The Solo Scale:

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If you’re spending time in the French Riviera, you may venture out and explore nearby sights. If that brings you to Eze, that leaves you with plenty of options. You can wander the old fortress streets (a 12th century fortress that’s now a hotel). Or, if you want something that appeals to your nose, you can also take the winding street down to the Fragonard Laboratory for a tour and to explore their shop.

If you like fragrances or want to know about the production of perfumes, this is a fantastic option. I absolutely loved the little diversion and even better, it’s free! You may end up waiting a little until your tour gets to go in. This is a fairly popular destination for tourists. Plus, the lack of a cost makes it an easy bet for companies to add to their itinerary. The reason it’s free is because they hope you’ll purchase something from the gift shop. Luckily, that’s not mandatory. That means this is a cheap excursion in Eze.

To begin, you head down a windy and steep cliff to the base where there’s a parking lot. The base and parking lot is where the tour groups drop you off and pick you up. After heading inside to the lobby, you get a sticker with a specific colour, which denotes what tour group you are. They go in the order of how groups arrived, and each group has different colours as a result. Each group is around a dozen people. You may be grouped with people you don’t know, but there’s no pressure to mingle.

Even with the large amount of people waiting, it only took fifteen minutes before the tour began. The tour portion itself is fairly short. It begins with a map of the various scents and where they come from as inspirations for the many products that Fragonard has to offer.

Then, you continue, learning about people who hold the “Nose” job and the various restrictions that come with it. That includes not smoking (which may seem obvious), but also not drinking and eating specific drinks and food. There aren’t too many employees on site. The ones that are there are mostly for show versus actual production. However, the tour is still a good way to understand the behind the scenes about producing perfume.

It might not surprise you the tour is only half of your time. The other half is spent in the gift shop. However, they don’t just let you loose. First, they guide you through several perfume spritz samples and share their more popular scents. Fragonard goes beyond perfumes and eau de toilettes, though. If you’re wondering what the difference is between the two, that’s something they also explain on the tour. I was happy to find both hand lotion and argan oil for hair. Both of these had orange blossom as a scent — one of my favourites. The factory also does offer a decent price for these products, making it an easy decision to buy. If you’re looking for something, this is a good place to get it given the high quality and fair value.

If you don’t want to buy anything, there’s really no pressure from any of the sales staff. They get enough business from these tours that you can simply enjoy a free tour and learn a little more about perfume production, if that’s all you want to do.

Once you’ve finished the tour and shopping, the rest of Eze awaits exploration. If this is a short stop on a larger tour, you can wait for your transportation. Otherwise, if you want to spend more time in the village, head up the winding hill and check out some of the other things Eze has to offer — namely, the weaving and narrow medieval streets that tower over the hilltop of the town. There’s also some great grocery options nearby if you need to stock up on snacks and water in addition to any of the perfumed products that you might have bought.

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