Nice is a great city, but it’s time to get out of town and do some exploring. The plan for today is to rent a car and take a day-trip to the hilltop town of Saint Paul de Vence. It’s just a short drive inland from Nice. Allons! (Let’s go!)
Step 1: Rent a Car
Knowing a few words in french will come in handy here. “Car” in français is “voiture.” The word for “rental” is “location.” (Low-kah-SYON). So when you see a sign that says “Location de Voitures,” it doesn’t mean that’s where the voitures are kept. It means “Rental Cars.”
Europeans prefer cars with manual transmissions, so if you want to rent an automatic over here, you might be out of luck. I’ve read that it’s because cars with manual transmissions are cheaper to buy and have better fuel economy. But I think the real reason is just that Europeans like driving a stick shift. There’s a bit of Formula One racer in a lot of ’em.
Driving in France isn’t much different than driving in the U.S. The rules are about the same, and you don’t have to know much french to figure out what road signs mean. – That’s always a plus, eh?
We walked to a rental car office near the hotel. I had reserved a car on-line, and they set us up with one without difficulty. OK. So far, so good.
In no time, we were on our way, free-wheeling along Le Côte d’Azur. Woo hoo! We turned inland, and just like that, we were winding through hills covered with vegetation.
Saint Paul de Vence is only 12 miles from the coast. The drive was so nice, we wished it would have been farther away. But in no time at all, we could see Saint Paul de Vence, perched on top of a hill in the distance. I bet it looked exactly the same way 500 years ago.
Saint Paul de Vence, Then and Now
The town of Saint Paul has been here since Roman times. In the 14th century, the Counts of Provence built up Saint Paul to make it a fortified border outpost.
Two hundred years later, when the town was critical for the defense of France’s then-southern border, Francois 1st commissioned stronger walls and towers to fortify the town even more. While Columbus was busy trying to find the New World, France and Spain were duking it out over this highly contested region.
The next people to invade Saint Paul were the artists of La Belle Epoch. Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, and many others made Saint Paul their home. Picasso lived and painted here for a while before he hit it big.
There was only one more invasion to go – French and American celebrities who wanted a beautiful place to escape to. Donald Pleasence, (so good in The Great Escape, eh?), lived here. The mayor of Saint Paul de Vence married Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner here in 1984. They knew a good thing when they found it.
And now we’re here. The little town is beyond picturesque. Cobblestone streets meander every which way. There’s not a straight or level section of street anywhere. Just about every structure here is made of stone. The view down any street looks like the picture on the quintessential postcard from a village in France.
Even though Big Money discovered this enchanted village fifty years ago, the place still looks medieval. Well, “medieval” with a touch of opulence here and there. Art galleries abound. They cater mostly to folks like the owner of the Bentley we parked next to in the public parking lot.
It’s Market Day!
It’s a market day here. (We planned it this way. It’s always fun to visit these small towns on market days). Virtually every street in the town is full of local vendors – mostly farmers – selling whatever they have to sell. Many vendors had something to sample – cheeses, meats, wine, honey, fruit.
We had lunch in a courtyard shared by several restaurants. I don’t remember what I had, but I remember what I didn’t have – pizza. One place was making pizza in a beautiful old stone oven, but the line to get a slice was just too long.
Saint Paul de Vence is a stunning little hill town. A tiny bit touristy, perhaps, but they’ve done a good job of preserving its medieval feel. Plus, the place is just plain beautiful.
Tomorrow is going to be a full day. We’re going to get in the car and head east along the coast toward the France/Italy border. Our first stop will be in a teeny-weeny little town named “Eze.” (Rhymes with “Pez”).
From Eze it’s just a short drive to Monaco, so that’s where we’ll have lunch. Then we’ll turn around and come back to spend our last night in Nice. Should be an interesting day, eh?
To be continued…
Note:
Photo of Saint Paul de Vence at the top of this post: Wikimedia Commons/Dennis Jarvis
