was carrying on an animated conversation the whole time with a member of the local police force.  It was quite amusing!

We were impressed by the colorful library that was part of the market.  Munroe left a novel he finished.  Probably the only one in English.

We dropped our purchases off at the car and set off for our walk through the winding, narrow, steep streets of the medieval village.  The distinctive large yellow Church of Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption is a baroque 1th century building with an ornate, elaborately decorated interior.  We didn't get a chance to go inside but it should be worth the visit.

Jardin Exotique and Ruined Castle

The ruined castle, set amid a 'jardin exotique' at the peak above the village, is the main attraction. Slim pathways wind their way between towering cacti up to a square on the peak, where the weathered ruins of  Eze castle stand like ghosts of the town’s ancient past. Built in the 13th century, the castle was destroyed in 1706 on the orders of Louis XIV during the War of Succession with Spain, when Eze was under the rule of the House of Savoy.  

The exotic garden is fantastic - started after WWII.  It features mainly a wide variety of cacti, agave, and aloe plants.  

The views from the castle ruins are breathtaking.  We were fortunate to visit on a slow day for tourists (according to the guy at the tourism office) - but it still got pretty crowded and difficult to navigate as a result in the narrow medieval streets. From the terrace, there are magnificent views, which on a clear day can reach all the way from Italy to St Tropez.

One view is of the Grand Corniche, the upper cliff road built by Napoleon. It follows an ancient Roman route called the Via Julia Augusta.

There are two luxury hotels on the precipice.  Château Eza, which is 400 years old and was owned by Prince of Sweden, and Chèvre d’Or hotel, which was a favourite vacation spot of Walt Disney’s.  It has huge ornate gates decorated in gold with the 5-star restaurant's menu posted.  The entrees were all over 200 euros and the least expensive wine was $85.  We tried to guess what it would cost to stay there. Way beyond us!

Nietzsche Trail

From the village you can hike down the popular Nietzsche Trail to Eze beach.  We checked it out and discovered a rocky trail with lots of large loose stones - not good.  With hiking boots and 2 poles it might be possible.  We were told it takes about 45 min to get down and 1 1/2 hours to walk up.The trail is named after Friedrich Nietzsche. He was an influential German philosopher who tramped up it daily when he stayed in Eze in the 1880s.

When we got home we filled and signed our ballots, and prepared the envelopes.  The next day we returned to Eze to post them, but the post office was closed due to it being a holiday, so we will need to wait for another day.