French Riviera (June)

We moved out of Villa Maye to base ourselves in the heart of old town Antibes. We planned to spend the week working on our projects. So it wasn't quite vacation week. I had fantasies of doing some serious writing during the day and in the evenings we'd go out and enjoy Antibe's vibrancy and beauty. When we saw our new place we immediately realized what a mistake it was to move out of Villa Maye. The new place was so tiny (appropriately named Le Petite Masion) and even though the owner had gone to great pains to decorate the place with interesting art and foreign acquisitions, it lacked the class and elegance we had enjoyed. The best feature was its location.

We were steps away from everything! The Antibes produce market, boulangeries, cafés, the ramparts, wine, everything we could want  - just around the corner from us. I loved going out to get my morning croissant - always still warm - every morning while Daryl made the coffee. We breakfasted out in the tiny upstairs terrace, grateful to be able to see blue sky above us.

Daryl was pretty disciplined about working on his research projects during the day. I, on the other hand, experimented with spending my days doing whatever the heck I felt like doing. During the school year my days are extremely structured and quite intense. There are always numerous unfinished tasks and many more that required planning. So having a week in which I could decide how to spend each moment was quite a luxury. Since we'd been to Antibes many times in the past, there weren't any urgent "tourist have-to-do's" either. I usually started each day at the market, marveling at the many cheeses, breathing in the aromas of the summer fruit, admiring the deep colors of the vegetables, sampling the many tapenades. I could never get enough of the place. I roamed the pedestrianized streets of the old town, stopped for gelato, considered purchasing provencal linen, and later in the day I'd rest up in our little apartment.

In the late afternoon Daryl and I would go to the beach and swim in the pleasantly cool water. I can never get over how sensational the experience is - not just the feel of the water, but also the beautiful views all around - the Alps in the distance, the curve of the coastline, the old stone fort, the masts of the yachts, the color of the calm Mediterranean.

After a swim, we'd shower, get dressed, and seek out a place to enjoy an aperitif. Old town Antibes buzzed with tourists and locals. Outdoor cafés were full of atmosphere. Sitting beside a fountain or in a big square full of other people enjoying aperitifs is one of the great joys of European cities.

Sipping a kir at the Royal Hotel Café right on the beach is my idea of sheer indulgence. Ambivalence tends to plague us during these occasions, though - glamor doesn't fit our self-images.

My friend, Venita, who lived in Nice for  a number of years and now lives in Paris, happened to be on the Cote d'Azur while I was there. We met up for lunch in Nice on a perfect summer Saturday. Over Chez Thereza'a socca at the Nice market on Cours Saleya, we had a good old chat about our lives in the last year. She was not her usual bubbly self, and confessed that she'd been out partying all night. After a full day of meetings in Monaco, she and her work colleagues had gone bar hopping all night. At each bar they shared a bottle of champagne and only returned to their hotel rooms at 5:00 A.M.! Talk about a life of glamor!!


Sauntering through the Old Town of Nice is most rewarding. It has a most distinctive character. I love its Belle Epoque architecture, its magnificent squares, its specialty cuisine, and of course, its huge outdoor market which draws crowds of people. I returned to Nice a few days later to immerse myself again in its quaintness. After meandering through the narrow, cobbled lanes of the center I braved the heat and walked up to the Colline du Chateau. From up at the top the views are sensational. The Baie de Anges sparkles in all its azure glory just like the tourist brochures declare. You can see the pebbly beach and the Promenade de Anglais stretching along the coast. As you follow the coastline you can see Cap d'Antibes protruding into the sea. Enormous hotels line the promenade, and the white dome of the Hotel Negresca juts out most prominently.

Cathedrale St. Reparaté

As you fight the crowds through the narrow streets of Nice you inevitably end up in front of this gorgeous baroque cathedral in a very busy square called Place Rosetti. I enjoyed a fine Nicoise meal beside a fountain in a quieter square to round off my Nice visit.

Tourists absolutely suffocate this town. I realized that this is because of the huge hotels along the Promenade de Anglais. Antibes and other neighboring Riviera towns don't have many hotels and can therefore maintain more of their charm. Driving in and out of Antibes, though, is no fun at all. The roads are jam-packed making it a real headache to get anywhere by car. The public transportation within the towns are fine, but intercity connections are infrequent and inefficient.

The sad truth is that the French Riviera is the vacation destination of just too many people. As a result it is overdeveloped, overcrowded, and the roads are always congested.

Sospel

We whiled away a few hours in this cute mountain hamlet called Sospel. Just an hour's drive from Nice along winding mountain roads, it feels utterly remote. With its mountain backdrop, interesting architecture spanning a few centuries, and the River Bévéra bisecting the town, Sospel is quite picturesque. After a stroll through the quiet streets, we had a leisurely lunch at a café beside the river.

We had studied the menus of all the restaurants along this stretch and were dismayed at the lack of vegetarian options. The place we settled for had homemade pasta with vegetables. Unfortunately the pasta was stodgy with no sauce to compensate. But we did enjoy the bread and wine. And the setting, of course.

On our last evening in Antibes we hiked around the cap one last time. The beauty, the temperature, the air, the smells, sounds, colors, light - I wished I could bottle it all up. Afterwards we found a spot beside the water to enjoy a picnic dinner. We have picnicked out here many times in the past, and it always feels just as magical as the first time. Across the turquoise water we could see Antibes town, and Nice in the distance. We munched the regional specialty - pissaladiére -and salad in contentment.

Two weeks was definitely the right amount of time to enjoy this area. We were ready to move on to the next destination.