Visiting Southern France - Medieval Village of Eze

Many years ago, while on a Mediterranean cruise, we stopped in Villefranche, on the very southeastern coast of France. We took a bus up to the town of Nice and switched buses to go to the medieval village of Eze. It was only a few dollars to do the bus versus more than $50 per person back then to go through the excursion to Eze arranged by the cruise line. The language barrier wasn't a challenge because we had a person in our group who was fluent in French and got us on the correct buses. Eze is not too far from Cannes and Monte Carlo, which were also options for the day’s excursion. If you are looking for something a little less glitzy than Monte Carlo, Eze is a nice option.

Eze sits atop a rocky perch high above the Mediterranean sea. The village is surrounded by the ruins of a 12th century castle, which was destroyed in the early 1700’s. Over its history Eze was occupied by Romans, Moors, Turks, and the French. The village has some boutique hotels, shops, cafes and restaurants and is worth wandering through. At the very top, even above the village, there is a beautiful botanical garden among the remaining ruins of the castle. And if the flowers aren't enough to justify the trek to the top, the incredible view of the Mediterranean was worth climbing the steps.

I was using a small digital camera back then since it was pre-iPhone, but I don't remember the model. All photos were taken by me.

This was the view looking up from near where the bus let us off.

As we walked up to the village we saw some very cool sculpture gardens that I assume were part of one of the luxury hotels.

We wandered through shops and read signs about the history on the way up.

This was a view looking back down at the clock tower.

Above the village, the botanical garden starts as we climbed toward the peak.

And when we got to the top, the view was magnificent.

If you ever have the opportunity, check out Eze!

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