With my last day in the Cote d'Azur, I chose to make a day-trip to St. Paul de Vence, after a hearty recommendation from an Aussie I had met on my night train from Barcelona.
When you're traveling through Europe -- especially on more or less a shoestring budget -- every day is money spent, and I want to spend every day seeing new things, exploring new places. I've found that works best for me is setting up my home base in a town with good transportation connections, and then spending a few days heading into the outlying areas, getting a taste of several different parts of the whole without having to waste too much time moving all my belongings from one town to another.St. Paul de Vence was indeed a quaint and charming little medieval town set on a high precipice overlooking the valleys of Provence. Unfortunately, I had been so spoiled at Eze that St. Paul was simply no comparison!
I climbed its gently sloping cobblestone streets for views of the surrounding area, peeked into kitschy craft shops at tapestries, jewerly, and an elaborate mix of souvenirs, and bought a crusty baguette for my makeshift lunch from the one market in the village. It turned out to be the best bread I tasted in the Cote d'Azur, and made a delicious accompaniment for the soft cheese I had brought along.Since my wanderings took less time than I had expected, I bussed back to Nice and headed out to St. Jean Cap Ferrat for a look. The bus ride was enjoyable, snaking along the coast, every now and again offering the finest views of the sea and real estate of the rich and famous stretching down to its shores. Despite overcast skies, the scene was as beautiful as ever. I stopped off at the port for a little fresh sea air, then bussed halfway back to Nice, stopping off near the cozy little port and fishing village, Villefranche sur Mer.
It was a long descent from the high road traversed by cars and buses to the coastal walkways along which the shops and restaurants and life of Villefranche spilled out. But of all my visits along the Cote d'Azur, this one was most reminiscent to me of the Italian Riviera, and the three enjoyable days I spent exploring the Cinque Terre and beyond back in 2004. The air here seemed a little less stuffy, there were humble fishing boats instead of well-tended yachts clustered at the dock. This was my kind of town. No pretenses. Just pure charm.Finally, I headed back to St. Exupery for the last time, manging to get caught in a torrential downpour en route. By the time I arrived at the hostel, I was ready for a fresh change of clothes, and a made-to-order pizza with chicken, chorizo (spicy sausage), and salami to fill my empty belly.
At dinner, I met a going-on-30 solo traveler from Canada, whose dream had always been to cycle through France and live in Paris. He had just finished the latter, and had just bought a high-end touring bike to begin his coastal route towards the border of Spain. It was nice to trade stories with someone else who was 'living the dream.' I never cease to be amazed at the connections that can be forged between nearly any two people in this world. I see it happen every day, in the interactions I have with people from every country and walk of life. It's a great feeling to belong to this world. We all do, you know. We all belong. Sometimes we just have to be reminded that we all share more in common than we think.~Melanie
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment