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Vence

A villa on a hill overlooks pastures and gardens that were particularly green after the September rains. The horizon in smoky from the many small fires to burn leaves and other trash.

  The trip to Vence winds its way inland through the French countryside on a comfortably wide road (by European standards).  September is the rainy season (such as it is) so everything is green again after the dry summer.  This must also be the agreed upon time to burn leaves because the air has been smoky for weeks. 

Image of an atalier (artist's working gallery) that opens out of a wall made of white stone. Built into the wall next to the doorway is a Roman stone with a nearly unreadable inscription. The whole image is beige and brown except for the splash of color of the artist's painting on an easil outside the door.
   Old Vence is mostly dedicated to restaurants and ateliers (artist's working galleries).  Thankfully, the normal tourist trinket shops are largely absent.  This wall is part of the Cathedral which was built on the sight of a Roman temple to Mars.  The stone next to the door of this atelier is an inscription from Roman times in honor of "The daughter of Mucius" who was the wife of a "Decurion of Ventium".  Just a few obscure lives out of generations of people who have molded this spot.  Vence is so littered with history and art that the French at various times have felt the need to simply demolish parts of it.  The French revolution was particularly harsh because anything associated with the aristocracy, including art and even religious sculpture, was abused as an offense to the revolution.  And the Futurists thought they were radical.
a view from the old western entrance to Vence with a winding road and hills dotted with villas in the distance. A woman with a head scarf pushes a baby carriage up the road now paved with asphalt. An abstract sculpture (looks like a stack of concrete puzzle pieces painted blue on the flat side and white on the edges stands ten feet tall on a platform to one side of the road.
   The old Roman road to "Ventium" still winds it's way up the side of the hill to a gate that once had a drawbridge and a lookout tower.  Vence was once considered "the city of towers" but now only one remains.  This sculpture "Pourpol" was a gift from the Canadian sculptor, James Ritchie. 
A narrow road heads radially out from the center of town through first a tunnel under the building above, then through a narrow stairway. A butress between the buildings has pigeons resting on top. the countryside is visible at the of the long darkened canyon of this walkway.

  The roads in old Vence were strictly for walking or perhaps a small cart.  This one steps down radially from the center of town through a tunnel under the building above and through this narrow stairway to where the ramparts once were.
Large bronze sculpture, a cubist abstraction of a woman, stands on a pedestal. The entracne to the cathedral of Vence is in the background with the Virgin Mary in gold high on a nave above the door to the church.
   This abstraction "La Vencoise" (woman from Vence)  by  J. Ritchie stands in the central square near the "Cathedral of Vence".  On the day I visited, the upper gallery of the cathedral was open for an exhibition of "the Calvary Statues" which were painted wood sculptures of various scenes depicting the crucifixion of Christ.  Some of the sculptures had been damaged, vandalized or burned in the French revolution and later repaired so it was difficult to tell what was the original form.  Most were fairly naive carvings, all but one unsigned, that emoted a good deal of sincerity to their religious purpose. 
A small girl is using both hands to hammer a hot piece of metal as an adult holds it   This tiny road is heading south out of the main square, which is not large itself.  Vence has a series of placards in French and English that describe various interesting historical facts about Vence.  One of which was that the ateliers and restaurants that line the larger roads were once kitchens and stables for the houses that surround.  Water was obtained at the public fountain.  When everything is so heavy with history, literally thousands of years of accumulated effort, and layered with small adjustments to accommodate changing lifestyles from tribal to roman to medieval to modern, it is hard to grasp the full meaning of these roads in human terms.  Once they afforded protection from marauding tribes.  Now they are open for the enjoyment of tourists.  As I was passing, a maintenance crew was working on a sewer and the image (and olfaction) of these streets full of sewage tossed out of the windows above came to mind.  Many of the stones on the paths are worn smooth from the gentle shuffle of how many lives?
The ramparts remain and are visible around St Paul de Vence.
   The trip to and from Vence passes a couple of medieval towns.  This is the stunning view of St Paul de Vence on the way to Vence. 
Close up view of the granite wheels and stailess steel mechanism against a pile of ripe olives. This is the traditional machine used to crush the olives in the first stage of pressing.
   I returned a few days later with the family for a festival of country traditions.  This is sort of a "county fair" French style where local craftspeople show their wares and skills.  The French use the word "artisanal" to describe people who make handcrafted products with a good deal of care rather than selling manufactured items.  The result is the broad support for traditional methods as being superior because of the slight variation in product compared to what is considered "over refined" manufactured goods.  This olive press uses granite wheels to crush the fruit in the same way that it must have been done since the Greeks brought olives to this part of France 2500 years ago--minus the stainless steel structure and the electric motor instead of slaves. 
Bee hive inside plexiglass for display. Hundreds of bees are visible but one has a yellow dot on its back to help the beekeeper find her. In reflection of plexiglass is the faint image of my family. A bright spot on a table behind my wife apears yellow.
   The French are very fond of honey. It comes in a wide variety from different regions, flowers, textures and level of processing.  Lavender honey is a specialty of Provence.  The hive at right was on display between panes of plexiglass.  The queen bee is on the left (with the yellow spot on her back) tending to her brood as they collect honey.
Close up view of a copper still that has a lemon leaf tied to a small spout for the distilled spirits to drip out into a galvanized pail.
   Being from rural Virginia, I have a fascination for moonshine.  Here it is being made with a license.  A wood fire was used to heat some fifty gallons of liquid to just the right temperature for the alcohol to evaporate.  The "steam" was then condensed through a coiled tube immersed in cold water.  The output is shown dripping off a lemon leaf into a pail.  Later in the day, small samples were freely served to a happy crowd.  The still looked like it had been beaten out of copper by someone's great-great-grandfather.  It probably was.
Kids playing on an inviting street lined with tall town houses and an unusual amount of shrubbery.
   Here is one of the quiet back streets of old Vence.  The houses on the left were built against the ramparts of the city beginning in the 15th century.  Somewhere below them are signs of the Romans, the Ligurians and prehistoric tribes before that.

30 Septembre 2005

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