Each visit here we are amazed to discover more little, mostly forgotten, paths through the villages and local hills. The shortest so far was a tiny stone circular staircase that promised more than it delivered, but was still charming and memorable in its own special way. When most of these villages were built, starting well before the Americas were settled, walking was pretty much the only way to get from place to place. Many of the unmarked ways simply allowed locals to short-cut their way from one road to another farther up the hillside. When we find one, it often looks like it was built by the Romans and largely unused for the past hundred years. It is true that we occasionally come across a man and his dog climbing slowly uphill, but even that is rare.
This winter we discovered the Escalier de Mort (our name – it means staircase of death). It rises more than six hundred stone and concrete steps straight up the hillside between the lower and middle roads that lead to Monaco. One trip up and you will know if you need to schedule a visit with your doctor. I have a friend here who says he can do it without stopping, but he is a wiry ex-Navy pilot. Me, I stop two or three times to take in the view and also to let my burning thighs take a break. The elevation gain is sudden and the view stupendous. At the top is the middle road to Monaco. The famous perched village of Eze is only four easy miles away. You can see the entire Côte d’Azur from here.
The other day we were exploring again on the mountainside above Beaulieu sur Mer when we happened upon a real delight. We always notice and follow the little yellow paint marks on the walls and trees since they mark a public trail. In seconds we had plunged into a narrow canyon overhung with big trees and discovered a narrow set of stone steps next to a creek bed. For the next five hundred meters we were in another world, almost medieval in feel. I half-expected a Lord of the Rings character to pop out of the trees, sword in hand.
There are many paths to somewhere. In daily life they are in unexpected places and tend to be more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Enjoy the ones you discover this week. Remember where they take you, even if the walk is short.
