The South of France
The last week of August brought not only an exciting trip to the South of France but also our first chance to see family and familiar faces since moving to London! We met up with Rico’s parents for this adventure; we stayed with them in their home base of Nice for the first week and then they stayed an additional week after we flew back to the UK. After a long six months living away from home, what better way to cure the homesickness than with sun, sand, picturesque towns and family?
Nice
We arrived in Nice before Rico’s parents, so after an easy bus ride from the airport to the Old Town, we met up with our host and dropped our bags off. The apartment needed to be cleaned which gave us a good excuse to get out and explore a bit. We sat down at Mister Crepes for some Nutella crepes while anxiously looking around at any sign of Mom and Dad. Our anxiety did not help when, precisely at noon and completely unexpected by us, a ceremonial cannon was shot at nearby Castle Hill (the story around this tradition is a bit dubious, but have a look and decide for yourself). Finally we received a phone call from them and swiftly made our way to the meeting point. It was unreal to see family and to receive hugs that we had been craving for months!
For the next week we would spend most mornings and early afternoons out on the road visiting the many picturesque hill and seaside towns dotting the French Riviera (blog posts detailing those parts of our trip to follow), but each day we would come back to Nice to enjoy dinner and the charm of the Old Town. One of the best parts of staying in Nice was the long expanse of beach available to us just a five-minute walk from our apartment—we spent many an evening watching the sun set and taking a dip in the vividly azure waters. The beach is made up of a collection of large, fist-size stones which are very hot to the touch and extremely difficult to walk on.
Compounding these problems is the relatively steep slant from the edge of the beach into the water and the strong waves that shift them with every break. We had the whole beach laughing the first night when Rico and his Dad were struggling mightily to help Rico’s Mom get herself out of the water and back on solid ground! This, in part, led to our decision the next day to buy a collection of flotation devices like rafts and tubes. We surely didn’t need help maneuvering the ground the day we went parasailing! The views from above were incredible, but we’ll let the pictures do the talking.
The Old Town itself offers quite a bit to see and do which makes Nice that much more of a perfect home base. One eveing after sitting by the water for a while and with sunset approaching, we took the short walk to and up Castle Hill which offers panoramic views of the sea, beach and city. There are a handful of beautiful churches to pop into, which if not anything else at least offer a cool respite from the sun and heat: Eglise de l'Annonciation dite de Sainte-Rita (stunningly ornate), Cathedrale Sainte-Reparate (a bit more simple but still spectacular) and Eglise Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur (another jaw-dropper). Place Massena and its Fontaine du Soleil are worth a look, especially with the square’s funky black-and-white tiled stone work and surrounding postcard-perfect pastel-colored buildings. Place Garibaldi is another attractive square with impressive buildings and architecture, though don’t be fooled, as on closer inspection some of the architectural elements are painted on the plain walls of the buildings! Clever.
Nice’s food scene is excellent, with many varieties of restaurants peppered among the peeling, faded buildings of the Old Town. The city’s proximity to Italy means that, in addition to French haute cuisine (which we could do without) and Mediterranean-influenced Provencal fare, the food of Northern Italy is also widely available (and very good). Some of our favorite meals included Tagliatelle Bolgnese and four cheese gnocchi at La Griglia; Penne Alfredo and Caesar Salad at Le Hall; pizza at Rossopomodoro; gnocchi in a tomato and basil sauce at Taca d’Oli; and gnocchi with pesto at Le Demode. Also noteworthy is the gelato we got on many occasions at Fenocchio—over the course of the week we tried a variety of flavors from caramel, chocolate chip and coffee to lemon meringue, M&M and nougat—and they were all delicious! And here’s a tip: When the main location at Place Rossetti is packed, take the three-minute walk to their other location on rue de la Poissonnerie! Macarons from LAC are also a must. And if you see a vendor walking on the beach alone offering cheap watermelon, take it! Short of jumping into the Med (which was done plenty), there’s no better way to cool off on a hot summer day.
Though we really enjoyed our time in Nice, our trip would not have been complete without the day trips we took across the whole of the Riviera. Brace yourself for charming little villages and impossibly cute seaside towns!
Hill Towns
There are a wide array of hill towns peppered among the inland portion of the French Riviera. In most cases it’s possible to see two per day as half-day trips which is what we ended up doing from our home base in Nice (you read more about our time in Nice here).
Peillon (30-minute drive from Nice) is a sleepy town perched on the peak of a rocky hill. There’s not much to do but wander its few cobbled lanes and enjoy the views from the main square at the top (and its beautiful, unassuming church). Further inland, Lucéram (35-minute drive from Nice, 30-minute drive from Peillon) has a bit more life to it—we even spotted a couple of children running through the streets playing war (a game we suspect is played by children of all backgrounds around the world)!
If you want incredible views of the French countryside, Gourdon (50-minute drive from Nice) will give them to you. The town is very small, but take your time walking through it in order to appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of the stonework against the backdrop of deep blue skies and rolling hills. Grab some lemonade at La Taverne Provençale while you’re at it! Tourrettes-sur-Loop (40-minute drive from Nice, 30-minute drive from Gourdon) quickly found its way in our hearts with its multitude of flowers and plants and a playful kitty we dubbed Isabella. The village is renowned for its crafts and you won’t have to look hard for vendors selling little trinkets or works of art—keep your eyes out if you’re looking for a souvenir!
If you want incredible views of the Mediterranean from high above, Èze (25-minute drive from Nice) will give them to you. The town is not only beautiful in setting and construction but also very historical, having been inhabited for the last 4,000 years. The best way to appreciate its beauty and the views is to pay the small entrance fee (6€) to Le Jardin Exotique, set amongst ruins of an old chateau and home to a variety of cacti and other funky plants. Also worth a visit is Èze’s church and its quiet, relaxing cobblestoned square. La Turbie (25-minute drive from Nice, 10-minute drive from Èze) is a town most noteworthy for the Trophee d’Auguste—a monument built by the Romans 2,000 years ago to celebrate emperor Augustus’ victory over the area’s native tribes. We were surprised to learn that we could climb to the the top of the monument and even more surprised by the views at the top. From this vantage point you can see three countries in one panoramic view: France, Monaco and Italy. We headed to Fort de la Revère (35-minute drive from Nice, 20-minute drive from La Turbie) in search of even better views and we were handsomely rewarded!
Saint Paul de Vence (30-minute drive from Nice) quickly became another favorite of ours as it struck an ideal balance between charm and bustle. We enjoyed walking through the streets (L’Eglise Collégiale is a must) and also around the edge of the town (as it is with most of these hill towns, the views are breathtaking). Sitting above the seaside resort town of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Haut de Cagnes (25-minute drive from Nice, 10-minute drive from Saint Paul de Vence) is an attractive, small village with a cute church (Traverse de l'Eglise) that, in our opinion, paled in comparison to some of our favorites (or maybe by then we had seen a few too many hill towns!). That said, we had one of our best lunches of the trip here at Le Village (chicken wok and linguine with ham) which made the visit worthwhile.
The last hill town visit of our trip was to Gorbio (45-minute drive from Nice) and was paired with a visit to the Italian-flavored seaside town of Menton which will be covered, along with the other seaside towns, in the next post. The views of the mountains from the town were spectacular (you could almost taste the alps from farther north) and Eglise Saint Barthélemy was the perfect place to take a seat and reflect (and be sure to check out the unique tiling and clock on the top of the steeple).
While everyone loves a good hill town, we especially enjoyed the time we spent along the water. Coming up are chronicles of our visits to Menton, Villefranche-sur-Mer and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat!
Coastal Towns
A visit to the French Riviera isn’t complete without seeing some of its coastal towns (especially outside of the larger ones like Nice and Cannes). Hanging out by the coast in a lazy village is the best way to balance visits to the area’s many hill towns as outlined in the previous post (here and here).
Menton (40-minute drive from Nice, 20-minute drive from the hill town of Gorbio which is where we came from) is a beautiful town just a 10-minute drive from the border with Italy famous for lemons and its collection of lemon-colored buildings. From its shore on the Mediterranean and ritzy harbor, the town quickly climbs up a hill which is topped by an attractively-landscaped cemetery with panoramic views. After a leisurely lunch at Le Martina (for a classic light Italian meal of ham and melon) we walked along Quai Napoléon III which offers the best sea-level views of the old town core.
From there we went upward, first to Basilique Saint Michel (with a quiet square perfect for resting your legs and cooling off in the shade) and eventually to the Vieux-Château cemetery where Britt ran into an old friend—it truly is a small world! After catching up, we continued on and eventually came to a rest at the very top of the cemetery where we took a long break with Rico’s parents to admire the setting and appreciate the little gifts and surprises that travel so often offers. On our way back down we stopped at a covered market and grabbed freshly-squeezed lemonade—the perfect end to our visit!
Our last full day on the Riviera started with a visit to Villefranche-sur-Mer (20-minute drive from Nice) which reminded us of a mini-Menton. The small harbor is picturesque, with the dots of white sailboats in the water against the backdrop of the yellow, orange and peach houses lining the waterfront. We stumbled on Église Saint-Michel after wandering through the tiny, crooked lanes and, just as we did in Menton, took the opportunity to relax and shield ourselves from the late-summer sun. We took a different path back down to the water and then hopped in the car to make our way to neighboring Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (30-minute drive from Nice, 10-minute drive from Villefranche-sur-Mer).
Saint-Jean is a wealthy slice of land jutting into the Mediterranean that offers, in addition to a cute town center, a non-strenuous hike around the whole of the peninsula. The hike takes about 90 minutes and was easily one of our favorite parts of our whole trip; there are times when you don’t see other people for quite a bit and it’s just you, a rocky path and crystal clear azure water as far as the eye can see. We went clockwise so we were greeted at the end of our hike with Plage de Passable which offered a much-needed opportunity to relax and cool off! This beach had much smaller pebbles and a shallower incline than the one in Nice which meant that it was much easier to get in and out of the water. And of course we grabbed ice cream at the snack hut!
Whether you’re looking for glamourous Riviera cities, picturesque hill towns with amazing views or sleepy seaside towns with a lethargically slow pace of life, the South of France has it all. We left knowing we’d be back someday—especially to see the lavender and sunflowers of Provence to the west—and also reminded of the immense variety that France has to offer. No wonder it’s the most visited country in the world!
