Avignon to Eze

A slightly reduced temperature this morning (only 19 at 8am) which rose during the trip to Eze to about 30 and a completely cloudless sky all day. Trusty British Andrew directed us out of the one-lane streets of Avignon on to the motorway and through to the Cote d’Azure of France. There were about 5 toll gates along the way which almost exhausted our store of coins as the machines did not want to accept our brand of credit card so tomorrow morning our first visit is to the Beuraux de Poste to get a fresh supply of coins. It was not until we were quite close to Nice that we were able to view the coast itself when the road rose to about 500m and began descending toward the sea. We then lost view again (because we were in frequent tunnels and the view was blocked by the steep terrain) until leaving the “Provencale” highway just before the toll gate at La Turbie (directly above Monaco) and wound our way down the steep, rocky mountainside toward Eze – a very old village perched on a steep hill of its own.

Our hotel was only about a 5 min walk away from the (foot traffic only) medieval town, built of rock on rocks with tiny, quaint, cobbled streets (footpaths) winding in all directions up the hillside. Not sure if many people actually live in the town itself as it appeared to be mostly small shops and guests in hotels. . Sorry - got a bit obsessed with photos of here but you can move through them quickly!

It also happens to be the place where Nietzsche walked and did much of this thinking before writing (loosely translated) “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” if the information plaques are correct. It is also the location of a posh hotel, the only clear evidence of which is valet parking for a collection of Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Rolls-Royce vehicles.

The hotel is directly above the “Fragonard” Perfumery established in 1880 with only half a dozen outlets outside the factory (mostly in Paris). We spent half an hour being shown around the factory by one of the staff/guides (who we understand all have to speak 4 languages) who spoke very good English followed by the obligatory invitation to purchase, of course. We then walked up through the ancient village while Glenda sniffed various patches of perfume on her arms and reflected on the qualities of no less than 5 different scents she was wearing. I, of course, made all the best gratuitously positive remarks I could muster in response to questions like, “what do you think of this one?” and “would you prefer number 2 or number 5?” etc. (G – standard response to these questions was “Its okay… what am I looking for….was that number 7 or 8?”)

One thing we have noticed about France is the number of smokers. The rules about smoking in public places appeared pretty relaxed and with so many people sitting around eating outside it is almost impossible to eat without being within a few feet of at least one smoker and often more. After a couple of years of NZ laws with respect to restricted smoking, this is certainly an unwelcome slip back in time.

Tomorrow we leave France for Italy (the border is only 10 or so km away) and begin a whole new experience in language, rules and driving. – Au revoir France.