St. Paul de Vence- Village of the Artists

Our first stop of the day is St. Paul de Vence, the “Village of the Artists”. It is in this little mountainous town where many of the most famous poets, artists, and writers have produced their work, as the clean air and light quality is allegedly conducive to creating masterpieces.

Now, art doesn’t exactly rev my engine enough to get me out of bed three hours after I crawl into it, but I have no choice. I try to put myself together and meet downstairs with the group in time to grab some nutella toast and a cappuccino. Then we arrive in this itsy bitsy beautiful village. It is built on the peak of a mountain, as many other cities in the French Riviera are, to make it difficult for pirates from the Mediterranean to get to. So their sky high vantage point, while gorgeous, is really just a defense mechanism.



Most shops are closed when we get there at the ungodly hour that we do, but eventually they open up and we discover all sorts of wonderful, personally hand-crafted art within them: paintings, candles, furniture, wall pieces, furniture, and everything you can imagine. When I am rich, I will come back here to acquire things to decorate my home- I’m obsessed.





In every bite-size piazza we find stone fountains and ivy, and even the outside walls of buildings have tiny gardens built into them, as every single square inch of this city has been crafted with utmost care and near-religious detail.

(Mel, you would no doubt find inspiration here. No need to thank me now; when you visit in the future and create award-winning pieces, you can just dedicate them to me for the tip.)