[Itinerary Page]The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
May 3 - Cote d'Azur and Beyond
There is an antiques market in town several times a year and as it happens, it was going on during our stay. We met a couple of the vendors at the restaurant last night and they gave us a free pass to get in. Not to be ungrateful, we stopped there in the morning just to see what they had. They had some very interesting stuff ... and we really liked the way the various vendors displayed their wares, but most of it would have been a little tough to get home!
We couldn't be this close to the Riviera and not see at least a bit more of it, so we headed to Antibes which we were told was at least worth a look (vs. Cannes and some other famous names where there was really nothing interesting to see except the beautiful people.) If we want to look at beautiful people, we just need to sneak a glance at each other! :-)
Antibes has Europe's largest yacht harbor and has a postcard-perfect old town. The outskirts were rather nondescript but there was a nice energy to the area. We wandered around the old town for a bit, had lunch in an outdoor cafe (most operations move outside when the weather warms up) and generally took in the sights. The beach had a nice little crowd for this early in the season but I will not include topless sunbathers on my list of "sights." The more perverted of you will be squinting at the photo ...
We thought we would drive along the coast to take in a few more sights (St. Tropez and the like) but the traffic was so bad that we gave up about the time we got to Cannes and just headed back toward Fayence. Margene wanted to see what was up the road in the opposite direction from town and we found ourselves twisting along narrow mountain roads to the little town of Mons, hanging off the side of the mountain in the middle of nowhere.
We took the scenic way back down through the town of Callian back to our home away from home in Fayence. A quick run out to the Flying Club for an omelette and we called it a day. Tomorrow is an early day with a LOT of driving.
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