Menton

Just the other side of Monte Carlo is the Town of Menton. It is a pretty town with a seaside promenade, a port and an old town, with a large old church on the hill. It has a very Italian feel, and is a great day out. We went by train which took about an hour along the coast.

Antibes Fort

Visiting the Antibes Fort

You can access the fort by foot from the back side from Antibes, either walking around the road, or the pedestrian path along the port, and up onto the hill just before the industrial units. There is a guided tour at the top with history and the most stunning views.

Villa Rothchild

Visting Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild

Villa Rothschild is located on Cap Ferrat, on the other side of Nice. The Villa is set in beautiful grounds with stunning views over the sea.

Walking around the Cap d'Antibes

Walking around the Cap d'Antibes

There is a great walk around the Cap d'Antibes taking in the beautiful views across the bays. We drove from Antibes along the coast road and parked at Plage Keller.  Due to the weather in February parts of the walk were closed but it was still very beautiful.

Tourrettes-sur-Loup

Having met a lovely lady on the plane from Tourrettes-sur-Loup we decided to pay a visit to this lovely hilltop town as part of a drive via Cagnes-sur-Mer and back through Le Bar-sur-Loup. We stopped for lunch at La Grande Mere (below), a super family restaurant with local french food. Bar-sur-Loup was celebrating the orange blossom festival - a bit damp, but lots of craft stalls, some local music, and of course thousands of oranges, everywhere. ('Les Parents' ate lunch at the hotel restaurant in Bar-sur-Loup and recommended its food)

St Tropez

An hour and a half drive from Antibes is the lovely town of St Tropez. It was smaller than I expected, and older with pretty old buildings around the port. We had great weather on this early April day - the town was not too busy but I can imagine that it must be packed in the high summer and the roads in and out very busy too. There is a cemetery on the coastline, and a fort on the hill, all close enough to walk. Many of the roads are very narrow and so most of the old town streets are pedestrianised.

Nice Carnival

The promenade des anglais is closed to traffic for the Nice Carnival, with floats and performers and thousands of flowers. Bunches of mimosa are thrown into the crowds. This year we had fantastic weather, and enjoyed the great atmosphere and spectacle.

Breakfast

The local boulangerie near the apartment, The Grand Large :) , is perfect for breakfast in the sun: orange presse, coffee and croissants.

Sunset at Juan les Pins

Lovely winter sun at Juan les Pins for a walk along the beach, watching the sun drop over the horizon.

La Strada Brasserie

La Strada is just down the road from the apartment on the corner of Bd Marechal leclerc and Avenue de l'Ilette, right on the sea front. This brasserie is inexpensive, and the menu is simple, tasty food.

Grill le Village

This restaurant has a very homely feel and family run. Very friendly and good French (and pasta) food. We will return. (Returned in April 2013, now Adam's favourite restaurant in Antibes!)

Key West

This cafe on the Bd d'Aguillon serves cafe food for lunch. OK but there must be better!

Falafel

Not eaten here yet, but the food looks great in this cafe in Rue Aubernon in Antibes, for a light lunch of falafel with tabouleh etc... will update when we have tried it...

L'Anx

This is a buzzing restaurant under the walls of the old town in Antibes. Serving great value pizza and pasta meals, as well as steaks and 'moules frites', the restaurant has a large feel inside with high ceilings (unusual in Antibes). The staff are very informal and friendly. A favourite of ours in Antibes!

Les Cinq Epices

A lovely little tunisian restaurant serving simple flavoursome tagines and couscous meals, the restaurant is run by a very friendly couple, with just 20 or so covers. Prices are good, and the atmosphere is relaxed.

Le Chrono

This is a lovely local feel restaurant. Typical meat, fish, pizza and pasta. It was a little smokey the evening we ate there, but the staff were very friendly and the food was delicious, again not over priced for the area.

Chamkila

This is a rare sight in Cote D'Azur - an Indian restaurant. The food was quite mild, and tasty. It was a little more than english prices, but all Indian restaurants in the area tend to be even more expensive. Friendly staff (english speaking) and mostly english clients! (Apparently the French don't eat Indian food)

Da Cito

Great little italian restaurant for pasta and pizza, up on the market. Friendly, good food and at a good price

Quick route to Nice Airport

Coming from Antibes, the quick route to the airport is to come off the motorway at jcn 49, take the 2nd exit at the roundabout (under the height restriction bar) then through the tunnel, and first exit at the next roundabout at Cap 3000 (signposted to the airport). Then you join the dual carriageway keeping in the right hand lane, and off at the first exit bringing you down to the airport roundabout (with the iron man in the middle).
Simples!
If you are returning a car take the first exit at this roundabout. The petrol station is on the right hand side, and car return is on the left.

Magician conference

This weekend is the magician conference in Antibes. Arriving in the town on Friday night and all the restaurants have large groups with guest magicians doing tricks. Tomorrow we will go and see what's happening up at the fort.

Monet and other artists in Antibes

Monet lived in the south of France for four months from 1888, living in on the Cap d'Antibes in Chateau de la Pinede. He described Antibes as "a small fortified town, bathed to a golden crust by the sun". During this time he painted 29 works. The sale notes for recent sales at Sotheby and Christie's show how Monet experienced the changing weather, light and colours in Antbes.


Claude Monet:

Website live

Today the website goes live. Watch out for new content and information as we build up the site

Pain, Amour et Chocolat

The weekend of 11 February saw the Pain, Amour and Chocolat festival in Antibes. There were stalls of all kinds of french foods ... including of course chocolate, and a jazz band playing in the Place Nationale.

Moving In

We have just spent the week in Antibes in the Apartment for the first time. We completed on 27 January, and had a quick weekend collecting our belongings from Keith and Mary. This week has been checking the decorating by David, and monitoring the polishing of the floors. What a difference it has all made to freshening up and transforming the feel of the apartment.

We learnt our way around the spaghetti junction of the dual carriageways and motorway to the north of Antibes, going to furniture and DIY stores, resulting in buying beds from Fly. Then Thursday was the big hike to Ikea in a large van to get all the other furniture - what a day... but successful.

David came in to help unload on Friday and carried on with decoration while we built furniture.

The highlight had to be breakfast on the balcony in the sun on Sunday..... a sense of many days to come!

Nice in Nice link

No longer required  as we have sold the flat to buy Antibes, but here's the link for some information.