Hiking around Vence

We’ve been a bit lazy when it comes to hiking lately... Apart from the hikes we did in Corsica about a month ago, we’ve pretty much done none at all for over half a year. So this Sunday, we decided it was time to get out them dusty hiking boots and get walkin’....

The weather didn’t look all that promising, with a pretty cloudy sky, but we decided to go ahead anyway. We chose a walk near Vence this time, a pretty easy one which takes in the Baou des Noirs and the Baou des Blancs. Baou is a provençal word meaning "rocky spur". The walk started from a small parking on the road heading up the the Col de Vence. The walk up to the Baou des Blancs wasn’t exactly steep, but it was pretty good exercise nonetheless (with our lack of practice ‘n all…). Up on the Baou, we were greated to some nice views over Vence and its surroundings (well, would’ve been, without the haze and clouds…). We also inspected the ruins with interest… Apparently these baous were good places to fortify against invaders during the middle ages, so these places have occasionally been inhabited.

After contemplating the surroundings for a while, we carried across a limestome plateau towards the Baou des Noirs, located towards the East. This Baou is a little bit more impressive than the “white one”, offering very nice views towards Saint-Jeannet. From there, we could actually see all the other three Baous in the area (the Baou des Blancs, which we’d just been to, as well as Le Baou de Saint-Jeannet and Le Baou de La Gaude, which we’ve already hiked up on earlier occasions). The sky had cleared up a bit by now, which helped… After enjoying the view for a while, we retraced our way back to the parking (stopping to devour our picnic lunch).

Since it was still pretty early, we decided to make have a walk around Vence, since it’s on the way back home. I’d only been to the old town once, and on that particular visit, it was raining (which meant the place was pretty much dead). Today was a different story, the place was very busy indeed for a Sunday afternoon – no doubt due to the fact that today is French Mother’s Day. Old Vence is actually very nice, in some ways nicer than the nearby, and more famous St-Paul-de-Vence. Like St-Paul, it’s touristy for sure, but slightly less so. Vence is also a much bigger place, which also makes the old time feel more like a “real place” (there still seem to be a couple of bars where old geezers spend their time downing pastis – not just cutesy restaurants for tourists). After a rather disappointing coffee (since when have they served “cappuccino” with whipped cream on the Cote d’Azur – absolutely shocking!) and an icecream, we hit the road…

All in all, it brought an end to a very nice weekend indeed!