There is so much hype around celebrities partying in South France, every other day, the papers feature some world famous bloke or babe chilling out in their yachts. And subconsciously, it has become a destination which I have to check out, to curb my piqued curiosity. And there I was in the summer months of July of 2012. We visited Nice, Cannes, St Tropez, St Rapheal, St Paul de Vence, Villefranche, Monaco, Cap d'adge and Montpellier
The weather was brilliant; temperatures were hovering above 30 degrees for the entire 2 weeks! It was an exceptionally beautiful holiday! The break started off with me falling head over heels in love with Nice the moment I stepped foot into the old city. The endless blue sea spanning the 10 km beach alongside the city was stunning. The sea was the colour of navy blue, a refreshing colour as I have yet to see in the numerous beaches I been to. Most other oceans I saw were turquoise or light green, nothing near to this. Later, I realized later that the coast was named Cote de Azur ie the sea of blue! What a befitting name!
Besides the captivating beach, Nice had many other things to offer a tourist like me. It had a beautiful old town(Vieux Nice) which had quite a fair bit of Italian influence and hence its ubiquitous neoclassical buildings. The old town was charming not just because of its buildings, but also because of the warmth it exuded. There were many quaint little restaurants tucked in pockets of the old town, a sure delight to explore and unravel the gem diners described in Tripadvisor, where we planned to have our meals. The old town is always crowded with tourists, regardless the time of the day! Everyone needed a doze of Fennochio ice-cream, one of the most delicious I ever had! There was so much this old city could offer!And I could finally understand why every other celebrity/minister owned a property in Cote de Azur.
Monaco was fabulous as well. It was a different world to Nice altogether! Surprisingly, it was just a 30 mins train ride from Nice, my gosh, I never thought they were so close together! The streets were named after princes and princesses giving a royalty and classy feel to the small country; and by chance I found a street, Princess Charlotte Boulevard, named after my lovely friend's new born! Glitzy cars lined the stretch of road in front of the casino and people were dressed extremely well-dressed to the extent everyone was celebrity material. It was a huge eye-opener! The palace of Monaco was one of my favourites: There was a right dash of marble tiles everywhere, ranging from its curved stairs to the rooms.
St Paul de Vence was a exquisite arty town with many picturesque spots. Many renowned artists came here for inspiration from time to time. Over time. many art boutiques selling different styles of painting dotted the town. It was really nice to hop from shop shop admiring the paintings. Feeling inspired, we purchased a picture of the town from the original painter and it is now hanging in my living room!
Having heard so much about Cannes, my expectation of the place naturally went up by a few notches prior to visiting it and unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. I was quite disappointed with Cannes, despite it being a red carpet destination frequented by all A lister celebrities during the annual Cannes festival. Its building were much older than those in Nice, but not as well maintained and its beach was so-so. Despite the lacklustre city, we managed to entertain ourselves with the spectacular annual pyrotechnic firework display, devoured in the delish croissants by the main train station and main stream Provencial food from a petite restaurant. We loved the chatty and energetic restauranteur so much that we dined at her place twice.
We had a tough time getting to St Tropez beaches from Cannes. First, you had to take a train to St Rapheal, followed by a cruise to St Tropez and lastly a 30mins uphill bike ride to hit the beaches. Despite the ordeal, we finally got to the Tahiti beach and was greeted by lovely orange beach umbrellas, welcomed by the most delicious pina colada! The hardworked paid off for we spotted Sir Elton John at Club 55!
Montpellier was more like a university town with lots of beautiful and sexy babes littering the streets, especially after school hours! It was quite pleasant to sit by a cafe and women watch! There was also a magnificent chateau a couple of miles from the town centre which we visited. It was quite an experience for me to visit, feel and touch a real chateau instead of merely seeing it on TV!
The weather was brilliant; temperatures were hovering above 30 degrees for the entire 2 weeks! It was an exceptionally beautiful holiday! The break started off with me falling head over heels in love with Nice the moment I stepped foot into the old city. The endless blue sea spanning the 10 km beach alongside the city was stunning. The sea was the colour of navy blue, a refreshing colour as I have yet to see in the numerous beaches I been to. Most other oceans I saw were turquoise or light green, nothing near to this. Later, I realized later that the coast was named Cote de Azur ie the sea of blue! What a befitting name!
Besides the captivating beach, Nice had many other things to offer a tourist like me. It had a beautiful old town(Vieux Nice) which had quite a fair bit of Italian influence and hence its ubiquitous neoclassical buildings. The old town was charming not just because of its buildings, but also because of the warmth it exuded. There were many quaint little restaurants tucked in pockets of the old town, a sure delight to explore and unravel the gem diners described in Tripadvisor, where we planned to have our meals. The old town is always crowded with tourists, regardless the time of the day! Everyone needed a doze of Fennochio ice-cream, one of the most delicious I ever had! There was so much this old city could offer!And I could finally understand why every other celebrity/minister owned a property in Cote de Azur.
Monaco was fabulous as well. It was a different world to Nice altogether! Surprisingly, it was just a 30 mins train ride from Nice, my gosh, I never thought they were so close together! The streets were named after princes and princesses giving a royalty and classy feel to the small country; and by chance I found a street, Princess Charlotte Boulevard, named after my lovely friend's new born! Glitzy cars lined the stretch of road in front of the casino and people were dressed extremely well-dressed to the extent everyone was celebrity material. It was a huge eye-opener! The palace of Monaco was one of my favourites: There was a right dash of marble tiles everywhere, ranging from its curved stairs to the rooms.
St Paul de Vence was a exquisite arty town with many picturesque spots. Many renowned artists came here for inspiration from time to time. Over time. many art boutiques selling different styles of painting dotted the town. It was really nice to hop from shop shop admiring the paintings. Feeling inspired, we purchased a picture of the town from the original painter and it is now hanging in my living room!
Having heard so much about Cannes, my expectation of the place naturally went up by a few notches prior to visiting it and unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. I was quite disappointed with Cannes, despite it being a red carpet destination frequented by all A lister celebrities during the annual Cannes festival. Its building were much older than those in Nice, but not as well maintained and its beach was so-so. Despite the lacklustre city, we managed to entertain ourselves with the spectacular annual pyrotechnic firework display, devoured in the delish croissants by the main train station and main stream Provencial food from a petite restaurant. We loved the chatty and energetic restauranteur so much that we dined at her place twice.
We had a tough time getting to St Tropez beaches from Cannes. First, you had to take a train to St Rapheal, followed by a cruise to St Tropez and lastly a 30mins uphill bike ride to hit the beaches. Despite the ordeal, we finally got to the Tahiti beach and was greeted by lovely orange beach umbrellas, welcomed by the most delicious pina colada! The hardworked paid off for we spotted Sir Elton John at Club 55!
Montpellier was more like a university town with lots of beautiful and sexy babes littering the streets, especially after school hours! It was quite pleasant to sit by a cafe and women watch! There was also a magnificent chateau a couple of miles from the town centre which we visited. It was quite an experience for me to visit, feel and touch a real chateau instead of merely seeing it on TV!
1 comment:
Hi! somehow came upon ur blog.. Hope u are ok!
Ronghe
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