Eze, France

We have left Barcelona for the last time. We have a couple of stops and then head to the USA.

Today, I wanted to share with you are experience in the enchanting medieval village of Eze, France, which is located a short distance from Monaco on the French Riviera.

As you can see from the pictures, Eze is located on top of a hill ( a very HIGH hill when trying to walk in the village). Every time we turned a corner, there were more steps to climb. The area around Eze was inhabited as early as 2000 B.C. In 1860, it was finally declared to be a part of France.

It has a couple of hotels and in the early days, the baggage was taken to the hotels by donkeys.

Today, modern technology is used to take baggage to the hotels and deliver goods to the merchants and residents.

As you can see, the village is on top of a high hill and the streets are small and wind back and forth between buildings. This was done originally so that should the enemy get in the city, they could not easily reach their goal.

Today, several merchants sell a variety of hand made goods made from the area around the city.

One of the buildings near the top is the village church and cemetery. Even for a small church, we have found this church as well as all the churches in Europe to be quite amazing.

 

Obviously the view is quite outstanding. One of the items that caught my eye was a swimming pool on the other side of the valley that had a fish on the edge of it. This is something, isn't it? Continually we see something like this which is entirely out of place for the surroundings. 

We were visiting Eze with our son and family. One of the things we quickly learned in Europe is that the restrooms are not free. There will be a fee if you have to do Number 1 and usually a little larger fee if you have to do Number 2. The reason for this is that they will then supply the toilet paper to use. 

Most of these public toilets have an attendant that usually asks "1" or "2"? Keep in mind that the language normally spoken is not English.

So my son gets to the window and the lady asked "1" or "2'? He answered "4" because everyone in his family needed to use the facilities.

Later when relaying the story, he mentioned the confusion on the attendant's part. We then informed him of the Number 1 or Number 2 issue and had a great laugh at his expense. At least they were not laughing at me!

During this excursion, we also visited Nice. More on that next time.

Monserrat

The Montserrat Mountain Range is located northwest of Barcelona and is considered to be one of Spain’s most picturesque areas. 

Years ago, the people of this region saw an image of the Virgin Mary high in the mountain. The Benedictines built a monastery on this very sight in the 11^th century. The monastery is literally perched on the side of the mountain. Today, it is still a Benedictine Monastery and home of the 12^th century Black Virgin of Montserrat.

Today, you can reach the monastery by a very winding road or a funicular.

As you reach the area, it is just amazing how the numerous buildings have been built on the site. Almost all of the buildings have been rebuilt as Napoleon decided to burn everything on the mountain. We have come to find out that Napoleon burned just about everything in Europe.

As you walk towards the Basilica, you can feel the serenity of the site. It is extremely peaceful on top of this mountain. You can just imagine the traveler of old taking these last few steps as they reached their journey's end.

 The Basilica is beautiful both inside and out.

Earlier, I mentioned that this is also home of the Black Virgin Mary. Nobody knows why, but The Virgin Mary turned black in the 12^th Century. Some think it is a reaction the wood had to the mountain air. Some think is was a miracle from God.

As we finish our tour, you can feel the evening mist in the air as the sun begins to set. This has been a beautiful ending to a great day.