Provence et Le Côte d'Azur - ç'est magnifique! (Part 2)

Day 4: "Drive the coast day". In a single day, we visited Nice, Monaco, Ventimiglia (Italy) and Cannes, and drove every stretch of coast in between! I don't know whether I'd recommend doing this to others or not - for us it was okay because we had a limited amount of time and didn't mind spending a decent part of the day driving. However, the amount of distance we covered meant that we only got to spend about 1 1/2 hours in each place (except for Cannes, where we went for dinner followed by a fireworks display that was part of a competition - it was cool!), and it was a long day. Still, it was a great way to get a small flavor of each place, so that if we go back we'll know which places we'll really want to linger and spend some time (more on my thoughts there in a moment). (Pictures: rocky beach in Nice, view from the drive from Nice to Monaco, Cannes sunset view)





Day 5: We checked out of our lodging in Juan-les-Pins and spent the day driving back to Nîmes. We headed west, past Cannes and into the smaller beach communities that lie between Cannes and Saint Tropez. The drive along the coast is slow going, with windy roads that go through the center of towns with their accompanying pedestrians and local traffic, so we only made it part of the way to Saint Tropez before we headed inland and caught the Autoroute (highway) so we could get back to Nîmes in time to return the car. We stopped in a great little town called Anthéor (pictured), a beautiful spot with red cliffs, sandy beach and low-key atmosphere, where we spent our last few hours on the beach and had a nice lunch. We arrived back in Nîmes around 6:30 PM, and our train back to Brussels was the next morning. (Pictures: two views of Anthéor)




Observations:
-The French Riviera has a little bit of everthing; beaches (sandy and rocky), hills, modern cities, old towns, high fashion and a lot of seriously rich people!
-As a general rule, most of the beaches east of Antibes (Nice to the Italian border) are rocky, so if you're looking for fine sand, look to the west!
-The well-known towns/cities in the region (meaning practically every inch of land in between Cannes and the Italian border) are CROWDED!! If you know that going in you'll enjoy all the different flavors of each city, but if you go there expecting an idyllic, relaxing beach vacation you'll probably be disappointed.
-If you ARE looking for said idyllic, relaxing beach vacation, head for one of the small, lesser-known communities west of Cannes. After all the hustle and bustle of Nice, Monaco, etc., this part of the coast was refreshing, and was a surprise favorite for me. The air and water are clearer too, as a result of less people and traffic!
-Ventimiglia (just across the Italian border) was unfortunately a dissapointment. The town wasn't terribly attractive, the beach was super rocky (killed our feet to go in the water!) and absolutely crawling with hawkers trying to sell you stuff. Seriously, we were on the beach for maybe 30 minutes, and we had at least six different people trying to sell us hats, jewelry, sunglasses, you name it...really annoying. The water also got deep REALLY fast, with relatively strong currents to go with it. Ayzsha had some gelato which she said was great, but other than that it was not worth the drive.
-Off the beach, the inland towns and cities of the region have a lot to offer as well. We only had time to visit Nîmes and the Pont du Gard aqueduct, but there are innumerable cities, hill towns and natural sites, enough that I'm not even sure a few months would allow time to see it all!
-If you like good food and wine, you will LOVE it here! We had some awesome meals, and I tried some of the local wines, which were very good as well. The inland area around the city of Grasse (just north of Antibes) is also famous for fragrances and perfumes.