Nice Daily Market

Thursday, April 26, 2012

This was my last day in Nice, so we headed out in the morning in order to see the Market.  They have this market every morning.  Like most street markets, they finish by around 1pm.  This market was so amazing.  There was stall after stall of flowers, perfect vegetable, meat, fish, spices, tea, sweets.....everything you could think of and arranged so artistically.  The sun was shining, it was warm....it was the perfect place to do your daily shopping.

On the way, we stopped at this shop and I got some chocolates....  These bowls in the window were candied fruits.  They looked so succulent and good.

                                           The Market.............

                                       All kinds of Olives...............

                                         Teas and spices............

Here's a couple of statues from the town square.  Then it was good-bye to Nice.

Vence and Saint Paul de Vance

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Again, we unplugged our groovy electric wheels and today we went north, away from the coast and more into what you would consider Provence.  The towns of Vence and Saint Paul de Vence are both medieval towns, but different from Eze.  Vence has wider streets, more shops, and it looks more like a town where people actually carry on their lives....but it still has that old, stone, narrow-street feeling to it.  At lunch time we sat in the sun and had a lovely lunch.

Here are some pictures of Vence.

                                     The date over this archway is 1632.....

                                       As you can see by the laundry...people really live here............

                                   I love this window with the shutters shaped to fit.......

This painting of St. Paul de Vence, the next place we will go, was at a sweet little gallery in Vence.  I really liked this painting.

As we were leaving Vence, we came across a huge old tree and beside it a plaque with a picture of a painting of the same tree by Soutine.....remember Soutine, from several posts ago....the artist who did the very weird paintings in the Pinacotheque Museum.......friend of Modigliani.....?      

    There were also these trees.  They are actually pruned this way....these just have not leafed out yet.

After leaving Vence, we went to St. Paul de Vence, which is more of a hill town with narrower, steeper streets than Vence.  Not like, Eze, but a really lovely place with fabulous Provencal views.

This is what the surface of all the streets were like.

Monte Carlo

Tuesday, April 24

After reluctantly leaving Eze, we drove on down the coast (not very far really) to Monaco and Monte Carlo.  Unfortunately, I got very few pictures and then my camera battery ran out of juice.  Guess I had drained it at Eze.

My cousin quotes a friend of his who calls Monte Carlo "a sunny place with shady people."  So, naturally, I was looking forward to seeing shady people.  But there were none to be seen.  Of course, it was the middle of the afternoon and the area was mostly tourists.

We did go into the casino main foyer and it was so elegant.  Not just anyone can go into the actual casino now.  You have to pay and probably give them your credit card, deed to your house and birth certificates of your children.  But I was content to just be in the beautiful and glamorous foyer, which is also the foyer to the opera...so you can imagine, it is quite opulent.  Sorry I did not get pictures.  But I did of the outside.


                                Famous Hotel  and Cafe on the same square as the casino....

                               The casino...........

We did walk around a bit and saw the harbor with all the fabulous yachts and some beautifully, well-dressed people.  I'm so glad I saw it....but I must admit I probably won't go back unless a very large bag of cash falls into my lap....so that I could get on the "inside."  And who knows.......that probably wouldn't be as interesting  as I found Eze.  

Unbelievable Eze

Tuesday, April 14

We left Saint Jean Cap Ferrat and continued on down the coast towards a place that I've wanted to see for a long time.  Eze.  It is a medieval town perched high, high above the Mediterranean.  As I looked up at it, I was not sure I could make it up there (you have to park way at the bottom)......but I was determined.  The small, extremely steep,  twisting streets....if you could call them streets...more like alleys...were so narrow you could literally touch both sides if you spread your arms.  Once inside the town....and this is not an exaggeration, anywhere your eye rested, was another unique photo opportunity.  Again, I took too many pictures to post on this blog.  But....a cannot hold back....here is Eze....

                       The entrance to the town....

One of several hotels and restaurants.....very expensive, as you can imagine.  It must be nearly impossible to get your supplies, employees, food, etc., in and out of here every day....not to mention your guests.

Another one.........a FIVE star facility.  I looked at their menu.  One drink was around 35 Euros. There are several more pictures of this place farther down this posting.  The Chateau of the Goat of Gold

                            My handsome cousin and his beautiful wife....