The Magic of Haute Cagnes

The flight to Amsterdam was smooth and on time and, after a restorative couple of black coffees, we headed to the KLM "City Hopper" plane for Nice, France. Flying over first flat, green farmlands then snow covered wild mountains, and finally a true bird's eye view of Monaco, Nice and the Cote d'Azur, gave a taste of the diversity of the small continent of Europe. Our luggage made it (yeah!) and we got our Hertz Peugeot car, a small but functional four door gray hatchback with an automatic diesel engine.

Our first stop was Haute Cagnes, the medieval hilltop village about 20 minutes west of Nice. This place is truly amazing, as you will see from the pictures. Unlike some other famous hilltop ancient villages in the area, this one is not overrun with tourists and French locals inhabit the village. We stayed with Willy Maria Tellender, the lovely Swiss lady who rents out a room in her apartment in a historic (maybe 400+ years old) townhouse in the heart of Haute Cagnes. This cozy bedroom (with great internet) is adjoining an even larger bathroom with separate shower, bathtub, bidet, toilet room, full size washer and drier, mini-kitchen and double vanity sinks! We learned the hard way last time we visited in 2012 not to try to drive into the village proper (though this is possible) but to park in this futuristic underground parking lot built into the hillside. This lot automatically parks your car in the bowels of the hill and retrieves it at command. We wheeled our small carry ons through the village on this chilly, cloudy afternoon.

An olive tree with drupes (fruits) just in front of the hillside carpark

The amazing automatic hillside carpark at Haute Cagnes (our luggage to be rolled through the village in front)

View of the hills and tiled roofs of Haute Cagnes

The village square of Haute Cagnes. Sadly, on this chilly day, there were no village men playing boules like there was when we visited in June of 2012

Randy on a typical (yes, typical!) street of Haute Cagnes - not another tourist in sight

After settling in and resting a bit from the ordeal of transatlantic travel, we got the car and headed for Foundation Maeght, a private modern art complex about 20 minutes away in Vence. This houses an interesting collection of modern sculptures with a rotating arrangement of contemporary paintings. It also has a small chapel which eclectically blends modern with medieval artifacts to honor the Maeght's son who died of leukemia.

Randy walks to the buildings of Foundation Maeght whilst some oldsters leave from their tour

Alice with a Giacometti on the terrace (two skinny people :-) )

Another sculpture with a view to hills beyond

The touching chapel interior blends contemporary stained glass with a medieval Spanish crucifix

Randy next to the Chagall mosaic

Alice by Randy's favorite sculpture - a weird but happy piece by Miro

We drove nearby the famous hilltop village of Saint Paul de Vence but did not park and walk in. This is larger and much, much more touristic than our own Haute Cagnes. Tour buses parked outside even on this March Tuesday. We headed for Vence, the modern town, and its wonder just outside the town center of the Chapel Rosaire, a Matisse created small chapel. Matisse designed this chapel as his final work (he was in his mid 70's when it began and it took five years) and as a tribute to the Benedictine nuns who cared for him. No photos are allowed inside but it is modern, evocative, joyful and somber all at the same time. It is also quite small and modest. Definitely recommended if you are in the area.

The impressive sight of Saint Paul de Vence

This sits on a busy street just outside of Vence - its blue tiled roof is visible at left

The chapel exterior - you will have to search on line to see the chapel interior as no photos are allowed

A detail of the unusual steeple

We braved the French traffic (always a challenge) and found a grocery store to stock up on chocolate, cookies, water and wine. Well, what else do you need in France? Headed back to our refuge (literally, the townhouse is called Le Refuge) for rest before walking a half block to a Michelin guide restaurant, Fleur de Sel ( http://www.restaurant-fleurdesel.com/ ) . We had the place to ourselves for most of our meal which was in true French style (a French couple run it). Randy had a three course set menu of pate, lamb and a kind of Gallic bread pudding. Alice tucked in creamy vegetable soup, cod with pureed and creamed (yes, more cream!) eggplant and a goat cheese plate. We drank the red Provence wine recommended by Madame - and a nice fruity one it was.

Randy happily waits for his first French meal

Alice is pretty excited too

Madame runs the front (here, bringing out our wine) while Monsieur cooks in the back

Our wine for the evening - a red, fruity local from Provence

Alice's creamed vegetable soup - Randy ate his pate so quickly no photograph was possible!

Alice's cod with creamed eggplant/potatoes

Randy's lamb with potato and violet stuffed zucchini. This also came with grilled figs, which Alice ate

A nighttime stroll around the empty village yielded the feeling being back in the 1400's but without the smells or chaos. The village was peaceful, beautiful and haunting in a good way. We also encountered a variety of well fed and friendly village cats on our walk. The night closed with Randy snoring away while Alice dealt with her jet lag and finally crashed. We awoke to sunrise over the Med (oh, I forgot to say that our room has a view of the Med and the surrounding hills) and the basket of breakfast goodies that Willy Maria prepares and delivers from across the hall to her guests.