Travels In France, Part Five: Hill Towns Near Grasse: Gourdon & St. Paul de Vence

View of Gourdon from road

The area around Grasse and close to the French Riviera is so rich with destinations for perfume lovers. While you may not find designer name brand perfumes, what you will come across is beautiful scenery, great wines, fabulous food, and in many cases independent perfumers who operate on a small scale. Warning, this is more travelogue than perfume reviews but I couldn't wind up my travels to the south of France without mentioning some of these villages. My next reviews will all take place in Paris.

I didn't come across the tiny hilltop town of Gourdon in any of my research, but a friend with whom I was staying and knew of my love for perfume recommended visiting. It is a village that exists solely for tourism purposes now, with no more than four streets and a few small restaurants, but some artisan perfumeries have made this their home and I visited four enterprises, most selling their own blends and one offering perfumes from several houses that I hadn't come across elsewhere.

To reach Gourdon you travel on the Gorges du Loop, a beautifully scenic but sometimes hair-raising road that encircles a gorge with a river and waterfalls. It is a spectacular nature area but is also dotted with quaint villages worth a visit.

One of the perfume shops in Gourdon.

Shop interior. I purchased one of the tubular bottles on the top shelf right, a light and pretty Muguet Water.

Another perfumery selling lavender and their own perfume blends.

Shop interior.

A colorful pottery shop on the left.

Another perfume shop.

Another town just outside the loup which is more well known is St. Paul de Vence. It is also a hilltop town and due to its strategic positioning was a stronghold of the Provencial region in the Middle Ages and forward through the ages. In the early 1900's artists found their way to the scenic village and it drew luminaries such as Paul Signac and Marc Chagall. Today the village is one of the most visited in the south of France but it manages to maintain its unique character and a melting pot for artists. Even the cobbled pathways which you walk on are little works of art.

One of many beautiful doorways in St. Paul de Vence.

A courtyard of shops.

An art gallery.

 

St. Paul de Vence is full of beautiful pathways.

All the shops are so inviting.

This shop sold soaps and bath salts infused with flower petals.

The entrance and exit to St. Paul de Vence.

This is not a hill town but was only about thirty minutes away, on the coast near Nice, the Villa and Jardins Ephrussi de Rothchild, a pink palatial home on a beautiful peninsula on the Cote d'Azur. It is well worth a visit and the gardens are stunning.

 View from the Villa Ephrussi, looking towards Nice.

The fountains at Villa Ephrussi.

Another town mentioned by perfumistas is Eze, which is along the scenic Corniche drive from Nice to Monaco. Unfortunately I didn't make it there but it looks beautiful and offers shopping for perfume lovers.

If you enjoyed reading about Travels In France, please start at the first in the series, Travels In France, Part One: Everything is Lavender, found here.

All photos are my own.