Hiking in the French Riviera

On the trail above Eze-sur-mer

Hiking? That's not really what the French Riviera is known for, but hey, that's great! If everybody's on the beach that means fewer people will be on the trails ;)

The Alps are close by, as we have shown in a previous post. The proximity of such quality beaches and quality mountains does not cease to amaze us, but without a car it's actually easier for us now to enjoy the coastal area than the snowy slopes.

Unfortunately as C has been busy growing a baby, I've gone alone on a few expeditions in the past few weeks. Below are some of the highlights from such day trips with the hiking shoes and the day-pack!

Coastal pathway around Saint Jean Cap Ferrat (~ 5.5 mi / 9 km)

This is one of my favorite hikes or walks simply because Saint Jean Cap Ferrat is one of my favorites places. Saint Jean is insanely quiet and peaceful considering its location, right on the outskirts of Nice. It's also not just a paradise for rich folks, but also for Mediterranean bushes and trees, and more or less a marine reserve.

I like it cause it's not overbuilt, and a trail (sometimes paved) goes all around it. The rocks, vegetation, and views are surprisingly varied too, even though it's a rather tiny peninsula.

Saint Jean on its southernmost side

View over the Eastern protrusion of Saint Jean at a distance and Monaco and the Italian coast in the background

The Paloma beach - beautiful water, serene pine tree surroundings, and a gorgeous view on all the Riviera East of Saint Jean!

Luscious Mediterranean vegetation right above the trail - and that's in December!

Quick 'n easy panorama over Nice and the French Riviera (~ 3 mi / 5 km)

From downtown Nice where the harbor is located, it is possible to hike up the Mont Boron to one of two forts: Fort Mont Boron or Fort Saint Alban. Last month I chose to spend a Saturday afternoon up Mont Alban. It's not really a hike because it's paved all the way, but man, was it a lot of stairs to climb!

Fantastic reward from up there though, on either the West side overlooking Nice, the bay of Cannes, and then the Esterel mountains at a distance, or the East side overlooking Saint Jean and further to Monaco. From Mont Alban one can also get a glimpse of the Alps North of Nice.

The old Fort (mid 16th century) on the Mont Alban from up close

The fort's entrance

Sunset over Nice

Peeking over on "the other side": Villefranche, Saint Jean Cap Ferrat and the Cap d'Ail (right before Monaco)

And on the North side...

Another mesmerizing sunset over the now dark blue sea!

Hike on Mont Bastide and toward Beaulieu (~ 6.3 mi / 10 km)

Now for a real hike! From Eze-sur-mer ("Eze-by-the-sea") to the picturesque perched village of Eze, all the way to the top of the nearby mount Bastide (~ 1,900 ft / 600 m), back down to sea level, and out over a pass down to Beaulieu-sur-mer. Most of the trail is actually on land that was purchased by the region to keep it away from real estate investors. It's actually the wildest area I have seen along the coast yet. Quite remarkable I could get there by train from the main station in Nice in about 15 minutes!

Enjoy the views! I found them just to be breathtaking. This is really a special place. So does Bono from U2 think as well, as you can view here and on some of the shots below ;)

Starting the hike: View of Eze-sur-mer; Saint Jean at a distance

Cliffs in between the two Eze

Seeing the bell towers and some roof tops up there!

Panorama of Eze-village and the bay of Eze-sur-mer

A t-shirt is really all that's needed to hike here at winter time!

Overlooking the bay of Eze-sur-mer - "Bono's island" is on the left side of the bay

Protruding out onto the sea, from left to right: Saint Jean, Cap de Nice, Airport!

Hiking down the "secret but rough" breach from Eze to Beaulieu-sur-mer

Panorama of Beaulieu-sur-mer and Saint-Jean

Coming up next: The red rocks of l'Esterel mountain between Cannes and Saint Raphael; I trust we can get there by train since the train line Marseille-Nice goes through it!

But... where are we gonna put everything?

From the first visit, we had had a crush for the apartment we ended up moving into. We liked the location – our favorite market, bakery, butcher, ice cream factory are all in the vicinity – and we liked the set up: a 1920s building with 5 floors, the owner of which – an 85 year old lady – lives on the last floor. One apartment per floor, and a great downstairs neighbor who loves pets and plants.

The apartment itself has a North to South exposure with a balcony on each side. What would be the living area is overlooking a quaint old building masked in part by tall trees. And no painting required before moving in!

A first glimpse into the apartment:

Now, as most apartments in France, this one came with no equipped kitchen. Only a sink on top of a two-door cabinet. So building up the kitchen became our priority.

A kitchen... with a sink!!

The endeavor was challenging as we didn't plan to fully design a kitchen in an apartment that did not belong to us, and because we were not supposed to "fix too many things up on the walls" in order to preserve the wall finish (according to the rental agency)...

We were allowed to attach cabinets in the kitchen though so we did that. We hooked up an oven and an induction stovetop with the help of an electrician (we needed a special socket and an extension from its original location in the room). A couple of months later we are almost there, but we still miss a counter top on one side and a drawer and door on one of the cabinets.

Live and let drill

The guy who actually did the job:

At this point we are also clear from most of cardboard boxes in all rooms, except for a pile in our living area where a book shelf should go, and in Q's office where clothing have been waiting for a closet.

The place is even ready to welcome guests: our first one (one of Chrysa's friends) was actually here earlier in September!

In the living area

A much less lonely sink ;-)

Ready to cook 'n bake!

Sticking our heads out of the boxes: "Look! There's the French Riviera!"

Villefranche-sur-mer (Nice is behind the hill) around Easter

Coming from Denmark, Winter in the South of France is pretty mild. Spring down here is almost like the Danish summer!

We did our best to not forget amidst our installation that we were living in a place where people typically go for their vacation :-)

On April 9 (according to the picture file dates) we actually dined out on the terrasse of a wine and cheese bar on the harbor in Nice.

Enjoying cheese and wine on the harbor in early April!

Beaches, coves and bays which tend to be crowded with people, boats, and jet skis in the summer were stunningly still. Didn't expect the contrast would be so drastic! In the town Villefranche-sur-mer that we both like very much, we could hear the wind in the shrouds while walking along the harbor...

On the beach in Villefranche-sur-mer in early April

The bay from Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to Monaco is free from boats...

Walking along the coastline in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat at sunset

The harbor at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in early April

Wisteria flowers in full bloom by a fountain close to our apartment

The moon showing her pale face over palm trees in Nice

Orchids in Menton, Aloevera flowers in Antibes, and the Sun, well... everywhere :)

For his latest trip to visit C and S on the Cote d'Azur, Q arrived as a perfect French gentleman on Valentine's day. He stayed a week, and the aims for those few days were to (1) find an apartment to move into for April 1st, and (2) check out the carnaval de Nice (a >100 year old tradition) and the 79th edition of the Lemon festival in Menton (to celebrate the historical Menton lemon).

Since early February, we called about 15 apartments, visited 6, had a close tie between two, and eventually decided to stay in a 75 m2 apartment close to the tram line, our favorite boulangerie, and the largest (and daily) open air market, in a relatively tourist-free part of Nice. Both of us really liked the apartment, its feel, and the fact that we'd be the only folks on our floor, in a 4-story house filled with quiet families. We've already met the downstairs neighbor, her two cats and her cute and friendly dog. We're definitely looking forward to being reunited under the same roof again!

Stay tuned for more pictures of the new place, and in the meantime, here's one of the living room in our current apartment in Denmark...

So mission 1 accomplished! Now regarding the leisure activities by the Mediterranean... Well, actually, to much of our dismay—yet not too unexpectedly in that part of France—the festivals in Nice and Menton turned out to be mostly commercial, geared toward tourists and kids. In Nice, we were at the opening night of the carnaval and it was just a lot of hot air. And the Queen of the carnaval was half the size of the King, of course dressed in pink and not at all sporty (sport was the theme for 2012)...

"We just love Americans - check out where we placed their flag!"

A very dancing fairy Queen...

In Menton, the focus was to a large extent on a gigantic exhibit, much amusement park-oriented, with tall structures made out of lemons. Although the festival claims to promote "nature and culture", all the lemons displayed here (145 tons) were actually shipped from Spain (see official source - in French). That's not much of a way to promote sustainability! Needless to say that took the fun out of it for us...

Spanish lemons and oranges in Menton

The only events that were organized to actually promote the local culture of lemons were unfortunately very limited. A visit of a traditional "citronneraie" (orchard where lemons grow) happened on certain days only, through a guided tour exclusively at 10am, for which we showed up too late in Menton to be able to join. We did visit a cute orchard with a large variety of citrus fruits surrounding a museum, but no informations, explanations or products derived from the fruits were available.

Most traditional lemon orchards have actually disappeared in Menton due to the booming of real estate, but a few farmers are bringing the old tradition back and the town is aiming to get its famous lemon recognized and protected. 15 producers are actually growing lemons now, and the town has planted over 5000 lemon trees in the 1990s (resource in French). We really looked for ways we could support that movement, but it was hard to find how.

While in Menton we still enjoyed walking around this cute town we both like, and we saw a very fine orchid exhibit, a few photos of which are displayed here.

Orchid exhibit in Menton

On the Sunday we decided to take the train and go West from Nice instead of East (Villefranche, Saint Jean, Menton, Monaco, Italy, etc.) where we usually go. We aimed for the quaint town of Antibes, a mere 20 minute train ride from the main train station in Nice. We loved the winding picturesque streets and the overlook on the Mediterranean and the Cap d'Antibes from the old castle Grimaldi which is now a Picasso museum. What's very particular about that museum is that most of Picasso's artwork on display was actually created by the master himself in the room where it is now on exhibit, back in 1946 (click on a flag for translation).

The French Riviera just ain't bad...

Not tan yet in 2012 but working on it!

Some fine dining again that evening, and another quick visit to Villefranche the next day before flying back North and wondering why on Earth was "North" ever invented... Perhaps for the contrasting beauty of pine forests mooring into a frozen sea and sunsets that can last a whole hour...