The South of France is a part of the world that we’ve been fortunate enough to visit a few times over the years and it always seems to call us back after some time away. As we were considering summer vacation spots from Rome, it was the destination that popped the most. So we planned a weeklong trip, with some new discoveries and some visits of old favourites, as well as a few days spent with some grad school friends from our time in Brussels.
We landed in Nice, headed to our hotel in Beaulieu Sur Mer but as we were too early to check in on Saturday morning, we almost immediately turned our sights to Monaco. It’s a city that has a special place both in our hearts and in our relationship and always makes for an interesting few hours – of indulgence, of nostalgia, of possibility.
We took an important photo (find blog post), ate some great hamburgers, visited the old cliff top castle and let Aleksander play in a park on what’s probably the most expensive real estate he’s ever walked on!
We returned to our hotel home base, oriented ourselves and sketched out the next few days. Beaulieu sur Mer (which quite accurately translates as beautiful place on the sea) was a relatively quiet town between Nice and Monaco and notably, at the foot of the St. Jean Cap Ferrat, a magical Cape that made for perfect sea side walks and the type of gorgeous views that make this part of the world what it is.
We quickly pivoted all previously made retirement plans and decided that St. Jean Cap Ferrat is for us (if the heavens allow!). It’s such a stunning, peaceful and scenic pied a terre on the planet that it would probably convince any passerby to change their life plans to stay at almost all costs.
As this was our third visit to this part of the Cote D’Azur, we were able to get to some portions of the coast that we haven’t been able to make it to before. One of the main targets was Eze, famous, charming and difficult to get to hilltop village.
The views were absolutely incredible but the crowded bus ride up and completely fool-hardy hike down (with baby and stroller in hand) made for some moments of pause. Add to that, peak June heat and loads of people in Eze’s very, very narrow streets and we had our work cut out for us. We’re glad we finally got up there but probably won’t be returning until the kids are teens at least!
The next day was spent split between one of the world’s most charming beaches at Villefranche sur Mer and an evening visit to the hub city of Nice.
If you’re ever in the South of France and need a dreamy beach day, go to Villefranche, I can’t really say more than that, you won’t regret it.
Nice is a city that we go back and forth on. Dalia is largely a fan and I just as often am happy to avoid it. Somehow this time though, the city spoke to me in a new way and I found it’s beachside, streets and views supremely charming and inviting. Maybe the best feature of Nice, and certainly for us at Aleksander’s age, is the great fountain playground where kids lose their minds in glee while parents try to capture every moment.
We wrapped up our time in Nice and started the second half of our week heading to St. Raphael to meet some friends for a few days. Every time we’re in the Cote D’Azur we always try to add a new city or two to the visit to continue the exploration. St. Raphael was a logical choice to meet our friends who were staying in Hyeres, closer to Toulon.
St. Raphael felt like the ideal retirement town on the coast – full of non-descript apartment blocks, lengthy wide beaches and patios for days. We enjoyed a few lazy days on the beaches and continued our sanding, sunning and summering.
One of my completely inexplicable life goals is to visit St. Tropez, mostly based on the reputation the town created in my mind based on Puff Daddy music videos from the 1990s. In fact, we looked into staying a couple nights on this trip but the prices were outrageously high for public service standards so we decided on a day trip instead.
The island is an easy ferry ride from St. Raphael so we strapped in the kids and went yacht hunting!
We walked, explored, caught up and lunched. The yachts really are impressive as they were preparing for some fancy race or other. Most only have their crews on board, signalling the absurd kind of money that affords a fancy yacht and then the lack of time to actually ever visit it.
The highlight of the day was watching a series of games of pétanque (which seemed super apropos) and Aleksander riding a merry-go-round, his obsession of the moment. Otherwise, we found the town overrated and overpriced, as one does!
We were happy to return to St. Raphael and our more modest comforts. Walks, swims and balcony views!
As our week was starting to approach its end, we parted ways with our pals and headed to Juan-les-Pins, our final French destination before returning home. We had visited Juan-les-Pins on our honeymoon and it had made a strong enough impression that we decided to return.
Again, we strolled, visited nearby Antibes and maxed out some more beach time. Aleksander tried out some of the local merry-go-rounds and we window shopped and dined al fresco. We also made a point of going back one more time to the grand splash pad of Nice for one more frolic.
Our week was absolutely full! With beauty, with thankfulness, with rest, discovery and family memory-making. This region of the world has quite accidentally become a recurring part of our relationship’s story and, obviously, we don’t mind at all. It also speaks to the wonderful options available from Rome – nevermind all that Italy has to offer – France, Portugal, Croatia, Spain, Greece are all short flights away. And that’s not even to mention Tunisia, Cyprus, Malta, etc.
We returned home happy and bronzed. Ready for the summer ahead, and more urgently, a family wedding in Poland in less than two weeks! Mama mia!!
Dad In The World 