12th Installment: I’m Hungary in Nice

We decided after hearing from a few people that Eze Village (eh-ze vee-laaj) would be a good place to check out as a day trip from Nice by bus. It’s claim to fame is the 13th century fortress and medieval town surrounding it high up in the mountains and was just 30 minutes down the road by bus. Whereas Eze proper was at sea level and known for its beach and approached by train. Mr. Google directed us to bus 82 around Mt. Boron (a steep walk up the hill and down to our stop at El Joly. We arrived but no one was there despite it being a popular destination; Spidey senses on alert.

We stood alone and confused at our stop. Are we going up or down? There was a couple across the street at a stop heading in the opposite direction, looking like they were waiting in a similar situation. Carol prodded me to cross the street and make sure we had it right. After dodging a few cars I approached the pair of women.

The youngest (Barbara) was open to enquiries and I sidled up to her, paused for a moment so as not to intimidate her (I’m older than her grandfather so how intimidating could I be?), and asked her ‘Was this the bus to Eze Village?’. She assured me this side of the street was the correct direction. So I waved Carol over and all of our problems should be satisfied. The young Barbara pointed us to the bus schedule that was obscured in the bushes and we deciphered that yes indeed, this was the correct side of the street for Eze on bus 82. But as I scrutinized the data I determined that there was only 4 buses to Eze daily and none of them was imminent (like 90 minutes to the next one). WTH! Mr. Google was right, but we were wrong.

I passed along my truth to the lovely Barbara and after conferring with her mother Monica, who spoke not a whit of English, they decided that an Uber was the most fastidious choice and promptly engaged the app and ordered an Uber Black to save them from El Joly perdition. We, of the BC hinterland, had no need for an Uber app, because every one in our world had multiple vehicles and would just drive to where we wanted to be  (also Uber deemed us as persona non grata and wasn’t operating within 500 kms of us). So, after conferring with Carol we decided a foursome á la Uber was the wise choice and we asked the lovely, stylish, Barbara if we could tag along. A quick confab with said matriarch offered us a position in the rear of their Uber Black. Woohoo! We were going to be indoctrinated into the 21st century of the apposphere. Hello Mr. Uber, where have you been?

With 10 minutes to kill I grilled the lovely Barbara, who was probably an up and coming starlet based on her fabulous appearance and her mother was probably her agent. They were from a town outside of Budapest in Hungary and were on a short vacation together. Of course she was multilingual and confident. She had become engaged and was scoping out honeymoon locations.  Thinking the wedding might be this summer I enquired if it was soon. ‘No, its two years from now’ she replied. Now THAT is confidence, and it was great to hear.

We chatted along the way and as we climbed higher the views were breathtaking. The Mediterranean in all its splendor, a rich deep blue stretching to the horizon with islands and yachts dotting its surface was the star of the show. The nearby Cannes film festival was just wrapping up and the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix was this coming weekend, so yachts were like flies on a sticky trap in your grandmother’s shed, everywhere.

Our driver dropped us off at the foot of the town and it was time for a few photos and we said our goodbyes.

It was near lunch time so we popped into the market to get fueled up for yet another steep walk up the ancient streets and alleyways to the renowned garden at the pinnacle of the mountain, Jardin Exotique d’Èze.

Several artisans and painters lived inside the walls and their wares were on display along the route. There were tiny cafes and restaurants perched on the cliff face with fabulous views. The studios that the painters worked in had been carved out of the mountain 8 centuries previous and nonliving space was relegated to low-ceilinged caves where the animals would have been housed. The historical setting had been untouched other than the necessary repair work and upgrades to the stone streets and the few homes of the residents.

The views were amazing, the gardens were amazing, the food at the restaurant was amazing. Basically you could sum up our trip to Eze Village in one word, ‘very good’. Oh, and Carol spent too long in the bathroom so we missed our bus and had to wait 90 minutes for the next one, amazing.

Tomorrow will be a ‘hang around Nice day’ and go back to the beach for a picnic, then back to our pool. I wonder what the little people are doing?