EZ in Eze

Today was the day that I had booked a driver to take me to Monaco and Eze. As luck would have it, his car broke down but he didn’t tell me until 11am in the morning for a noon departure. I decided to skip Monaco and opted for Eze Village instead.

I checked on Tripadvisor what the best way to get to Eze was and it said to take the #82 bus from the port … so I headed to the port. I checked all of the bus stops around the port looked for the #82 … no luck. I checked with the port authority and they had no idea and told me to check at the train station. I headed over to the train station on the Tram and talked to the guy at information. He just kept telling me ‘No bus, only train’ …. Frustrated, I walked outside and noticed there was a tourist information office not far. I asked the lady behind the desk and she gave me the lowdown. I hoped back on the tram to Vauban stop as instructed. When I got off, I was in an industrial area with no buses in site. I wandered up and down the road looking for bus stops until I finally spotted a gentleman at the tram stop on the other side. I asked him in my Franglais where to catch this bus … he directed me down a small road leading to a short tunnel … and voila ! on the other side was a huge bus station.
The bus to Eze only leaves every 90 minutes and unfortunately for me I had missed it while wandering up and down the road. So I sat down to wait along with 6 other people … it had taken me 2 hours to get this far by now. About 30 minutes before the bus was due to depart, and huge group of Dutch students on a school trip descended on the same bus stop. Luckily, their teacher made them wait until all of the old(er) people were on the bus and seated.

The ride up was beautiful …winding roads and beautiful views of the sea. The whole ride took about 30 minutes and once off the bus I decided to get some lunch before heading up the hill to the village. The village itself was amazing. Very quaint and clean, with nice cafes, boutiques and stunning views over the water. I spend about 3 hours traversing every little street (sometimes twice or more) before I was satisfied that I have seen it all. Instead of the bus stupidity again, I opted for a taxi ride back to old Nice … a bit expensive but I deserved it after the morning’s debacle.

Had a good rest, ate Carbonara for dinner and then went to bed.