Au Revoir Cote d'Azur

 

Villefranche

 

Aperitif

                                   
We are leaving the Cote d'Azur tomorrow and headed for Tuscany, Italy.  We had a great time playing on the Mediterranean and pleasantly surprised with a warm and sunny October.
 I am very happy to have spent my 5 year wedding anniversary in Antibes, France and am looking forward to our next 5!
While packing our bags this evening we are snacking on the last of our pate' de campagne (country style pate') with a Cotes Du Rhone red. Oh my, I'm gonna have to run some hills in Tuscany to make room for the pasta and Chianta Classico's!
We are gonna "try" and get an early start in the morning to make Portofino, Italy for dinner.  We've heard they are famous for their shrimp and don't want to miss it. 

Antibes

 

Pig!

 

street in Antibes

 

Cannes in the back ground

 

yacht's in Monte Carlo

 

Mougins

 

Menton

 

a little dinner

 

  
             

  

 

                                                                                

Hill Towns on the Cote

                                                                            
  We finally pulled ourselves away from the coast and visited several of the medieval hillside villages.  Sure glad we did because they were really amazing.  Most of the villages are only about 8 or so miles inland and a bit cooler because of the elevation. 
On the tour was Bormes les Mimosas, Tourrettes sur Loup (one of the oldest medieval villages in the French Riviera), Saint Paul de Vence and the old city of Mougins.
We ended the day in Villeneuve Loubet to visit the museum honoring Auguste Escoffier.  He was said to be the King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings and was the pre-eminant chef of the 20th century.  Many classical and toady's chefs still rely of his Le Guide Culinaire for culinary wisdom. Michael was thrilled to visit the masters home town and museum.

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Chef making herbs des Provence omelette's with roesti and a green salad.  End to a great day in the hills.

Sunny Cote d'Azur

 I know I mentioned we were headed to the hill towns of the cote but the weather has been so nice that we decided to stay in the beach towns instead.  The sky is blue and the sun is still warm.  September and October is a beautiful time to be here.
We have moved on to a beautiful little villa in Mougins just 5 minutes north of Cannes.  Our hosts,  Daniel and Paulette, are a very charming French couple who Michael speaks very animated with and I do alot of smiling and nodding.  Paulette is giving me her secrets on marinating fresh olives and Daniel is passing on a family recipe on fleurs de courgettes en beingets, from his garden, to Michael.  They both were delicious!
On Tuesday evening, Michael picked up fresh caullibaut (swordfish) from the poissonnerie and local chantrelles at the market and prepared a nice dinner. He chopped, diced and seared all while sipping a nice provencal rose'.  I sipped and planned our next day in Cannes.
If you have ever wandered if Cannes is "really" all that glamorous, well it is.  We had a great day strolling around it all.  The beaches are nice and sandy, people are beautiful and the shopping is grand.
We also took a ferry across the way to the small island of Margarite.  Quaint little island which happened to house the prison that once held "the man in the iron mask".  Cool.
Yesterday, we drove down to St. Tropez for lunch and to watch the regatta which they have hosted for the past 26 years.   Another pretty glamorous seaside town but with a bit of charm.  I liked it very much. 

                                                                     Villa in Mougins

                                                                 Paulette and Daniel

                                                                       Chef's prep

                                                    sauteed chantrells with buerre noisette

                                                              caullibaut a la nicoise

      

                                                                 beach chairs Cannes style

                                                           Johnny Depp in Cannes! :)

                                                               red carpet at the palais

                                                       pain bagnat for picnic lunch

                                                                       ferry boat

                                                              Cannes view from water

                                                                         St. Tropez

                                                                    Regatta in St. Tropez
 

                                        

Beach Days

Michael and I have been enjoying some Riveria beach time. We are trying to catch a few of the last days of the warm Meditranean.  It has been a bit tricky with dodging the giant thunderstorms that roll in here. Wow! Big, loud and buckets of rain!
I like the beaches in Antibes. They are nice, sandy and full of sea glass. Love it! We have been a bit obsessed with picking it up.  I'm tying to fill up a good size jar to split with my friend Heidi.  She's the one who tipped me off of sea glass on Antibes.  Thanks, Heidi!

We chilled on the beach in Nice in front of the Promenade des Anglais. Very beautiful water but you have to dance over the pebbles to get to the shore.  'Not a very good dancer.  It was very entertaining watching everyone hippity hop on the pebbles in a swimming suit and being in France some of the swimming suits were even more entertaining!

We are off to the village of Mougins, above Cannes,  tomorrow for a few days.  Gonna be exploring the hillside villages of the Cote. 

                                                              Antibes beach

                                                                sea glass!

Promenade des Anglais

                                                         

                                                                    Nice

                                                      pebbles and stone on Nice beach

                                                     rain storm looking out our window

                                                  

Cote d'Azur

old Antibes

Bonjour!
Well, the LeClerc's are on the move again and we have landed on the Cote d'Azur in Antibes, France!
We are really excited to explore the Cote and the south of France.  Maybe a little Italy. Why not!
Our first stop is Antibes, meaning "across from", (Nice) which was founded as a 5th century BC Greek colony. Roman artifacts such as aqueducts, fortified walls and urns can still be seen today. Antibes is also home to one of the worlds greatest Picasso collections.  The museum is inside the chateau Grimaldi where Picasso lived for a short time in 1946 and produced many works.
We enjoyed our first day here strolling the Marche Provencal, taking a dip in the mediterranean and  some French " joie d vivre"!

     Day at the beach!





French style terrace

village street



entrance to market

Provencal olives

spice market

The pigs are watching!