Saint-Paul de Vence is an old village located in south eastern France, about 30 minutes drive from Nice.
I had never heard of this place prior to the visit, but our tour guide told us that it’s a wonderful place, that there’s a saying which if Jesus is to be born onto earth again, it will be at St Paul.
The statement might be over-exaggerating, but St Paul was a lovely place indeed. The fortified village structure was something that I had never seen before; and its environment, the narrow streets and stony buildings were simply mesmerising.
The only regret I had, was that we were not able to spend much time there to fully appreciate the place. Back then, I had vowed to visit the place again… I am not so sure about the feeling now, but at that moment, I think I was in love with St Paul de Vence.
Photo of Saint Paul de Vence
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Monaco is the most densely populated country in the world, and the second smallest country in the world, after Vatican City.
We had a night visit to Monaco, which was about an hour journey from Nice. The bus dropped us by the famous F1 tunnel (tunel); we walked by some buildings and gardens on our way to the Grand Casino of Monte Carlo.
It was just a short tour at Monaco… honestly I can’t remember much of it besides some of its stories and the casino, the cruises and boats at the harbour, and the song we played on our bus journey (Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler”).
Monte Carlo Casino at
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Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) was built in the 14th century during the Avignon papacy.
I was not too impressed by the Palace. Set aside its history, the only thing that worth mentioning is perhaps its enormous size. There might be some interesting stuff in the palace, but I didn’t have much time to explore it… we were just stopping at Avignon for lunch and a short break as we were heading for Nice.
Photo of Palais des Papes
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Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms d’Avignon, or Avignon Cathedral in short, is located just beside the Palais des Papes at the Place du Palais.
The cathedral was built in 12th century; the most prominent feature of the building is the gilded statue of Virgin Mary on top of the tower.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms d’Avignon and its Virgin Mary statue
The Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière is located at Fourvière Hill, which offers a great view of the Lyon city.
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Au revoir Paris. I left Paris before the sunrise and headed to Palace of Versailles (Château de Versailles) along with some tour-mates. My sister was not joining the Versailles’ visit as she has been there before, while some other tour-mates decided to stay in hotel instead.
Château de Versailles in early morning
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2nd day in Paris… we had an early bus tour around the city before arriving at Eiffel Tower (La Tour Eiffel) at around 9.30am. The queue wasn’t very long; we waited for around 15 minutes and managed to squeeze into the elevator and get to the 2nd level of the tower.
Eiffel Tower look golden in early sunshine
There are 3 levels of platforms that are opened to public, and the entrance fees ranged from 4.50€ to 11.50€ for adults (using the elevator); level 1 and 2 is accessible by stairs (over 600 steps) as well, and with cheaper entrance fees. [Entrance fees reference]
The 2nd level platform (~115 metres) offers the best view of Paris, and the perfect range for photographs. [Read my next post for photos of the panoramic view of Paris] The 3rd level is probably too high to see the city in details.
Eiffel Tower is arguably the most visited landmark in the world; it has been visited by 229,623,812 visitors since its opening in 1889 until 2006. [Reference]
The tower (including its antenna) is 324 metres high, and was once the tallest building in the world; it is still the tallest building in Paris.
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We dropped by Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe for a short photo session on our way back from the Seine cruise tour to our hotel.
Arc de Triomphe at night
If I was given the time, I would have climbed my way to the top, which I heard has an excellent panoramic view of the city, especially on the famous Avenue des Champs-Élysée.
Too bad it was our only visit to Arc de Triomphe; we had only a short stay in Paris and the famous monument was not the tour’s priority.
The Arc de Triomphe was commissioned in early 19th century to commemorate Napoleon’s victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, but only completed decades later; Napoleon was already dead before its completion.
Today, the arch honours those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars, and also includes the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the monument.
The Paris Arc de Triomphe is the most famous of its kind, but the largest Arc of Triumph is in Pyongyang (North Korea), which was built in 1982 and was deliberately built to be larger than the Paris one.
