EZE, FRANCE

Old Apr 14th, 2008, 04:03 PM
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traveler and surfmom, where would you recommend instead of Eze? I also was there 20 some years ago, and thought it was beautiful.
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Old Apr 14th, 2008, 04:47 PM
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Many years ago we stumbled upon Eze and just loved it, but it was also a beautiful day and off season in the fall.

We also just stumbled upon Chevre D'Or at the top and it is a gorgeous place to have a drink and take in the spectacular view.

As my wise friend Stu explains well, Europe does not have to cost very much at all. We have been living large on very little in Europe for almost two years, touring in the good months and renting a place in southern Spain for sunny, warm winters ( first class places at ridiculous monthly prices).

It is really all about HOW you do it. Would I stay in Eze in high season at the most expensive hotel? No way. Would I nurse one ( expensive) drink for a long time to have an exquisite time on a beautiful day off season? Absolutely.

Lots of different ways to experience Europe and there are still lots of bargains to be found.

My memories of Eze makes me smile. We will probably pop in again this fall to show it to our daughter...I hope it has not gotten too touristy.
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Old Apr 14th, 2008, 11:54 PM
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Momliz,

I would go to Eze - but just for a short, 10-minute-stop. Enjoy the view, get an impression of the village and its location, but do not enter a restaurant, café or souvenir shop there.

There are some other picturesque mountain villages in the area, many of them are touristy too but not THAT crowded as Eze:

- Gourdon
- Tourrettes-sur-Loup
- Mouans-Sartoux
- Valbonne
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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 12:31 AM
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Ramblero, not everyone on this forum is American, we do not calculate prices in dollars and compare them to what it would cost in the US.
The Cote d'Azur is expensive for Europeans too. We expect to pay more for a coffee in Eze. But mostly it's expensive for Americans because the dollar is not what it used to be. You can't blame the Europeans for that.
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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 01:35 PM
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OK...just in case everyone thought we stayed in Eze alone...the following was our itinerary:

3/6-7 Geneva, Switzerland
3/8 -14 La Tania, les Trois Vallées
with a day trip to Chamonix and Annecy
3/15-16 Aix-en-Provence
3/17-20 St. Remy-de-Provence
with side trips to les Beaux, Pont du Cgarde, Arles, Nimes, Avignon, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the Côtes-du-Rhone valley, The Lubernon: Gordes, Menerbes & Bonnieux
3/21-22 Cassis
with side trips to St. Tropez
3/23-28 Villefranche-sur-Mar
with side trips to Cap Ferrat, Beausoleil, San Remo, Cap d'Ail and Monaco
3/29 - 4/1 Eze
with side trips to Sophia Antipolis, Vence, St. Paul de Vence, Grasse, Nice, Cannes and back to Cap d'Ail (where my mother lived before WWII).

We ate, with 2 notible exceptions, at un-pretentious restaurants, frequently selecting the menus, or, as was the case in both Villefrance-sur-Mar and Eze, ate in on about 5 or 6 occasions.

Comparing the approximately comparable cost of eating at equivalent restaurants (from Napa Valley to SF to the SF Peninsula and the East Bay to Carmel and Santa Barbara) and similar meals, I found France to be about 50% more expensive. That is to say...what would cost $120 here is about $180 in France, average accross our itnerary.

Eating in...requiring buying food at Casino (I'm assuming it is representative of the largest grocery chains in France (we only went to one, half-way between Villefrance-sur-Mar and Nice on the middle Cornish; I did not see another different chain to try out) I found to be, as I noted in my previous post, breath-takingly expensive. Lest you think I'm talking without experience, I've done 99% of the food purchasing and food preparation for the past 27 years (including raising 2 children). I know what stuff costs. And, I might add, the Bay Area is one of the MOST expensive places to live in the entire country.

A last point I left out in my first post....the raw food prices I quoted were BEFORE VAT (sales tax) which is 20% and is applied to EVERYTHING in France (unlike the US). So when I said lamb, for example, was $14/lb, make that $16.80. I pay approx. $4.50/lb here.

To Tulips: gasoline is gasoline...whether you denominate it in Euros or dollars...it doesn't make any difference. If it makes you feel better, 95 octane gasoline in France was approx. E1.45/litre ( paid in a range of E1.4 to E1.5/litre). 95 octane gasoline here (and the Bay Area has the HIGHEST gas prices in the country) is approx. E0.68/litre, or 47% of what it is in France.

I stand by my original observations.
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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 02:28 PM
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Mouans-Sartoux and Valbonne, while very nice to visit, aren't really mountain villages; they lie in the valley below Grasse. For a true mountain village (besides Gourdon) in that region, spend some time in Tourrettes-sur-Loup. The town is famous for its pottery-makers, along with other craft items. The nearby Opio has an olive mill with an excellent gift shop featuring products from the area. I got some wonderful olive-oil bath gel there and cherish every drop.
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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 02:32 PM
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I meant to add that we have consistently found the prices in the Nice region to be lower than here in northern California--except for gasoline, and that may not last long! Food at supermarkets and restaurants were a much better value, but of course with the change in the dollar-to-Euro ratio that will soon be a thing of the past. But paying $14 for cofee and croissants sounds like a hotel price, not what you'd pay at a local café.
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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 02:57 PM
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To Underhill:

Milk at Casino in Villefranch-sur-Mar was $8.21/gal (E1.22/litre + 20% VAT). Milk at Safeway is $4.49/gal.

I don't know where YOU live in "Northern California" or how much raw food you bought in France....but we found France to be REALLY expensive.

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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 04:33 PM
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I think you have to compare milk at Casino in Villefranche with milk at at the local market in Carmel, Ca (forget the exact name) to compare apples & apples. Things in Villefranche are going to be more expensive than almost anywhere in France (perhaps not Paris), just like things in Carmel are higher than in Monterey, Ca just next door.

If you shopped for milk at the giant Carrefour on the west side of Nice on the huge commercial street heading north (I think they have 60 check-outs), then you might get a better comparison to Safeway milk prices.

Also, the French don't drink as much milk as we do in the US - and while we're in France we don't drink as much milk as we do in the US. I bet if you take a "typical" basket of food from a French person in France vs a typical bag of food from a US person in the US - you won't see much difference. We purchase lots of stuff in France, and the prices have never shocked us for "normal" staples - but we kinda live in an expensive part of the US. However, when we stay in the Auvergne or Ardeche, costs are MUCH less than they are in the Cote d'Azur.

Stu Dudley

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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 04:45 PM
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We were staying in Nice and took the local bus up to Eze for the afternoon. It does have tourists but a very enjoyable and worthwhile afternoon. Ate a sandwich and coke in the town at a "deli" and enjoyed it under a shade tree and people watched. It's worth the trip and can be done inexpensively if you choose.
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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 06:10 PM
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The famous dish of Nice is Socca. Very tasty, very inexpensive, very filling.
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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 07:01 PM
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Prices in vacation areas are always higher than at home, with few exceptions for homes in the highest cost areas of wherever you are from.

So what? It's a vacation, not a supermarket shopper competition.

By the way, Stu was a bit off. E30/kg = $48/2.2 lb = almost $22/lb, not $12. Let's call it a typo.
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Old Apr 15th, 2008, 08:43 PM
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Thanks for the correction.

Stu Dudley
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Old Apr 17th, 2008, 04:58 AM
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"gasoline is gasoline...whether you denominate it in Euros or dollars"

Gasoline is a lot more expensive in Europe, there's much more tax on it. That will be the case throughout Europe. And then converting it to your weak dollar, makes it even worse.

But the supermarkets in France are not more expensive than my local Delhaize here in Belgium.

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Old Apr 17th, 2008, 06:57 AM
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To AJPeabody and Tulips (and anyone else following this side road to the original question).

In responding to debalyin's question about Eze, I made the comment that, based on my 28 day trip to France (predominantly Provence and the Côtes d'Azur) we thought France was VERY expensive. To support that observation, I cited a number of specific items and their cost in the the SF Bay Area as compared to what we paid in France. A number of people took great exception to this, one person even claiming that "we have consistently found the prices in the Nice region to be lower than here in northern California..." And "Food at supermarkets and restaurants were a much better value". Others claimed that you can't compare Provence and the Côtes d'Azur costs to costs elsewhere because these areas of France are major tourist destinations and, by definition, are way more expensive than other parts of France.

In response let me say, catagorically:

1. If San Francisico and the SF Bay Area isn't a "major global tourist destination" and one of maybe 3 of the most expensive places to live in North America then I don't know what is. So the argument of "apples to oranges" goes out the window.

2. I can only speak to our experiences in Southern France. We didn't travel in Belgium or England or Germany or Scandinavia. I *assume* the costs of staples are approximately comparable across all of Europe.

3. If any one is really interested (Tulip???) let's make up a market basket of consumer staples and I'll provide prices that I pay locally (SF Peninsula). *I* think it would be very interesting....and a real eye-opener for a lot of people.

4. Bottom line...I still stand by my observations. And if, based in local costs, I find it expensive, imagine what somebody from Des Moines or Detroit or Little Rock is going to experience?

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Old Apr 20th, 2008, 07:28 AM
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Lots of posts on a lot of topics after a question (?) related to Eze.
I do live in Eze bord de mer (seaside).
If you need a precise answer (on a precise question) about Eze, i ll do my best to help.
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Old Apr 20th, 2008, 01:20 PM
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The views from the exotic gardens in Eze are spectacular! A must see!

As to prices - we have found every price bracket is catered for along the cote d'azur ... if you want extreme luxury and to mingle with the rich and famous you can...if you want cheap street food and to linger for hours over an espresso you can! For a few great Nice restaurants at ALL prices read this review page: http://www.nice-city-vacation.com/nice-restaurant.html

Bonne appetit!
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Old Apr 26th, 2008, 09:52 AM
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traveller1959
So glad you mentioned Tourrettes Sur Loup. It reminded me of a wonderful day we spent there, and some of the best lavender ice cream I've ever had.
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Old Apr 26th, 2008, 10:15 AM
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Jean, didn't you find that Tourrettes-sur-Loup had the best hand craft shops, not like most places that have the same old stuff they sell.
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Old Apr 26th, 2008, 10:58 AM
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My wife purchased some beautiful pillow cases there.

Stu Dudley
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