St. Paul de Vence 2002
Having started our drive this morning in Monaco, and after a visit to Eze Vilage, we continued west to St. Paul de Vence, another picturesque and much visited French village. The much visited part is a blessing and a curse. The tourists bring money which helps maintain the cozy-artsy-picturesque image and stocks shops with all things village-esque. But had we not been here in April (2002), before the tourists, I think it might well have been overrun.
St. Paul de Vence was "discovered" by artists in the 1920s and there's a neat art museum full of contemporary works (think Miro, Picasso and Braque). It has been the playground of the famous and the infamous (think Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Catherine Deneuve, Sofia Loren and Greta Garbo). Its contemporary nature belies the fact that it was built in Saracen times and rebuilt with then-modern ramparts in the 1500s to withstand the attention of would be conquerors.
Neat place. Recommended. But watch your timing and try to avoid the crowds.
Read MoreSt. Paul de Vence was "discovered" by artists in the 1920s and there's a neat art museum full of contemporary works (think Miro, Picasso and Braque). It has been the playground of the famous and the infamous (think Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Catherine Deneuve, Sofia Loren and Greta Garbo). Its contemporary nature belies the fact that it was built in Saracen times and rebuilt with then-modern ramparts in the 1500s to withstand the attention of would be conquerors.
Neat place. Recommended. But watch your timing and try to avoid the crowds.