Day 8 - Ville Franche / St Paul de Vence, FR

Our 2nd port day did not disappoint - I basically decided that heaven must be like waking up on the coast of France.  This day was different bc it was not a true port, but rather a stop in the middle of the sea and a boat tendered us to shore.  Our excursion wasn't until the afternoon so we took the boat to Villefranche to walk around this colorful little seaside town.

After our morning stroll through town and through the gardens of the Citadel, we went back to the ship for lunch and to meet our tour group for our excursion to St Paul de Vence.  It required a drive through Nice - on the way there we drove through the town...but I will admit that the tour guide was hard to understand, the drive was long, and that motorcoach was basically like rocking a baby to sleep (it got to the point where I think we all looked forward to our daily naps on the tour bus), so I didn't see much of Nice on the way there...

But then we arrived at our destination...the medieval village of St Paul de Vence.

A hilltop fortress filled with windy cobblestone shop lined streets.  It is so hard to fight the urge to say "I can't believe how old this is".

There were so many mystery doors and each one so unique (and old)...

Religious figures tucked in every nook and cranny...

There were lots of great shops...seamstresses making Provencal tableware, artists with their own shops selling their paintings (we found a water color here), fresh herbs and oils.  I wish I could have brought back more.  After meandering through the village, we sat for our daily sampling of the local wine - another bottle of Rose on this day.  

And we had the added treat of watching some rather serious bocce ball matches - some of the older men had some rather heated "discussions" after some of the tosses.  Very entertaining.

Parting shot of the village...

And so we began our ride back - this time the ride through Nice was coastal.

I can't imagine not being happy here...especially if I was here on one of those boats.

Ah, but wait...we are here on a big boat...and it was waiting for us...

And we made it back in time to enjoy that balcony for a bit before dinner.