Eze, France

In spite of the fact that some in the travel industry refer to this tour as nice and easy,
it's really Niece an Ezz.

That's E (as in elephant) with a Z, Say EZ.
Welcome to the Village of Eze

Day 14: Sunday, April 24, 2005


BaggageHaulers-042405-1112a
The baggage beasts.

They're retired now, but these asses carried the baggage up the hill
like their cousins back in history that carried everything for the people.
Eze-v-042405-1109a
 
TheWayUp-v-042405-1124a
The path takes us up, up, and up.

Eze is a medieval village perched like an eagle's nest on a narrow rocky peak overlooking the Mediterranean sea. The ancient fortified village is still crowned with the ruins of its 12th-century castle (torn down in 1706), sitting on a narrow rocky peak.

Why in the world would people put their village on top of a steep hill?
This made life very inconvenient for everyone. Water, typically does not spring out of the tops of hills, so they had to hike down to get water, and food and everything else.

The reason was for protection. The village was moved away from the coast and to the hilltop during a period when pirates were plundering the region. Below is a map of the old village tracing the paths as they climb the hill.
Eze map

Just where are we, anyway? Here's a regional map.

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