6/05/2013

Beautiful Saint-Paul de Vence | Its Sweeping Views

Saint-Paul de Vence and its surroundings gently roll down to the sea
We spilled out of our tour bus at the village entrance, and instead of follow the herd like a good sheep, I turned around and walked away from the village. Where is she going? they probably thought. Don't get me wrong; I couldn't wait to explore this medieval village known as Saint-Paul de Vence, but first, I wanted a picture of the whole enchilada. 



The bus ride to this picturesque destination produced some stunning views and I was determined to capture a few. I would soon see that it was a good decision and well worth the walk down the steep hill.




Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.




With cloud cover softening the look, a photo in sepia looks pretty cool

12/13/2012

Beautiful Saint-Paul de Vence | Medieval French Doors

A door is simply a revolving barrier to the entrance of a building, room, cupboard, or a car. And many of us have the most basic of doors. I mean, how much thought do you put into your door. You just need it to do its job, right? Yeah, we might slap some nice paint on it, give it a shiny door knob, or decorate it at Christmas, but that's about it. I guess we'd rather spend our money elsewhere in the house.

We're not very nice to doors, if you think about it. We kick them, bang our knuckles on them, sometimes slam them, and jam our keys in them. I couldn't imagine doing that to any of these doors that I saw in this village. I mean, some of them looked so thick that all the banging and kicking in the world would do nothing other than injure your toes!

No, these old, and I mean old-looking medieval doors were impressive to the eye. And some quite beautiful, actually. So well-built, so massive, so intimidating, and handsome in appearance, that they ought to be considered a piece of furniture rather than just a door. Whether they had huge bolts, extra large hinges, thick, heavy wood, or attached chunks of iron, they all look pretty striking in appearance. They're probably soundproof, too! I think that to say these French doors are solid is an understatement. Like a rock.

Exploring this charming village called Saint-Paul de Vence was more to me than just taking general photographs of all the typical things like the cafés, streets and alleyways. Once you start to notice the details, taking pictures becomes way more interesting. My treasure hunt through Saint-Paul de Vence for awesome medieval doors was a blast.

Doors immediately caught my eye as I wandered the village, and I began snapping away. A man and a woman strolled past me and I heard them say, "What is she taking a picture of?" They stopped. "Oh, the door...wow...it's REALLY nice."
You can say that again.

Alors, on y va! Let me share with you my photos of some truly awesome French doors in the medieval village called Saint-Paul de Vence. 




~ Megs and Paul, lovers of doors! This post is for you ~




A fairly simple door, but the door knob smack in the middle is what caught my eye. Dark, rich color, looks quite solid.

If the doors are this cool-looking, I can't help but wonder what the rest of the townhouse looks like. Doesn't anyone want to invite a friendly American in for un café? No?

French cars are petite. This is probably a garage. So much character! No remote for this puppy, though.

The word medieval means primitive; it means not modern, old-fashioned. The complete opposite of the contemporary, state-of-the-art interior design that we see everywhere today. Old-fashioned seems strong, warm and comfortable to me. Maybe I'm a little old-fashioned.




I imagine that on the other side of the stately door is an equally stately, plump cat, and a loyal dog, curled up next to a grandiose fireplace. I also imagine that this door weighs far more than what I'm used to back in the states. Try to quickly swing closed one of these heavy, medieval doors and you're likely to rattle the windows...and disturb the sleeping cat.



Previously a dungeon?

OK, so there's no picture of a door here...it's in on the right, hiding. I didn't want to get that close to it! But the entrance way was just too charming not to capture. I imagine it with Christmas lights, flowers, a lazy, fat cat.

A more normal looking door, but I love their door knocker, and little ledge for the plants. So charming!

Happy travels, everyone!!