Day 3-5 of the “Memories You Promised Yourself” tour revealed friendships and alliances were forming among the sixteen ladies who joined the Barefoot Blogger and Patricia Sands. We happily made our way through the hot spots on the Côte d’Azur: Grasse, Tourrettes Sur Loup, Saint Paul de Vence, Eze Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, and Antibes.
Côte d’Azur Hot Spots
From our ideally located hotel in Nice, the Beau Rivage, we jumped on our 20-passenger bus each Day to explore famous towns and vistas near Nice. Our guide, Stephanie, and Rene, the driver, led the way.
Grasse
Known as the world’s perfume capital, there was no doubt our ladies’ tour would love Grasse. The Parfumerie Fragonard was our main stop.
Here, we learned how perfume was made in the eighteenth century and which techniques remain the same today.
Over 6,000 perfume bottles are produced daily in the Grasse Fragonard factory, along with soaps, lotions, eaux de toilette, and other fragrant products.
Tourrettes Sur Loup
A short distance from Grasse was Tourettes Sur Loup, an artist village of less than 2,000 residents.
It was the perfect place for lunch and a quick look at the artisan shops before heading onto the main attraction for the Day, St. Paul de Vence.
St. Paul de Vence
St. Paul de Vence is a small, medieval village on a hill bustling with tourists and dozens of tiny shops, art galleries, and cafes.
At the entrance to the town is a petanque game square where locals gather and tourists dare.
St. Paul de Vence was a simple medieval village until a cafe and modest inn was opened by a local resident, Paul Roux, and his wife in the 1920s. The inn attracted many artists who had discovered the area during the time between the world wars, like Matisse, Picasso, and Chagall. They stayed at the inn and, as payment for their lodging, they often left behind pieces of their work. The priceless paintings are still on the walls of the Colombe d’Or. The hotel and the town are now world-famous for art and galleries.
Hot Spots on the Côte d’Azur
Eze
Memories Tour Day 4 morning was free to rest, shop, visit the Chagall or Matisse Museum, or do more sightseeing.
After lunch, we were off to the village of Eze.
Riding by bus along the Moyenne Corniche, northeast of Nice, the views of the Riviera coastline became more dramatic the higher we climbed.
In Eze, we continued to climb, not by bus but by foot. We determined the town, with its steep hills, was meant for serious walkers.
Fortunately, there were plenty of shops to browse through when we needed to catch our breaths.
The highlight of the visit was the Exotic Garden, located at the top of the village, a mere 429 meters above the Mediterranean Sea.
The sea views were breathtaking while walking along the landscaped paths of succulent plants.
Leaving Eze, we passed through Beaulieu and Villefranche-sur-Mer. Real estate along this stretch of the Riviera, to Our next stop, St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat, is among the highest priced in the world. Homes of celebrities and billionaires dot the hills and seascape.
Villa Rothschild
The elegant mansion looming high above the Mediterranean in St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat was the next stop on the tour of the high road of the Riviera — Villa Rothschild.
Built by Baroness Béatrice de Rothschild, wife of banker Baron Maurice de Ephrussi, the rose-colored villa is in the image of an Italian palazzo.
The villa’s stunning interior has priceless antiques, art, and porcelain collections.
The gardens, however, are truly magical. Both formal and meandering, they were strategically designed to enhance the best views of the sea and the villa.
A water show set to music was all it took to escape momentarily into my fantasyland. My life as a baroness on the Riviera.
Hot Spots on the Côte d’Azur
Antibes
Day 5: Readers of Patricia’s “Love in Provence” book series were incredibly excited about the Antibes part of our tour. They could envision Kat meeting Phillippe at the colorful Provençal market in the town center.
Antibes didn’t disappoint the Barefoot Blogger, even though this was my fifth visit.
The scenery and conviviality of the town are so uplifting.
For sure, the Memories Tour gals were taking it all in
Hot Spots on the Côte d’Azur
Just a little drama…
To prove there is always a bit of drama wherever the Barefoot Blogger roams, we lost one of our travelers one evening before dinner. In the hotel. In the elevator.
A power outage that struck the hotel just before our meet-up in the lobby had trapped someone in the elevator. Sure enough, when we did our attendance count, Margaret was missing.
Never fear. The friendly, Nice pompiers saved the Day!
Margaret was such a good sport. The firemen loved her!
Stay tuned …
