Teri Hatcher is reminiscing about her European getaway that was years in the making — and how she ran into some Desperate Housewives fans along the way!

On Tuesday, Nov. 19, the How to Fall in Love by Christmas star, 59, opened up about her travels this past summer while speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the It’s a Wonderful Lifetime Holiday Movie Event in Los Angeles.

“Most recently this summer, I was in Europe and traveling,” Hatcher tells PEOPLE. “And I was spending a lot of time in Corsica, which is a French island. It’s beautiful, by the way.”

She then gets into the Desperate Housewives connection, and how the beloved series “has a lot of French fans because they continue to play that show there.”

Thatcher notes how the ABC series, which ended in 2012 after eight seasons, has “crested generations,” leading fans to recognize her on the island “believe it or not, even though I’m almost, you know, 80,” she jokes.

The Coraline alum was even more surprised when fans “recognized my voice” while walking through the streets of Corsica.

Recalling the memory, she says, “Sometimes people look because of my voice and then they go, ‘Oh my God.’ It was really cute. Especially the young people because you would think, like, ‘Who cares?’ You know, but they cared.”

Hatcher previously detailed how her Europe tour was her “first true vacation in years” and how it “filled me with glow” in the caption of a June Instagram post alongside a carousel of photos taken during her trip.

At the It’s a Wonderful Lifetime Holiday Movie Event, Hatcher told PEOPLE that the getaway really helped her slow down and appreciate life.

“It really just made me aware that, ‘oh, I’m stopping. I’m being quiet and slow, and really just enjoying nature.’ And that is an important way, for me at least, to refuel my creativity, my just sense of gratitude of getting to be on this planet.”

She continued, “Those are important times that we all, whatever it is you do, you should make those moments happen for yourself.”