Provence et Le Côte d'Azur - ç'est magnifique!

In case the translation of my title isn't apparent, I'll state in English that our first visit to the south of France was wonderful, and I wasn't ready to leave!! It's a big region with so much to offer, and the five days we spent there barely felt like enough to scratch the surface. I'll try to sum it up by day so I don't forget anything, because we really did see a lot.

Day 1: We arrived in Nîmes late Thursday night, so Friday was our first day in the region, and that was the day the Tour de France passed through town. I'll post some stuff about the tour tomorrow, but before the tour events we had the first part of the day to explore the city. Nîmes was an important city in ancient Rome, and as a result it has some very old and well-preserved Roman ruins. We visited two of the three big sites (Maison Carée and Tour Magne, pictured), but unfortunately we ran out of time and didn't get to go into the Arena. It was quite a hike to the Tour Magne, but the view over the town, and the gardens we saw on the way there were well worth the effort!


Day 2: We picked up the car first thing in the morning and drove to Pont du Gard (pictured), the site of one of the largest and best preserved Roman aqueduct bridges in the world. It's a popular site (translation: touristy!) and gets crowded during the day, but we arrived just before 10 AM and left just as the crowds were arriving - smart move!
After that we headed towards Antibes/Juan-les-Pins, twin coastal towns a few miles west of Nice and our home base for the next three nights. We arrived in mid-afternoon, got settled into our lodging and headed for the beach in Juan-les-Pins, followed by a leisurely evening in town. It's a nice beach town with good dining and nightlife, but the beach left a little bit to be desired - it was sandy and attractive, but also narrow and crowded.

Day 3: This day we walked over the hill to Antibes, and checked out its cool Old Town, Picasso Museum (we had no idea at the time, but it was the first day it reopened after being closed for well over a year for renovations - as a result we got in free!), and a great little uncrowded beach tucked into a corner of the Old Town. The weather wasn't ideal this day, with clouds and a few showers, but we still got some sun and enjoyed a bit of R&R. (Pictures: beach in Old Town, looking into Old Town from the beach)