Day Two Continued, Èze

To the east of Nice there are three beautiful drives you can take along the coast that link the city to Ville-Franche-sur-Mer and Monaco. They are named the Basse-Corniche, the Moyenne-Corniche, and the Grand-Corniche; the lower, middle, and high roads respectively. We took the middle road and enjoyed some of the most spectacular views of our trip. It was hard not to stop the car every two minutes, especially to see Ville-Franche-sur-Mer (pictured left)!

Our first actual destination was the Fragonard perfumery in Èze. We stepped out of the car and into a bath of delicious smells, and that was just the parking lot! We took the tour, learned all about the making of perfumes, and came out of the boutique at the end with overworked nasal passages. We drove around Èze a little while before parking and hiking up (and up and up) the narrow winding streets to Èze-le-Village.

Eze-le-Village is a little medieval village perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. As we ascended we were impressed by the increasingly beautiful views, amused by the boutique shop, and awed by the art and architecture. Little poetic statues dotted the paths of the Jardin Exotique. We finally reached the top and played around the remains of an ancient castle fortress (destroyed by Louis the 14th's army in 1707).

Little trivia for you music lovers: Bono and the lead guitarist of U2 own a villa in Eze, and have filmed two music videos in Èze.