The town of Eze
On June 23rd our group started out the day by visiting the town of Eze, a medieval village overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The village is located beside the busy road, Moyenne Corniche between Nice and Monaco-Menton. Fortunately we arrived early in the morning before the crowds.
The town of Eze has been described as an "eagle's nest" because of its location overlooking a high cliff, 427 metres (1,401 ft) above sea level on the French Mediterranean.
The small medieval village is famous for its beauty and charm. Eze was the site of an ancient Ligurian oppidum (administrative centre), thought to have been established by the Phoenicians, and the town was later occupied by the Romans. |
The history of this city was very turbulent over the centuries. In 1706 Louis XIV destroyed the walls surrounding the city in the war of the Spanish succession. In April 1860, the people of Eze unanimously decided to become part of France. |
I always like photographing interesting windows and doors. I found quite a lot of them in this town.
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The old buildings and narrow streets were very well restored with high stone walls and narrow roadways of red-brick centered stone as in the photo on the right. |
The towns' many shops, art galleries, hotels and restaurants attract a large number of tourists. The town is thought of as a "museum village" as few residents of local origin live here. |
We spent the morning wandering around the town.
There may not have been too many locals living in this village but the houses that I saw were beautiful. Apparently Walt Disney spent a large amount of time in Eze and I can understand why.
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There certainly were a lot of shops for such a small town.
Meet Michael Chinnici who is closely inspecting this model. Michael is the CEO and founder of the Photo Workshop Adventures tour I was on. |
Here is Michael posing with Sabrina David (tour guide) and Roman Martin, the other tour photographer. |
A large area along the ridge of the town is laid out as a botanical garden with Mediterranean plants. It was a lovely walk through the gardens but the best part was the view from the top. Apparently you can also see Bono's (of the band U2) beachfront villa Eze les Roses from the garden. His beachfront property is on four floors and its grounds back on to the railway station Eze bord du Mer. The living area rises five metres up from the beach itself and the patio is set back so it is hidden from the view of the people on the beach.
I was surprised to see the cactus everywhere in the garden. The Jardin botanique d'Eze, also called the Jardin exotique d'Eze was created after World War II . The garden sits on top of the ruins of a 12th century fortified castle which was torn down in 1706. It was built on steep terrain, 400 meters above the sea.
Meet Jane Jamison from Jonesboro, AR and Carol Omaggio from Alexandria VA.
Here is a photo of the square bell-tower rebuilt in the 18th century.
This Church (Notre Dame de l'Assomption) was quite pretty inside. The Church of Our Lady of Assumption was built by an Italian architect between 1764 and 1778 to replace an old one which fell into ruins. The building materials-in particular the limestone was cut in the quarry of Saint Laurent of Eze and were carried to the village by the men.
Here is a photo of the cemetery wall and gate located just outside of the church.
This was the view going through the gate.
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It was a very picturesque spot. |
Just time for a few more shots before the group met up to return to Nice.
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