Perched up on a rocky hilltop in the South of France along the Riviera is the small medieval town of Eze.
Its an old village made of grey stone and yellow plaster. It has narrow cobblestone streets and views that look out over the Mediterranean sea.
Needless to say, in my opinion, its a must see location in the area. Apparently even Walt Disney spent a significant amount of time there.
The town is located between Nice and Monaco and is relatively easy to get to both by bus or by train. The bus takes about 30 minutes from Nice (depending on where you catch it) and drops you off at the top of the hill near the perfume factory - another tourist attraction in the area.
From there it's just a short walk up a paved road to the village itself. Another public transit option from Nice would be to take the train. It drops you off at the bottom of the hill/mountain and from there you can hike to town via the Nietzsche Path.
We ended up taking the bus and arrived in Eze around 11:00am. Just outside the village itself we is this ornate gate for a hotel or fancy restaurant. I thought it was a neat little detail to see on the way.
A little further up is the old gate into Eze. On the outside before heading in is this short wall overlooking the mountains and the sea. Its an obvious location for a photo and many people stop here to take one. Here is a picture of the friend I was traveling with.
Surprisingly, the town wasn't too busy despite it being a very popular tourist destination.
But then again, we were there in February so I can almost guarantee it would be a different story in the summer during prime vacation months.
There were definitely people there but it wasn't packed or overwhelming like many places tend to be or like what you'd probably expect from such a charming little village.
Hey what do you know, my friend took a photo of me climbing some stairs. It's a rare look at the elusive Leaky20.
What I liked most about the town were the historic features and all of the little details throughout.
Like the lantern style lights,
this random mural of a faded Dorthy,
this bell,
and the clay pots that were literally everywhere.
There are also the copious amounts of vines all around.
I can only imagine what it looks like when everything is in bloom.
I'd say that there is a fair bit to explore among the winding narrow streets.
For instance, I stumbled upon this old fountain that was built in 1930 and which allowed running water to be directed into the village for the first time in its history.
Prior to 1930 the village used cisterns and relied on water carriers to gather water from a fountain down the mountain and bring it up to fill them. It sounds like quite the job to me.
Also located within the city is an old but very colorful church,
and just outside its doors in a small quaint little cemetery.
It looks out over the water on one side and a bridge and another small village on the other.
Separating the church and cemetery is a really nice stone courtyard with a garden path and of course, another viewpoint.
At the very top of the town is a Botanical garden. We didn't go in but I believe that it has a really nice view of the sea and surrounding area. It is also known for its wide variety of cacti and succulents.
But then, the town is also practically a garden and you can see cacti all over the place, so you don't need to feel bad if you miss going into the official one.
Residents do still live in Eze but not surprisingly most of the buildings contain hotels, restaurants, shops and art galleries. Some parts are a little touristy as one might expect.
Another historical tidbit is that in 1706 King Louis the 14th destroyed the towns wall during the War of Spanish Succession and then in the year of 1860 it became part of France by a unanimous decision by the towns people. It seemed that Eze exchanged hands throughout its early history, which is not all that surprising given its quaint sort of charm.
All in all I really enjoyed seeing the village. If you like small towns and nice views than I would definitely recommend it as a place to visit in the Riviera.
You've got such a Canadian way of climbing stairs 😄
I am joking, I don't even know what it means haha. Lovely pics, they would be great to make paintings.
Alright so I have to hurry up and do the entire south, as I thought you would just stick to the North, but I see that you couldn't help it, and went south. 😁
If there was such a way then I would probably do it.
I forgot that we had made that deal. Yeah sorry I broke our pact and I will probably do so again in the coming months. It's the final stretch for our expat in France (booooo) so we gotta see as much as possible before we leave lol.
The Frenches would walk down the stairs, but with a grin on their faces, and probably complaining the whole time, while the Canadians are climbing back up, smiling 😁
THat's treason! I feel invaded!
No way you are leaving? Your wife is done with her mission? What's next for you?
Lmao 😂
We have some time left but yeah we leave around December of this year so it's the final stretch. I don't know what's next though. Back to Onterrible (I mean Ontario) the place thats either too cold or too hot and humid to do anything and where business is believed and culture are synonyms. I'm dreading it lol.
What e beautiful region!
Btw, nice to meet you! :)
Yeah the region is quite nice.
Nice to meet you as well 😁
Hehe!😊 Looks like you and your wife had a wonderful time in France! I didnt visit it, but its my dream to visit the southern part of France. I found it really really beautiful and now with all your blogs in that region I'm getting crazy for not having yet the chance to go! Hopefully in the next 3 yrs I will, setting a goal right here right now. haha
Southern France is really beautiful. The entire Province region and the Riviera actually. I hope that you get to go at some point. One of these days I'll do a collections post of the region with all the locations in one spot. It may help for destination ideas when the time comes.
Ohh that sounds amazing! can't wait for it!
It was very interesting, thank you)
You're welcome, I'm glad you liked it.
The small town of Eze with the narrow streets and the many plants and the sea view looks so picturesque, perfect for a summer holiday. Although then there would probably be a lot more going on than in February, you've found a good time. The photo is really cool, you don't usually see you in the posts :D
If even Walt Disney was there for a while it must be very nice ;) I really enjoyed reading your post.
Haha yeah that's what I was thinking.
Yeah it tends to happen when you're the one behind the camera taking most of the photos 🤷♂️
I know that, especially in the past I often only took photos of the landscape or the sights. At the moment I sometimes ask friends who come with me haha :)
Good idea! 👍
Your photos made me want to travel. They're really great. Thank you for sharing this beautiful article with us.
You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
wow! Thank you for moving us through your photographs to tour the French Riviera and also learn about its history. I loved the view of the Mediterranean Sea. Just one question, is the Nietzsche path related to the poet Friedrich Nietzsche?
I'm glad you liked it 😊
Yes it is related to the poet. I'm actually going to do a post on the hike soon so I'll talk about it more if that's something you are interested in.
Wonderful. I would love to see a video about the hike.
The pictures from Eze are great, especially the church in the yellow color. For me the narrow streets are the most beautiful. It's cool that your friend took a picture of you. I also think that you saw a lot of the flora there that you don't necessarily have to visit the botanical garden :)
I think the church really stood out that day because of the grey cloudy skies. Bright colors and narrow streets make for a really pretty town.
Beautiful place💜😍💜😍
An unforgettable adventure, thank you for sharing your experience.
😌😊🤗☺️😉👍🏼
Thanks I'm glad you liked it 😊
Dreamy captures, the south looks beautiful whatever season. So nice to see the author behind the blog.
It's a great resting place being high up as well as family members visiting their loved ones. Connecting it to an elevated botanical garden is sweet as well.
Yeah the region is probably very beautiful in the spring and the months when all of the trees and flowers are in bloom. It was quite nice in February though as well so it's kind of a nice place to go year round I think. It may be even better to visit in the off season because I know the area is super busy with tourists in the summer. A friend went in August a while back and said it was insane. He said there were so many people and that it was too much.
I see. I have never been to this part of France. Whenever we were there during the summer, the family always declined traveling there during August. It's a place I wanted to visit at least once in this lifetime.
Yeah it's not an easy place to get to either. For us it's like an 11 hour drive from where we live. We haven't tried taking the train with the dog yet but are going to give it a try later in the month.
The good thing is that if you do a vacation there one day, you can see a lot of the Rivera pretty easily by train. Most towns are close together along the coast.
I'd like to try vacationing via train. We always traveled with a car because some sites are difficult to get to with a train alone so it's cool to have towns easily linked together. As per your experience being there which one is more cost effective? Traveling via train or car?
Yeah cars give you access to many more places for sure and a major downside of trains is that you end up wasting a lot of time as well. They don't come very frequently, they make a lot of additional stops and you often end up waiting like 30 minutes or so on the platform. You really have to time them based on their schedules if you don't want to loose addition time of the day. France is also notorious for transit strikes and even worse, canceling trains without warning or notice and without refunds. Last weekend friends of our had that happen. A commuter train to Paris was canceled, which made them miss their train from Paris to Germany so they had to drive all the way to Stuttgart Germany. And the first train line wouldn't refund their money because they didn't buy refundable tickets but it seems so ridiculous to me that they want you to pay extra just in case they randomly cancel the train for no reason. They were out the cost of two trains plus spent the extra money on gas and tolls.
Its hard to say which is more cost effective as well. Until recently the trains seemed way more expensive to me and in a lot of cases didn't save any time. Some trips required us to pay an extra 30€ or so to save like 30 minutes on a 7 hour journey. So it hasn't been worth it for the most part, unless it's a major hub that has a high speed rail (Paris to Marseille or Bordeaux for instance). But in France gas and tolls are getting really expensive as well so I've revisited the train and have found some to be cheaper. In the end it depends on what day you are traveling (weekends are a lot more expensive) and how many people you are traveling with (3 train tickets is often more expensive than gas and tolls).
Sorry for the huge response but it's kind of a complicated question hahaha as you can see.
Thanks for answering my question. I thought so too during a brief time we lived in France for 5 months, it really depends on where the destination is. We lived along the west coast and were stuck around the region throughout our time there. We did take the train from the airport because it's the most convenient but sometimes I found trains more expensive unless, of course, it's within the city with a day pass or something to avoid parking fees, tolls, and traffic, but as you said, there are also unexpected strikes. At the time back in 2019 when there were the Saturday gilets jaunes strikes, we had to ditch some train stations and walk instead because they were closed with unavailable metro connections. Luckily, those were short distances but it's great you shared the difficulties if they're not refundable tickets. Well explained, thanks again for sharing the pros and cons.
Stunning location @leaky20 😊
And so high up.
The cute houses and little alley ways. Beautiful.
The views up there are amazing. Never heard of this town before. It looks like a must visit if in the area.
Always nice if it is not too busy with tourist, summer will be so different like you say.
Thanks for sharing 😎
Yeah it's quite high up but relatively easy to access. I'm sure that it's quite busy in the summer. The whole region is that way I bet. Often it's best to see such places in the off-season.
Yes it’s best to see off season, that is why we tend to travel more around where we live now… as it is also touristy. But calm now in off season. 😎
A fairy-tale village with magnificent view, the inhabitants are very lucky to live there 😊. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah they are pretty lucky. For the view alone.
Very captivating post, and so many beautiful pictures.
Thanks!
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