#cote d’azur

[sumire-no-nikki]

Picked sea glass and interesting rocks for friends off the shores of Côte d’Azur. Swam every morning and afternoon but still could not get enough of it. Forever yearning for the water.

[mrs-trophy-wife]

[pastelpaillette]

[vintage-tigre]

[cpahlow]

[muttball]

Villefranche-sur-Mer

[frank-o-meter]

[adventurebeforedementia]

Beautiful Côte d’Azur

We’ve been walking in the footsteps of the world’s top celebrities on the Côte d’Azur. Our trip along the French Riviera has taken us to Cannes - famous for its international film festival - and Antibes and St Tropez - home of 60’s film star, Bridgette Bardot among many other A list celebrities.

At each of these towns, the harbours are jam packed with the most luxurious yachts, travelling from London, New York and across Europe to visit. Luxury villas can be rented here with staring prices of 27,000 Euros a week, rising to eye-watering sums for the most unique.

But that’s OK. We don’t need a luxury pad. We’re quite at home in Big Boy and we were just happy to find out more about what makes these towns so special.

Cannes’ connection with the stars can be seen everywhere, not least in the street art which can be found across the town. Huge murals of Marilyn Monroe, French actors and comedians and a detailed painting which included Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Laurel and Hardy, Batman and Robin and the Star Wars’ robots among others are painted on the buildings.

We loved Cannes’ old town and harbour front. During our stay, we celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary, eating fabulously fresh seafood at one of the quay restaurants in one of our most favourite parts of Europe.

A quick train ride took us to Antibes, a really charming place with its old town enclosed with ramparts. The Nomad of Antibes - an unusual sculpture designed by a Spanish artist of a man looking out to sea - sits on part of the ramparts adjoining the port. The statue was created as part of a temporary exhibition but is now owned by the city and the Picasso Museum, so now it belongs to Antibes.

At both Cannes and Antibes, the daily fruit and flower markets are really special. Here you can buy a huge variety of fruit and vegetables, spices, olives, fish, meat and the most beautiful bouquets. We love a good market and bought plenty of fresh fruit.

After saying goodbye to Cannes, we headed along the coast road to the Gulf of St Tropez and dropped into the town for a quick visit.

St Tropez started life as a fishing village and it still has a fish market decorated with elaborate tiles marking its past. It also has a long connection with artists and, even though we had lost the sun and it was threatening rain, they were still out in force on the quayside.

But St Tropez as you can imagine, is extremely expensive. You’ll pay 10 Euros for a tea or coffee just to be sitting at the quayside. Our budget doesn’t stretch to such luxury, so we headed off on the next part of our trip.

Now we are staying just outside Montpelier and looking forward to exploring the city. The clouds have moved in and there’s not much sun, but it’s still warm and better than the U.K. weather. So we’re not complaining.

[dutchjan]

May 13, 2023

[cpluzc]

Les Recontres d’Arles

. the annual world-class photo exhibition in the Cote d’Azur this is on my to do list for September Les Recontres d’Arles

[benita-loca]

Rooftop Garden, Cote d’Azur, France

[celineexbrayatmakeup]

Rooftop Garden, Cote d’Azur, France

[makabrotka]

Rooftop Garden, Cote d’Azur, France

[fotocanteen]

[encyclopediavirginia]

Rooftop Garden, Cote d’Azur, France

[n2cool]

Mucem, Marseille 🇫🇷