Thursday, November 30, 2006

Doors in Eze

A smiling faun's head set above the door of a shop selling tapestry largely based on the famous tapestries of La dame à la Licorne [The Lady and the Unicorn] that are now in the Musee de Cluny in Paris. A little one can be seen below the lamp on the left hand side.

The old lamps had a lovely patina of rust and I liked their interesting shape.
Door and stairs to the upper part of a house and a small door to the basement. The street was very narrow here so its quite shaded.

A carved heraldic dragon - i couldn't find any details on the heraldry online. I will ask at the tourist information next time i visit.
A dragon shaped hoop for tying up a donkey - donkeys were used as pack animals in this and other mediaeval villages till relatively recently, so its common to see places to tether the animals set in the walls.
An intricately carved door with geometric motifs. The lock looked interesting too.

Some guardian angels - I would have liked a closer look at the detail on this door furniture but having lived in two mediaeval houses in Antibes, I would never invade somone else's space and climb their stairs just from curiosity.

We used to have people wandering into our house and peering through the windows as many tourists think that ancient houses are actually museum pieces or re-enactment quarters and not houses where people live ordinary lives.
I couldn't think of any reason why letters were chalked on this door - but i thought it was interesting enought to photograph. Children in France learn to write like this from their earliest school days, so its possible that a child was practising their letters.

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4 comments:

natural attrill said...

There are always so many interesting things to see when I visit here, thanks Alison!
Penny.

Unknown said...

WOW!! THese are lovely!! WOuld love to visit places like these someday! :)

John said...

Really interesting pictures! I enjoyed your blog.

Anonymous said...

I have a pewter plate with a raised design very similar to the dragon on the door, which I got at an antique show. It is a salamander.

Enjoy your photos and tales of interesting places as always