Eze - literally the pinnacle of the French Riviera

The village of Eze (rhymes with Fez or Pez) sits on a high cliff 1400 ft above the sea; it's one of the most gorgeous places I've ever visited

Our Lady of the Assumption Church; you could catch the bus in Nice for 1.50 euro and enjoy a scenic ride to Eze village

The only way to see the medieval village of Eze is on foot; the narrow alleys have seen lots of foot traffic over the years and can be quite slick

There seemed to be endless photo ops in Eze; the town reminds me of Jack and the Beanstalk with the town at the top of the ever-spiraling beanstalk

Statue is Chloe who is known for saying I know not where I was born, but here is where I live now

How could you not love a place that has such awesome municipal trash receptacles?

The Chapel of Saint Croix, built in 1306, is the oldest building in town; it was built to provide assistance to plague victims

The town of Eze sur Mer lies at sea level and is connected by train to Nice and Monaco; Cap Ferret is the peninsula in the distance

On the right side you can see the Moyenne Corniche which is the road my bus took; there is also a road at the top of the mountains as well as a seaside route

The Exotic Garden sits at the very top of the town offering incredible 360 degree views of the Riviera

I've always loved ceiling frescoes like these at Our Lady of the Assumption Church; Charlie Chaplin and Bono are among many celebrity visitors

When Friedrich Nietzsche lived here in the 1880s he would travel this path every day from the village to the sea and back;

Hiking down Nietzchke path to Eze sur Mer took about an hour but it was a perfect day and the views were stupendous

I like the European tradition of putting photos on tombstones; the women sure lived a long time!

The perched village of Eze is known for its peace and quiet; there are just a few places to stay and they are very expensive and exclusive

Trains travel along the coast but much of the journey east of Nice is within tunnels; the bus takes longer but is much more scenic

I'd love to have a place on that small island!; the water felt terrific after hiking down from Eze village

I finished this book on the beach as I recovered from several days of serious walking; no wonder locals are in such great shape

The old buildings all seemed occupied with tasteful shops or residences; in Greece and Italy too often the old villages would be deteriorating but that wasn't the case in Eze

The village of Eze doesn't have train service (it's at sea level) but the bus from Nice is one of the most scenic rides imaginable

The rocky beach was a challenge to navigate; I snorkeled but saw very few generic-looking fish; the visibility was pretty good though

French writer George Sand -The ruins of Eze, planted on a cone-shaped rock, with a picturesque village perched on a sugar loaf, stop the glance inevitably. This is the most beautiful point of view of the road, the most complete, the best composed.

The village is quite small but it still seemed easy to get lost as the lanes go higgledy-piggledy and then dead end or lead to a business; busloads of tourists crammed many of the passageways

Walt Disney spent a significant amount of time in Eze; I was thinking the town was a little Disneyfied but maybe it's the other way around

The narrow pebble beach was adequate since I wanted to test the waters; upon first getting in the water was a little bracing but then I quickly acclimated