After a mix-up of where to meet Eva, our tour guide for the second day, we finally caught up with each other one hour late thanks to Jean Guy's international cell phone and its access to the Internet to find her cellphone number. We thought that Jean Guy sounded loud and uspet on his end of the conversation but Diana told us he always shouted when talking on the telephone. Eva definitely sounded angry when she picked us up at the end of the pier and seemed to be blaming the customers for the mistake--usually not a good business move.
Then we were off for a quick tour of Monaco before driving onto another section of the French Riviera. Monaco's population is 40,000 with the aim of 50,000. Only about 20,000 of the population are able and willing to work--the rest are too young, too old or too rich. Prince Rainer wanted to attract the rich but also realized that the country needed laborers. About 15,000 people are employed by the company that takes care of everything from the palaces to the museums. People come across the border from France to work in Monaco because of the shortage of labor and the higher salaries. We saw the grandstands that were being erected for the Grand Prix and drove around the hairpin curve where contenders couldspin out. In the harbor was one of the world's largest yachts, Lady Moura, which belonged to a business woman from Lebanon and flew a flag when she was on board.
After departing Monaco, we drove along the Old Roman Road, Via Arellia, which ends in Rome. Again, one side of the road offered spectacular views of the ocean while the other side featured a mountain range, which Eva told us was the Maritime Alps with the French Alps behind them. Our first stop was the village of St. Paul de Vence, founded in the 11th century and rebuilt in the 15th century by the French king. Cannons greeted us, and we were impressed by a white car that had been transformed into a metal sculpture of a man, even incorporating the wheels on the back of his shoes. Eva pointed out the daisy pattern on the road, in honor of the daughter of a count, Margaret, which in French means daisy. As we passed through the gates, we were greeted by a pair of hanging legs.
Nothing in the village can be changed from the 15th century. The fountains, which are a trademark of this village, are filled from underground wells so they never stop running. Marc Chagall, who came to France from Russia, was buried in a small cemetery in St. Paul de Vence. The road from the harbor to the village is the Nietzsche Path, the German philosopher who used to stay there. In the old section, we viewed a part of the old castle. In St. Paul's Church, we admired many Italian painting, a metal copy of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and sterling silver crosses, goblets and praying hands from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. A painting of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus, that was ordered by a French queen, had the queen's face. The houses were built into the rocks. Tourists crowd this picturesque villages on the weekends so we were fortunate to have it almost to ourselves on a weekday. On our drive from the village, we stopped to view the castle and the church from a distance. No wonder so many artists and writers wanted to frequent the place.
We then toured the Chateau de Gourdon, which we remember most for its water closets with three different types of toilets. On May 14, all the museums are open all night and are free to visitors. We drove through Nice, France's fifth largest city, which is very nice but lacks the charm of the villages that we visited. We viewed the greenhouses where strawberries are grown.
Then on to Eze. The legitimate question must be, "Why did seemingly bright people build their villages on tops of hills in cramped, inaccessible spaces when there seemed to be so many better locations below?" During the Middle Ages, pirates from Moorish countries settled on the shores so the residents from the seaside moved to the top of the hill to defend themselves. Concentrating everyone in a small area made sense so that the limited patches of fertile land could be used for growing crops. Beyond the double gateway circa the 14th century, we found it easy and enjoyable to get lost on the narrow streets, stairs and covered passageways. Laundry still hung from the windows, and neighbors chatted merrily over their flower boxes, which were only inches apart. The Italians rebuilt the village in the 16th and 17th centuries. We toured the remains of the old castle from the 15th century with its garden inside. The neo-classical facade of the Notre Dame de L'Assumption Church with its monumental pillars belied the surprising baroque interior. A wedding had taken place just before we arrived. While Eze was tiny, it was well worth the climb!
On our way down the winding, up-and-down road, we stopped at the Trophy of Augulus that celebrate the hero's conquest of the Gaulish tribes between 25 and 14 B.C. The setting overlooks Monaco. We also viewed the mansions of Elton John and the Rothschilds. After a leisurely drive around Monte Carlo to absorb its elegant exteriors and beautiful people, we returned to the ship to learn that our next-door neighbor had jumped through incredible hoops to acquire three tokens from the Monte Carlo Casino, which opened it 1863. The casino is open only to visitors, not residents, enforces a strict dress code and charges 10 euros to enter the casino proper for the privilege of losing your hard-earned money. Yes, we had basked for a day in the lifestyle of the rich and famous!
No comments:
Post a Comment