Eze and its exotic garden

Eze

April 5

After breakfast it was off to the bus depot where we got a local bus to Eze Village. It was a great deal at one Euro. That is the standard price for a ride one way with transfers any place in the Nice area. Eze was one of the farthest points you could get to at roughly 23 km. It was a nice ride with great views of Nice, Villefranche and Beaulieu from the top of the Corniche. The village of Eze has two parts. Along the sea is a 19th century resort town, while the village on top of the Corniche dates from the middle ages. We were going to the part at the top.

When you get off the bus it's obvious which way you have to go to get to the exotic garden at the top. There are two well marked paths, one with steps and one without, that lead to the Church Notre-Dame-de l'Assomption. It looks like an easy climb and many of the people around us took off as if it were a sprint. Getting to the church is the beginning and the easy part of the climb.

When you get to the main gate, you feel like you have completed most of the climb, but then you find a choice of paths. One goes to the church and all other points; the other goes everywhere but the church. The path that goes everywhere but the church is also enticing because it goes downhill while the path that goes to the church has stairs. As always this is a case of pay now or pay later. If you go downhill, you will have go up that same hill eventually.

We decided to go to the church and do the downhill on the way down. The church has an interesting history. It was completed in 1772 on the site of a Phoenician temple dedicated to the Egyptian godess Isis. The church is an interesting mix of styles with many trompe-l'oeil paintings. Stll ahead is the exotic garden.

Along the way, in addition to the tourists trying to catch their breath siting where ever they could, there were delivery people and hotel employees hauling everything that was needed in shopping carts or on their shoulders up to the various businesses. Now these are the people who are in good shape!

To the right all of the areas. To the left everything but the church.

Tempting downhill path.

Final approach to the church.

On the climb to the garden there were little dead end paths that lead to wonderful private gardens and also previews of the garden at the top of the hill.

About two thirds of the way up the hill we met a fellow climber from British Columbia. He was a few years older than we are and walked with a cane. He was also one of the few people we ran into who wasn't breathing heavily! He was taking his time and enjoying every bit of the climb. Later, on our second trip up the hill (this time to get lunch), we ran into him again on his way down the hill. He had made it to the top and looked in great shape.

After stopping to look at the view from the garden, the first thing you notice are the scuptures by Jean-Philippe Richard found throughout the garden. The Eze tourist office describes these scuptures as:

"soil Goddesses" to the silhouette tapered, mysterious are descendant from Isis the Phoenicians venerated in these places, at the same time modest and sensual are offered at the meditation of passers by.

Click here to find out more about the scuptor.

The views are still the main attraction. In this photo you can see St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat which forms part of the harbors of both Villefranche and Beaulieu. I cropped the photo, but in the original you could see the airport of Nice. The village below is the resort part of Eze build during the 19th century.

We climbed higher into the garden and were still enthralled by the view and the statues. We turned away from Nice to see the bell tower of the chapel of the White Penients of Eze who gave assistance to plague victims. While looking at this reminder of the grim past we saw in the distance someone enjoying a sail on the Mediterranean.

As we climbed to the ruined castle at the top of the garden, we began to think about where to eat lunch. Just outside of the garden was a small creperie and we almost stopped, but Jan wanted to explore the places lower on the hill. We finally made it all the way to the bottom of the hill,where there is a stable for donkeys. It is the check-in center for one of the hotels at the top of the hill! The donkeys are supposed to be the porters, but it seems to me I only saw people doing the hard work of carrying bags up the hill. We looked at the restaurants around the base of the hill and decided to climb back up part of the way to the creperie we had passed on the way down.

While waiting for the local bus to return to Nice, I noticed a fellow with a Wisconsin Badgers cap. I asked him if he was from Wisconsin. He was an Israeli doctor who did research at Madison for two years in the 1990s and now works on research part of the year at Froedert Hospital. Guess you can't get far from home no matter where you go.

Back in Nice there was time to sit on the Prom and cool our heels before we got some coffee and then went to the Monoprix to pick up some bread, wine and salads for supper.

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