St. Paul de Vence, the walled city

We traveled about an hour from Juan les Pins to St. Paul de Vence, which is a fortified city high up in the hills on the edge of the Alps. In medieval times, this city was on the border between what was an Italian kingdom and French lands, so it was necessary to be protected. When France helped fight the war that united the kingdoms into the country of Italy, this area was gifted to France in gratitude. But as one shopkeeper said, we're supposed to speak French but even now, we really don't.
This city has maintained its city walls, and inside it has narrow, winding cobblestone streets and buildings straight out of a Fairytale. We visited the church which was Romanesque and admired the art housed there. We meandered through the streets and shops and bought Doug a knife whose handle was in the shape of a Marc Chagall mermaid and was carved from 500 year old oak beam that used to support the bells of the church.Read more