Revel in the Riviera
John Low falls for the charm and style of the Cote d’Azur
You will probably have your own plans and interests for the places you want to visit along the Coast, and for what its worth I am highlighting a few of my favourites. Time to visit? Spring and autumn: it’s not as crowded yet the weather is still pleasant in the low 20s.
And there are some great choices to suit all budgets. Most of the more favoured are on, or just off, the main thoroughfare on the front called Boulevard De la Croisette. There are some superb seafood restaurants, mainly near the port, where you can eat royally but still pay far less than you would in a posh Irish restaurant. We are talking about €80 for a three course meal for two, with a decent bottle of wine. Another restaurant in the higher price bracket but worth a visit is La Brouette de Grand Mere (roughly translated this means ‘grandmother’s wheelbarrow’).
This is on Rue ‘d’Oran and provides a ‘taster’ menu which seems to go on forever, is slightly pretentious because you don’t have a choice, but nevertheless is a memorable experience and you can still escape for less than €50 a head with wine and aperitifs and liquers The whole experience is painfully slow, but, hey. you’re on a break. But you don’t have to pay this much and there are lots of modest eateries. If you visit you will no doubt make your own discoveries, but for what its worth I will offer a few suggestions.
Catch the ‘choo-choo’ train on the front for a tour of the town, culminating at Le Suquet, the old town. It provides a great panorama of the beach, and has, on its summit, the remains of the fortified castle priory. This part of the town is particularly attractive with its winding streets, small boutiques and restaurants.
During the nineteenth century it became a convalescence base for those suffering from TB. Sadly many of these ‘medical tourists’ did not recover as the interesting little cemetery above the town testifies. Its well worth a visit, and apart from a number of Russian aristocrats, – and a surprising amount of Irish from Co Wexford! -- it also contains the graves of the short lived English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, who worked on Oscar Wilde’s Salome, and remarkably, Webb Ellis, the ‘father of rugby’; there’s even a statue of Ellis outside the cemetery gates and his grave is festooned with the ribbons of the various rugby unions
Like most of the towns on this coast, Menton has an interesting old quarter, crammed with craft shops, boutiques, bars and restaurants, and you could spend hours here. There are guided tours of the town every Tuesday, and you meet in the square in front of the Basilique Saint-Michel Archangel. Its €5 per person, and groups are welcome with a special rate.
One interesting legacy from the days when the British toffs decamped for months in Menton is the Royal Westminster Hotel. This is only a three-star establishment yet drips with style and class, and has a stunning garden, scattered with cane chairs, tables and parasols, which opens on to the beach. You feel as if you’ve wandered into a Monet painting. I decided to order a glass of white wine, and given the surroundings, was expecting to pay anything up to €10. €2.
You could write a book about the Cote d’Azur – and indeed many people have -- and I haven’t even started. There’s wonderful Nice with its Boulevard Les Anglais, its marvellous market crammed with restaurants and, and an oddity, the Russian orthodox Saint Nicholas Cathedral; charming Villefranche (little more than a village; my favourite place to eat would be Le Cosmo, its terrace overlooking the harbour- good food and good value, and when the sun is shining, there’s nothing nicer than to eat some superb grilled fish, washed down with a reasonably priced rose).
Then there’s the stunning inland town of St Paul de Vence (a ‘must’ visit), Grasse (not a particularly attractive place but the Fragonard perfumery museum is a serious establishment and not just an afterthought, as many tourist ‘museums’ are. And the range of women’s and men’s fragrances is extensive and very reasonably priced). Monte Carlo? Take it or leave it; it’s basically a series of very expensive skyscrapers jostling for views of the harbour. Monaco is perhaps worth a trip if you feel the need to visit Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier’s tombs in the cathedral; although you are afforded a spectacular view of the harbour from the terrace oppose the palace. I could go on and on and mention the unbelievably opulent hotels on Cap d’Antibes, and the odd NAMMA’d property which you may want to peer at from its gated entrances. Have a good look – you own it! And then there’s painfully chic Juan Le Pins.. Antibe..
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