My Mother's Journey on the Blockchain #17: Nice to Eze [French Riviera]

Isis Moriendo Renascor means "In death I am Reborn", and it was the motto of Eze Village.

Excitement usually starts to build up before the start of any trip. However, five days prior to my Mom’s trip to Nice in France, an unexpected event took place. On the evening of July 14th, 2016, a terror attack took place and changed the Bastille Celebration day to a historical nightmare for the lovely town of Nice. A cargo truck was deliberately driven into a large crowd watching fireworks at the Promenade des Anglais, Nice. This Resulted in the death of 86 people, including children, and over 450 people were injured. The attacker was shot and killed by the police during an exchange of gunfire. Hotel reservations in the Riviera region dropped as much as 30 per cent in the weeks following the Nice attack. The 20th Nice Jazz Festival, which was scheduled to begin on 16th of July was cancelled because of the attack.

My mother arrived at Nice in the late afternoon of July 19th, 2016. The cloud of sorrow covered the entire town. My mom was also in grief. She didn’t have the mood to walk around the city, but went to the Promenade des Anglais (a promenade along the Mediterranean at Nice) site of the attack.

The Apollo statue, Place Massena

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On the way from the hotel to the Promenade des Anglais, she passed the beautiful Place Massena, a historic square in Nice. Normally this square is very crowded, but on that day, only a few sat beneath The Apollo statue. Signs of the Jazz Festival were still on around the area, although it was cancelled. Both locals and visitors gathered at the Promenade des Anglais, some cried.

The Promenade des Anglais

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A lot of flowers, dolls and cards were laid as tribute to the victims. Sunset on that day was a misery one. The street musician played “Romance de Amour” in sadness. It was a hard night to go to sleep.

Sunset at the beach, not crowded as ordinary

Romance de Amour was played

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My Mom woke up early in the following morning. Despite the sorrow atmosphere, she tried her best to enjoy her trip. She took a short morning walk in Nice before she took a bus to Eze village. It was 30 minutes ride as Eze was located between Nice and Monaco.

A beautiful scenery along the route from Nice to Eze

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The Medieval Village of Eze in France is settled on a rock 1,400 feet above sea level. The village surrounds the ruins of a 12th-century castle. Eze had been occupied by many nations before it was ruled by France. It was built on top of the hill for security reasons, to detect the enemy who raided the country.

Eze

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The entrance to the historic Eze was only a short walk from the bus stop. The Village was located on higher ground.

My mom walked along the small, rocky path which had an impressive view of the gardens and the Mediterranean Sea.

Impressive view on the way uphill

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Eze is a uniquely gorgeous village. The village surrounds the base of the castle. The streets were narrow and very steep, with many steps. The buildings and narrow streets had been restored with stone walls and red-brick centred stones.

Entrance to Eze

Labyrinth of cobblestoned streets

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My Mom was conveyed back to the Medieval period as she wandered through the labyrinth of cobblestoned streets and under the low archways. All buildings were converted into expensive art galleries, gift shops and cafes. There were numerous streets and alleys to explore in Eze itself, with picturesque flower-covered stone houses to be seen and photographed. The numerous small arts and crafts boutiques were beautiful and hard to resist.

Hotel in Eze

Souvenir shop

Art galleries

Nicely decorated restaurants

Church

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As my Mom just came from the Italian Riviera, she was not interested in panoramic view of Mediterranean, but paid attention to the charming houses of Eze instead. She got in and out of nearly every shop in the village. There was also a garden at the very top of le Jardin exotique.

Garden le Jardin exotique

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Fifteen Earth Goddesses statues were scattered around the garden. Jean-Philippe Richard created a series of stone statues of ‘earth goddesses’ to ornament the garden. Each sculpture has a name and its own identity, defined by a short poem written by the artist himself. My mother thought she would get lost because of the narrow and devious streets, but finally managed to find the way out.

Earth Goddess statue named 'Marie'

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My mom proceeded to the Perfume Factory Fragonard, at the foot of the village, near the parking area. Fragonard has been the world capital of perfumes since the 16th century.

An old machine for making fragrances, not in use anymore

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The process to make soaps and fragrances was intricate. My Mom was impressed by this working process. The soaps and fragrances were hand-made and carefully hand-packaged. They are stored under a controlled temperature to ensure perfection upon arriving at the specialty stores. The Fragonard gift shop produced a variety of products from cosmetics, perfumes, eau de toilette, hand soap and face soap. This was to ensure that they had products for every man and woman!

Fragonard gift shop

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My Mom spent a length period in the gift shop to test all the fragrances until she finally found her favourite one.

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