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Plate II · iii · d · The Hill Village

Saint-Paul-de-Vence

One entry, ten minutes above a village that has been photographed to death, and it is entirely worth the ramparts.

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A fortified hill village in Provence at dusk, terraced slopes, umbrella pines and tiled roofs
Plate II · iii · d · The Alpes-Maritimes

The village is a postcard and knows it. The thing worth coming for is uphill, behind the pines, and says nothing at the gate.

A day, properly arranged
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Avoid August entirely. I mean this more than I mean most things.

The entries

One entry, visited, in late September.
A sculpture courtyard among umbrella pines at dusk, white concrete roof scoops and abstract forms in silhouette
The court · among the pines

The building does not defer to the sculpture and the sculpture does not defer to the building. They argue, politely, in the shade, and you are welcome to take a side.

LATE SEPTEMBER
Notes for the village

Late September is the answer. The light has stopped shouting, the coast has emptied, and the pines still hold the heat out of the courtyards. In August the road up is a queue and the whole argument of the place is lost in it.

It is uphill from the village and further on foot than the map suggests, in the sort of shoes people bring to the Côte d'Azur. Walk it anyway; arriving through the trees is half of what the architect was doing.

Give the outdoor courts as long as the galleries. Most people do the rooms properly and the sculpture at a trot, which is exactly the wrong way round here.

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