The whole area of the French Riviera is extremely picturesque and full of treats. Nice is the largest city of the region and Monaco is the most luxurious one (while being a seperate country, of course!) but if you had some more time I would definitely recommend exploring a few smaller cities or villages. Every place tells a different story and has its own unique spirit.
You never know what are you going to gues, but it can only be guaranteed that it is going to be visually spectacular!
ANTIBES
Antibes is a town located on the coast between Nice and Cannes.
It may not seem like much, but don't be deceived - this little town has a history dating back to as far as... the early iron age. But those were just traces found by the archeologists, it was actually founded as a Greek colony and went through the hands of the Roman Empire. When you walk through the narrow alleys of the old town you can easily see those ancient roots showing.
The buildings within the old city walls are mostly made of stone that is giving Antibes its noble presence, reminds me of those villages of Italy like San Gimignano or Volterra. There are a lot of renaissance houses as well with those so typical soft colours and painted windows.
In the newer part of the city, outside the old walls there is a large marina filled with luxurious yachts and white sailboats.
It is a coastal town that thrived in medieval times - a walk around the city walls is always a good idea.
The main square of the old town is more of classy rennaisance style with restaurants all around and a pagoda in the middle. Enjoying a meal in one of the central restaurants would be a good way to embrace the town's character.
SAINT PAUL DE VENCE
Driving from Nice a few kilometers deeper into the mountains you can find one of the oldest towns in the French Riviera. Sitting proudly on a top of a hill surrounded by other mountains and lush green valleys there is Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Even with its thoughtfully defensive location it is now easily accessible either by car or by bus fron Nice.
This medieval town is built nearly entirely of local stone, in all of its structures - houses, churches, high city walls. Mostly constructed in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries. It is currently pretty well known for its picturesque-ness and even artists such as Picasso, Chagal and Matisse came over to be inspired and to create, I think that the best that it has to offer is to get lost and admire beauty of this town in literally every alley that you take.
The main street Rue Grande leads from the northern gate where you are most likely to arrive straigh to the south gate where one of the top sights of the city is found - a XVIIth century church and a cemetary.
From the city walls there's a fantastic panorama from one side to the mediterrenian coast and from the other to the peaks of the Alps.
In the contrary of those two stone-y and medieval towns i mentioned before, here now I'll show you Menton. It lies on the mediterrenian coast but east from Nice, past Monaco, right by the border with Italy. This is a bigger town than the previous two and far more popular as a beach getaway.
I got an impression that is a bit in the influence of Monaco and the more posh and luxurious part of Nice. Judging by all those fancy hotels by the promenade, casinos, posh restaurants... This is the newer part of the town and it spreads along the azure coastline.
The old part of the town is concentrated on a peninsula by the sea and on a small hill, so that it seems to be rising gradually with the churchtower on top. If looking from the seaside then the city is displayed with majestic Alps in the back, which is an uncanny view, really. It has always been a frontier town on the border between Provence and Genoa and up until 1860 the town belonged to Italy. Even at that time it was a fashionable tourist resort with grand maisons and gardens, but less crowded than Nice or Monaco. Walking the streets and visiting defferent sights, the old heritage really shows Menton's soul.
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