Destinations We Revisited in 2017: Eze, France
By: Christine Mitchell, BVT Travel Specialist
French Riviera: two words that immediately conjure images of mega yachts and celebrity laced film festivals dripping with glamour. This long stretch of seaside, extending from the Italian region of Liguria as it slopes across the Mediterranean, offers much more than the glitz of Cannes and Monaco. There are villages nestled along the sea that bring you back to a time long past, and visiting the perfectly preserved hamlet of Eze is an experience that will stay with you long after the bright lights of Nice fade from memory.
I first visited Eze over 15 years ago, and not much as changed. In fact, not much has changed in the past few centuries, as this appropriately called “museum village” remains a time-capsule of a preserved medieval town. Arriving by car, you are first introduced to the village of Eze sur mer, or Eze on the sea, and it’s a lovely place to have your French Riviera beach dreams come to life. Less crowded than other nearby beach towns, the beach of Eze drops off gently into crystalline blue waters, and the several breezy beach restaurants are a great way to pass a lazy afternoon on the sea, sipping rose and eating local sea bass.
A winding drive up the mountain that looms behind your shoulders brings you into a fairytale. The main village of Eze proper isn’t along the sea, but instead, above it, practically in the clouds. Like a proud French queen surveying her subjects from on high, Eze is made of a series of ivy and bougainvillea laced cobblestone alleys that filter out to a sheer, breathtaking drop over the sea. On a clear day, the whole of the Riviera is spread out before you – but don’t spend all your time looking so far away, as the village you are in is just as spellbinding. Eze is something from a French fairytale, from a time long gone by. Looping through these climbing, winding alleys, each angle enchants you more than the last. There is a small church and a beautiful botanical garden for those who make it to the top of the mountain, all with the same postcard view, with the scent of sea and Mediterranean herbs lacing through the passing clouds, often times below your high perch. Taking a deep breath, it is incredibly heartwarming to know that of all the places in the world I have been, Eze remains exactly as I remembered.
Eze is a short drive from Nice and Monaco, and easily on the way from her more ritzy sisters, Saint Jean Cap Ferrat or Villefranche sur mer, but definitely deserving a stop. Perhaps part of her charm is the fact that Eze is frozen in time, a living museum that casts her spell and helps you to realize a very different but equally special part of the French Riviera.
