“How was France?”
“Really, really great”
“Awesome, where did you go?”
“Paris, Nice, Èze..”
“Èze?”
While the South of France has many beautiful destinations, one of the more lesser known ones – at least amongst Aussies – is Èze. If you’re staying in Nice, I recommend you reserve one day to explore this charming, little medieval town.
I knew I would love Èze as soon as I found out it was a Walt Disney destination of choice and there’s nothing that I’ve loved more throughout my life than Disney – so clearly, this was fate. Èze is like a fairytale village, with its cobbled stone pathways and architecture overgrown with unruly flowers and vines. It really felt like the kingdom of Corona from the movie Tangled. Not only was the town positioned on the top of a hill, it was also framed by the ocean!
Knowing that my future wedding is going to be Tangled themed, I even took the time to consider having my wedding here. Whilst being the perfect location for my Tangled themed wedding, would my friends travel all this way just to attend a wedding? I found a church, a reception spot, and numerous places to take the perfect wedding photos. All that was left was to find someone of husband potential. Haha. Eugene Fitzherbert where are you? I’m ready to find you!!
I was pretty damn lucky to be on this part of my France trip with 4 of my highschool friends. Okay, it was only 3, but I included GoogleMaps as my 4th friend because we’ve been going strong since highschool and I don’t think any of us would have been able to survive navigating through the south of France without it.
Anyway, enough waffle, let the adventure begin…
How to get there:
First and foremost, get a French sim card with data on it so you can use GoogleMaps. GoogleMaps was able to plan a full transport itinerary for us from our current location and also direct us to all of our bus stops.
There are a few different ways to get to Èze, but this is the route we took:
Catch bus #84 from Nice to Beaulieu-sur-mer (this places is gorgeous, so take a wander). From here we walked to the bus stop “Plage-beaulieu” and caught bus #83 to Èze, Village. Make sure you take a bus that goes to Èze village and not Èze train station!
Get a seat next to the window so you can take in the gorgeous scenery as you travel. The entire journey will take approximately half an hour and you’ll know you’ve reached Èze village when you see a town square with a perfumery and some open markets. Get off here.
Where to fill the belly:
With our stomachs rumbling as soon as we got off the bus, our first goal was to eat. Of all the restaurants within the town square vicinity, the menu at Mets Vins Chics caught our eye.
The restaurant itself is a little bit hidden away and it didn’t offer the ocean views some other restaurant did, but the food here was well worth the sacrifice. For my main, I had the duck in ginger and honey sauce served with a side of mashed potato. This meal was the best meal of my entire France trip, hands down. Setting, atmosphere and service were all equally a treat.
Overall Rating: ★★★★.5
Tips, tricks, must-sees and must-dos:
1. Stroll along all winding cobbled streets. All. You’ll find pretty hidden corridors and cute boutique shops around every twist and turn.
2. Pay the 6 Euros to visit the Exotic Garden. Succulents and cacti are not my thing, but entrance here also gives you access to the top of the hill, where the chateau ruins are. The view from the here is breathtaking and you’ll never see the Mediterranean sea look better.
The sculptures scattered throughout the garden are also beautiful.
3.Dress the part. I took the opportunity to wear something nice, so that my photos would look extra magical. It was so worth it looking back on them now.
4. Visit Chapelle de la Sainte Croix. This church is gorgeous and the oldest building in Èze dating back to 1306. I could feel the history of this place just by stepping inside.
5. Èze is also about 15 mins from Monaco, so for dinner we decided to take a trip down via Uber, which was fantastic! From Monaco, we caught the train back to Nice.
Lovely! Thank you for this tour of what looks to be a marvelous gem of a place. And, yes, I can absolutely see you dancing barefoot in one of the cobbled squares with your Eugene and your hair braided with blossoms…
All that history just so today we can enjoy the fairytale setting…
Hahaha Thanks Chief! That is the plan ;)
[…] to have kept a slice of tradition, much like you still see in the little towns across France like Èze or […]