We had another great breakfast at our Moustiers B&B, including Martine’s homemade yogurt, said heartfelt goodbyes because she and her husband have been so pleasant and accommodating to us, then hit the road for a (we thought) relatively quick trip to St.Paul De Vence for our last night in France. What a misconception!
It turns out you can’t come to remote mountains and canyons, and be close to straight-through highways at the same time. Since we’ve been navigating mostly by the GPS unit in our car, we hadn’t taken the trouble to actually LOOK at the roads/route we were going to be driving. The trip was a LOT longer, and a lot more fun driving, than anticipated. We had to go through a lot of the same type narrow twisty roads, tunnels, climbs and descents as we did yesterday in our grand tour of the Canyons…for about three hours! Lynn was a little queasy after we finally straightened out near the destination, but it was a fun drive. The scenery was again spectacular - these mountains and valleys take on completely different appearance as the sun angle changes during the day. We had very little traffic, but some motorcyclists and sportscars were out playing on the mountain roads and passed us like rockets. Once, two guys wearing race helmets and chasing each other in Lotus 7 sportscars screamed by us, throwing themselves into the twisties ahead, having a blast. I loved it, was jealous, and noticed they were both sporting Czechoslovakia emblems on the rear deck. This must be what people feel like when a couple of us nuts in Cobras come screaming by, chasing each other on the twisty roads n North Carolina.
We arrived in St. Paul De Vence from the BACK way, leaving the mountains permanently behind, and officially arriving on the Cote d’Azur of France. This is probably the most beautiful hilltop town we ever saw - forget all those other ones we earlier said were the best! What a magnificent place, all twisted in upon itself with narrow streets, narrower stairways climbing to hidden courtyards and villas, and (of course) hundreds of shops selling outrageously expensive stuff. The cool part was, all the commerce took place on a couple of central streets, so when Lynn and I hiked all the teeny side streets and the ramparts, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, almost no other tourists at all. The residents of this ancient walled village have beautiful homes, with lots of greenery and colorful flowers in abundance. I guess this shows the wealth and mild climate present here along the Mediterranean Sea coast. We ate some lunch at a cafe overlooking the homes strung out along the near mountainsides, took photos, and kept moving!
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| ANOTHER Hill-Top Village - the best one yet! St. Paul De Vence |
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| Lynn's favorite French car ever, Citroen 2CV, being used as a luxury hotel shuttle |
We arrived in St. Paul De Vence from the BACK way, leaving the mountains permanently behind, and officially arriving on the Cote d’Azur of France. This is probably the most beautiful hilltop town we ever saw - forget all those other ones we earlier said were the best! What a magnificent place, all twisted in upon itself with narrow streets, narrower stairways climbing to hidden courtyards and villas, and (of course) hundreds of shops selling outrageously expensive stuff. The cool part was, all the commerce took place on a couple of central streets, so when Lynn and I hiked all the teeny side streets and the ramparts, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, almost no other tourists at all. The residents of this ancient walled village have beautiful homes, with lots of greenery and colorful flowers in abundance. I guess this shows the wealth and mild climate present here along the Mediterranean Sea coast. We ate some lunch at a cafe overlooking the homes strung out along the near mountainsides, took photos, and kept moving!
After scoping out everything we could find in the old walled village, we headed to the Fondation Maeght…an unbelievably impressive art museum, containing sculptures, paintings and other creations by a variety of 20th Century modern artists, like Miro, Calder, Chagall, Braque, Giacometti. We toured the inside galleries, and liked the paintings and exhibits, but were totally blown away by the OUTSIDE works! A huge entry garden contained many larger than life sculpture works, an enormous kinetic fountain work, and so much more. The rear of the Museum was full of fantastic sculpture works as well, mostly associated with MIRO’S LABYRINTH, where an assortment of his sculptures and other works were displayed among fountains, pools, ancient trees and majestic mountain views. The setting was as tranquil and respectful of the art as could be, and invited you to stand or sit and quietly look at and absorb the works. Lynn remembered being here 22 years ago as a student, and having her photo taken at one of the big Miro scupltures in the Labyrinth garden. We wanted to recreate that picture, but photos are not allowed, so we passed. Instead, we bought a book of photos of the Museum, and have photographed a couple of the pages to give you an idea of this place. The photos are truly accurate, showing the museum and exhibits as we saw it today, with the same lighting, conditions and beauty. Remember: THESE ARE PHOTOS OF PHOTOS...Hope you like them!
We are now at our B&B, getting ready to enjoy a home-cooked supper by our host Jean Bernard. It smells incredible in here while he is cooking! He’s a delightful host, has a friendly cocker spaniel named Vicki (a boy) which is already in love with Lynn, and is playing the most wonderful music on his stereo while he cooks. This is the best “last day in France” we ever had! Tomorrow we fly to Rome, then a direct flight to Miami the next day, and we’re home. I’m already figuring when and how we can return.
LINK TO all the photos we took so far, if you'd like to see more:
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