French Riviera - Climax and Conclusion

The Riviera Dream

(August 2022)

 

Villa Lemora. A fitting name for our new abode. Our beloved Goleta home on Via Lemora brought us immeasurable joy. And selling it enabled the purchase of our dream house on the French Riviera in the chic village of Mougins.

New Home in Mougins

We are still in shock at accomplishing the impossible: finding a house that suits us both after only 5 weeks on the French Riviera! 

How were we going to satisfy Ermila’s desire for close proximity to coastal city sophistication and Daryl’s requirement of a semi-rural setting where nature sights and sounds dominated? Obviously we both had to make compromises and meet each other part of the way. Back in June when we gave serious consideration to living in the Menton area during our first days on the Riviera we toyed with a two home scenario to enable us both to realize our dreams. How about a luxury apartment in Roquebrune Cap Martin beside the water, plus a character laden country house within an easy drive away so that we could divide our time evenly between the two homes? At first the idea energized us, then, as we continued our exploration, it felt increasingly daunting. 

 

During our time in Théoule Sur Mer in June (after 10 days in Menton) we drove and walked up and down the streets of Mougins/Valbonne/Mouans Sartoux area. (I explained in the previous blog post why we rejected the Théoule area.) We spoke to agents and visited properties. A villa in the countryside three miles outside of Valbonne checked all of Daryl’s boxes and many of mine. How could I not love the combination of rustic charm and immaculate stylish interior? Gorgeously landscaped with a resort like pool area we could both picture ourselves blissfully engaged in our favorite activities. The neighborhood of elegant villas set in park like gardens pointed to a wealthy enclave. We could put up with that. Since the trio of neighboring villages – Mougins, Valbonne and Mouans Sartoux – were a short drive from the house, I was satisfied with access to trains and buses. Cannes would be the closest urban center to us, which was perfectly acceptable. 

Cannes - Sophisticated, but delightfully small

We left for a month long visit to the UK soon after viewing the villa (which we referred to as House 3 since it was 3rd house shown to us by an agent in the Mougins area), and this saved us from an impulsive decision. The house had been on the market for over a year so we didn’t feel any pressure to make an immediate decision.

 

In July, traveling around the UK, we were sufficiently distracted by family and friends. It helped clear our minds and reflect on what we’d learned up to that point. But "House 3" lingered in our thoughts. We were sure it was right for us. We wondered if such a perfect place was an opportunity not to be missed, or, if we stuck to our goal of waiting until next summer to buy, would similar options be available? We studied the photographs on the website where the villa we referred to as "House 3" was advertised. We read the enthusiastic reviews left by people who had stayed there on vacation. The Swedish owners only stayed in it for short periods. The rest of the time it was used as a vacation rental.

Main building of "House 3"

Through online research we learned that "House 3" had actually been on the market for close to two years, not just one year as we had been led to believe by the agent. Daryl was concerned about that. Why was it so hard to sell such a stunning place? The agent’s explanation was that it wasn’t a traditional house - 4 bedrooms spread out in 3 separate buildings – and therefore, not suitable for young families. For us the set up would be perfect. Visitors could stay as long as they wanted and would have sufficient privacy. Our concern was that if we bought the villa and then had to sell due to some unforeseen circumstance we may be faced with the same challenge as the current owners.

When we returned to the Côte d’Azur at the end of July we spent a night in St. Paul de Vence at a bed and breakfast a mile outside the old village. The alluring medieval center (packed with tourists), attractive landscape, and sophisticated shopping and dining places appealed to us immensely. From the poolside of our B&B we soaked up panoramic valley views. Could we live here?

View of St. Paul de Vence village from poolside of Bed and Breakfast

But the landscape was open, not wooded like the Mougins area. For me, the dealbreaker was the absence of public transportation. “You can take ‘Uber’ to the airport,” the owner cheerfully suggested when I expressed this concern.

 

We had planned out and booked all our accommodation in the spring before selling our house in California. In choosing 8 different locations in which to base ourselves we hoped to familiarize ourselves with the entire French Riviera before pinpointing where exactly we’d want to settle down. We hadn’t expected to rule out the Théoule area early in our search and unfortunately had booked an additional week five miles to the west, in the beach community of Le Trayas – Miramar to be precise.

 

Our vacation apartment was in a huge beachside condominium complex spread across multiple terraced levels. 

Spent a week in this apartment complex in Le Trayas

The beaches, port and restaurants were a short, but steep hop down from our apartment. The area’s geography was similar to Théoule Sur Mer. Upmarket villas on sloped terrain provided residents with panoramic sea views. Who could blame us for adding it to our list of places to check out?

It was the peak of summer. Blistering hot days and hordes of tourists. Late in the day the sun disappeared behind the mountains and the beach closest to us was in shade. That was when we slipped into bathing suits, hopped down to the soft sand and cooled off in the delicious water. So calm and warm. The views from the water of deep orange rugged cliff face simply mesmerizing. What a perfect place for a beach vacation. What an imperfect location for our dream house!

Beach near Miramar

Le Trayas wasn’t even a real town. No bakeries, no grocery stores. It did have decent restaurants specializing in seafood, and good bus connections to neighboring cities, east and west. We mostly dined on our apartment terrace from where we had magnificent views of the Mediterranean Sea. 

Once, on the recommendation of a friend, we skipped up the coast road to a bustling restaurant away from the beach but with a welcoming patio full of lovely plants.

Superb pizza at Le Patio, Miramar

If we weren’t so anxious about researching houses this would have been the week to switch into vacation mode.

 

Almost every day that first week of August we made the half hour drive into the Mougins/Valbonne/Mouans Sartoux area because it was becoming quite obvious that this was where we most likely would find a suitable house. Daryl had come across a Mougins property for sale that intrigued him. We nicknamed it House 4. He sleuthed out the street on which it was located. We drove there one morning and checked out the neighborhood. From the street there were access points into the Valmasque Park, an enormous protected forested green space stretching from Mougins to Valbonne. Also, there was a bus stop on the street with connections to the neighboring town of Le Cannet as well as into the village center of Mougins. Reasons for seriously considering this house mounted. Daryl became increasingly convinced that this was it. One sweltering morning he drove out to the neighborhood, parked and hiked through the forest to a classy bakery where he enjoyed a delicious lunch. More data points to boost his enthusiasm. The house was listed at half the price of "House3" so we were aware that it would need a lot of fixing up. Not a deal breaker. In fact, Daryl welcomed this opportunity to tailor a place to suit us. I absolutely understand the benefits of a fixer upper. But I wasn't excited about the accompanying headaches, especially in France where we don't even speak the language!

 

Daryl contacted the owner who lived in the UK. House 4, we learned, was mainly a vacation rental. The owner was also quite clear that it was in desperate need of updating. I immediately ruled it out mentally, but, because of Daryl’s enthusiasm, agreed to take a look at it. "You can change everything about a house but its location!" Daryl reminded me.

 

We were granted only a ten minute slot of time to view the place so as not to disturb the family staying there that week. Though my expectations were low I was surprised at the complete absence of charm. Even the garden, despite the many trees, was far from attractive. The pool was way too big and too deep. This property was never a home. It was a place to generate income and it showed. Daryl was deeply disappointed. Then again, there was no need to rush our timeline. This exercise helped us refine our search criteria.

 

Valbonne, at this point, became our favorite of the trio of villages. Unlike the glitz of Mougins, Valbonne's medieval center has a more authentic charm. Also, it's off the tourist radar. More importantly, the landscape around Valbonne is greener and more wooded than Mougins. Public transportation connections to nearby urban centers are excellent. It also became apparent we'd get better value for money compared to Mougins. Mouans Sartoux had a train station in addition to a vibrant center, and was a serious contender too.

 

Our goal for this summer was to figure out where exactly we wanted to live on the Riviera. We accomplished that goal in five weeks. We were booked to spend Week 6 in Mougins. We decided to use our time to view properties in our price range in preparation of the next step. Unless we came upon our dream home, we resolved to start serious house hunting next summer. We would need to find a trustworthy agent and that was going to involve intensive research before next summer.

 

After resigning himself to giving up on House 4, Daryl came across on one of the websites he habitually visited, a house in Valbonne that fit our criteria. He contacted the listing agent (Maria) to request a viewing. The agent replied that the house was no longer available but invited Daryl to send her a description of what we were looking for. In his reply we widened our criteria to include the neighboring villages of Biot and Vallauris. We’d visited the medieval centers of both towns and liked what we saw. About two hours after Daryl's response Maria sent us about a dozen properties. We were amazed at her ability to distill out suitable places for us.

 

We selected 6 from Maria's list and requested to view them. Our Mougins week, in contrast to the week in La Trayas, was structured around scheduled viewings. First we looked at a modestly priced house in the village of Vallauris that we arranged through some other agent. Driving to the house convinced us that Vallauris wouldn’t work for us. Busy (practically a suburb of Antibes), steep  roads, not enough green. The house itself was filthy and neglected, but redeemable with effort, time and money. We gained useful information.

 

The next day we met Maria for the first time in person. It was Tuesday, August 9. Our first viewing with her was of a villa in Valbonne. In France, the actual address of a property for sale is never publicized. When a viewing is scheduled the agent arranges to meet you at a nearby place and then you follow him/her to the property. Another odd thing is that there is no Zillow equivalent or a common database of all properties for sale. A seller lists their property with specific agents. And these agents control who to release the listing to. They may advertise a listing on their website or they may not. There are a few websites that aggregate listings from several agencies, but again, these would represent only a subset of inventories. This makes the business of tracking down the most suitable property quite a challenge.

 

The house in Valbonne that Maria showed us had plenty of Provençal appeal, very elegant, with high end finishes and was obviously well cared for. The owners, an older woman and a middle aged woman (mother and daughter perhaps) were at home and eager to answer our questions. The pool and garden were beautiful too. An attractive screen of mature oak trees bordered the road. Two other huge pluses were that the Valmasque Forest could be accessed within minutes on foot and the town center was a 15 minute walk away. But there were 2 unresolvable issues. The house was on a busy road – one of the main arteries leading to the center – and it was set back from the road leaving a very narrow back garden section.

 

The second house that Maria showed us was in Biot. The exposed setting didn’t work for us. Also, the stylish contemporary interior didn’t match our taste. But both houses came close to what we were looking for. We felt encouraged and incredibly lucky to have found such a diligent agent. It didn’t take long to establish warm rapport with her and be assured that we could trust her. We’d heard horror stories about real estate agents on the Riviera. The general advice is, “Trust no one.” Maria was bilingual too – she grew up in the UK and spent 30 years in the South of France. We described more explicitly what we were looking for and that we were specifically interested in Valbonne. We made it clear that we were in no hurry. We had more than a year to wait for the right house to appear. Having landed on an agent we could trust, we had no doubt our momentous goal for next summer would be completely achievable.

 

It was our wedding anniversary. We drove out to Mouans Sartoux for a dinner celebration. The evening was perfect and the village center full of summer atmosphere. Locals were playing boules, outdoor bars were full, children giggled and ran around on the central square, a line was forming in front of the old fort for an outdoor concert and diners were filling up the nice assortment of restaurants scattered around the center. 

 

Sculpture in garden of Chateaux in Mouans Sartoux

We chose Lebanese, a switch from pasta and pizza. Over exquisite hot and cold mezzes in a satisfying setting we debated House 4. Daryl, for some reason, revisited the idea of taking on fixing up this terribly neglected property. I countered with returning to the two home scenario. For the same price as House 4 I could get a luxury apartment in Roquebrune Cap Martin, with sea views and a location near a train station. We weighed the pros and cons of this idea. It created tension. We reminded each other of our timeline to buy.

 

But planning to buy next summer brought up anxiety. Would the perfect house be waiting for us during that 3 month period? If not, would we be fine to shrug off our bad luck and decide to wait until after retirement? I believed I could handle a limbo period, but could Daryl? Ever since we made the decision to move to France he had been spending inordinate amounts of time studying real estate websites. It interfered with his math research. Not having a home of our own makes us uncomfortable, unanchored, unsettled. We didn’t expect to feel this way.

 

Maria, the agent we were so incredibly lucky to find, scheduled two more viewings for the next day, Wednesday, August 10. These properties were in Mougins, which at this stage we were getting to know pretty well. Though it’s a “village”, the residential areas which surround the glitzy medieval center are pretty built up with a suburban vibe. An affordable house in the type of setting we desired would be tricky to find in Mougins. We didn’t expect to actually like either of the places, but we would surely gather more valuable information. And Maria would learn more about what we liked and what turned us off.

 

Boy, were we wrong! Within minutes of laying eyes on the first  (and only) house we viewed that Wednesday morning we were swept off our feet. The photos in the listing just didn’t capture the magic of the garden and house. My heart was racing as we took in the garden full of trees and shrubs. Daryl caught my eyes and mumbled his amazement. The impressively designed interior - open plan with big windows and lots of light – took my breath away. I loved that the house was roughly the same size as our Goleta home. Except that there was an enormous basement (windowless - great for laundry and storage) and a separate studio designated as a guest room. The garden was twice as large as our Goleta one, much of it wooded.

 

Maria could tell that we were seduced and offered to cancel the viewing we’d scheduled for that afternoon. Back in our Mougins vacation rental Daryl and I talked and talked and talked. Daryl's body language and actual language made it clear that his feelings about the house mirrored mine. The house was perfect for us. It was surrounded by forest. From everywhere in the garden and from all rooms in the house the views were of trees and green. Yet it was within walking distance of the commercial center and the medieval center. We could walk to Michelin starred restaurants. We could walk to a world class art museum. A grocery store, bakeries and cafes were an easy walk away. The bus stop for a bus to Cannes and Mouans Sartoux was a short walk away. Surely this was a unique opportunity?

 

Amusing Sculpture in a square in Mougins village

I couldn't sleep that night. I knew this was it! All night I imagined us living in various parts of the Riviera and what it would be like. Menton, Roquebrune Cap-Martin, Antibes. Though we loved much about those towns they were far too built up to satisfy our requirements. 

 

In the morning we sent Maria the message I'm sure she expected from us. We met with her to sign a written offer. Later that day, Thursday August 11, (remarkably, only two days after meeting Maria in person), she called us to say that the owner had accepted our offer!

 

We had two more weeks on the Riviera. Week 7 in Nice, up on Mont Boron, we were finally able to feel like we were on vacation. We actually did tourist stuff like scenic hikes on the coast path in Villefranche and St. Jeanne Cap Ferrat. A hike from our apartment to the tip of Mont Boron was also gratifying. 

Panoramic view of Nice from Mont Boron

We wandered the pedestrianized lanes of old town Nice, shopped at the Cours Saleya market, sipped rosé at atmospheric bars, dined at an Indian and a Lebanese restaurant and generally became a whole lot more familiar with the biggest city closest to what would soon be our new home. We walked a lot, mostly downhill from our apartment. On the return we avoided the tedious uphill climb by taking the tram or bus back.

 

Evenings spent at home were special too. Over home prepared meals on a spacious, tastefully furnished terrace, we were dazzled by a splendid panorama of Nice tucked between a shapely mountain range and the entrancing Mediterranean Sea. We caught several glorious mountain sunsets and watched the changing hues of sky and city until darkness fell and the city lights twinkled. The evening temperature, perpetually perfect, and it was always with great reluctance that I tore myself from the terrace to turn in.

 

Sunset view from our Nice terrace

During the heat of the day we kept cool in our air-conditioned apartment and used the time to study the complicated process of buying a house in France. First, a written offer is submitted to the seller. Next, the seller replies with a written acceptance. The next step involves a notaire. Maria, our agent, had set up a time for us to meet up with the notaire that she worked with. We would be signing a document called the Compromis de vente. To prepare for this we read up on the legal implications. The question of whether to include a tontine or not came up. We don’t have kids. If one of us dies will the other automatically inherit? We read up as much as we could so that when we sign papers on August 25 we’d be somewhat educated.

Our final Riviera destination was Antibes. There, we were joined by Glynis and Troy, and embraced tourist mode.  In the mornings we wandered into different parts of the city, absorbing the beauty and midsummer atmosphere. 

Antibes waterfront path

In the afternoons we hid from the fierce sun in the apartment. In the late afternoon we hoofed it to the beach and swam in the blissfully calm, warm sea. At the end of the day we  prepared superb summer meals, using acquisitions from the daily Provençal market. We dined out on the terrace, sipping chilled rosé, the air temperature finally enjoyable once the sun dropped closer to the horizon. 

Breakfast of crêpe filled with fresh blueberries and cream on apartment terrace in Antibes

It would all have been perfect had it not been for the mosquitoes. Troy and Glynis attracted them in a crazy way, while Daryl and I were pretty unaffected. 

Overall though, our Antibes week felt like a tidy ending to a unique summer with a reasonable amount of tension. The climax, landing on our dream house in Mougins, was unexpected and incredible. Nice provided a welcome setting for the dénouement. It was there that the shock of the huge commitment we had just made sunk in on our daily long walks from our Mont Boron apartment. Our courage astonished us. We wrestled with misgivings. Were we crazy to give up our California home?

 

This was our home for 22 years

So many things that we would undoubtedly long for on Via Lemora. The views from every window. The mountains. The garden and how it changed through the seasons. The comforts. The neighborhood.

But Villa Lemora already began to occupy our minds. No doubt our new home will bring us much joy during our years in the South of France.