St. Paul De Vence: A Guide to the Fairy Tale Town on the French Riviera

The time to see stars in Cannes is during the spectacular film festival, a major May event since 1947 which always attracts the world's leading moviemakers. But if you missed it this year, don't be discouraged. On your map of the French Riviera, mark Saint-Paul-de-Vence, within an hour's drive of Cannes. Plan to arrive there on a weekend morning, when star-gazing is still possible - especially if you're looking for one particular star.

Separated from the Mediterranean by a range of steep hills, the medieval town clings to its rocky outcrop with a tenacity unimpaired by time. Even on a Sunday morning, it's as alive and thriving as it was during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Causing the bustle are tourists by the bus and carload, eager to see a city that looks like an imaginative invention of the Brothers Grimm, and shop in the gift, apparel, art, handcraft, spice, scent and gourmet food boutiques that inhabit the ancient, dreaded stone houses.

Here, in this decidedly romantic setting, you'll find a decidedly romantic star. As you enter Saint-Paul-de Vence, simply pause before the packed dirt yard of the Cafe de la Place, and watch the local men playing boules, the regional version of bowls or bocce. The competition is cordial but keen, and none keener than a graying Yves Montand. Montand is a long time Saint- Paul resident, together with his late wife, actress Simone Signoret. Also attracted by the charm of the place, and its Sleeping Beauty setting, have been fellow film notables Curt Jurgens, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood, among many others. And in the 1920s, artists like Modigliani and Bonnard found the site inspirational, while Fernand Leger endowed the elegant patio-restaurant La Colombe d'Or with a mural in 1952. Marc Chagall made Saint-Paul his home until his death. Allow plenty of time to wander the up-and-down, cobbled streets of Saint Paul Stop to admire the urn shaped fountain that once provided the city's water and now provides a peerless photo opportunity. Also stop to catch your breath before ascending the stepped street just ahead, leading to a Gothic church at the crest of the crag.

Then head downhill on a lane edged on one side by stone and stucco houses with geranium filled window boxes, and by stalwart city walls on the other. Saint-Paul is one of many fairy tale towns that occupy the sudden hills of southern Provence like osprey nests atop telephone poles. But, as a rule, visitors to the

Riviera don't come to see fairy tale towns, they come to see the unparalleled blue of the Mediterranean, splashed with sunshine year round sandy beaches, (at Cannes, anyway, but pebble strands from Nice to Monte Carlo) hotels fit for a princes but welcoming guests with lesser genealogies, mansions fit for princes and welcoming no one of lesser rank, casinos where style is as important as gaming, umbrella-shaded tables laden with Mediterranean specialties, flavored with garlic, basil, fennel and, if fortune smiles, adorned with truffles, and, of course, celebrities. Cannes has it all, plus an old city that, like Saint-Paul-de Vence, climbs a hillside.

Sources:

Fodors Fodor's See It Provence and the Cote d'Azur, 1st Edition 2005

McPhee, Laura A Journey into Matisse's South of France (ArtPlace series) 2006