Eze Village and the Nietzsche trail

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Panoramic winter view of Eze Village and Eze sur Mer taken from the Fort de la Revère, at 700m altitude. In the distance you can see Cap Ferrat, the Bay of Villefranche and the Cape of Nice

Eze is one of the stops on the picturesque 40km stretch of railway line that runs east along the coast from Nice to Ventimiglia at the Italian border, passing through Monaco and Menton on the way. Listed in most of the guidebooks, the commune of Eze is structured on three layers up the side of a mountain and is famous for its eagle’s nest Village, perched at an altitude of 450m.

– At sea level, Eze Bord-de-Mer is mainly noted for a nice beach (rocky like most of the beaches in the area) with good surfing waves in the winter at the bottom of a beautiful bay surrounded by mountains. It is mainly a starting point for the hike up to Eze Village, as the train station is located there and the coastal buses pass along the main road.
– Eze Village is perched on a rocky promontory, just above the panoramic “Moyenne Corniche” road linking Nice to Monaco, at an altitude of about 430m.
– The Col d’Eze/Plateau de la Justice, located at 650m above sea level is a good spot for coastal hikes and picnics.

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Cap d’Ail and the Mala Beach coastal path

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View near the start of the Mala footpath looking back towards Monaco

This is really one of my favourite walks down the coast from Monaco into the town of Cap d’Ail just west (in the direction of Nice).  This small and pleasant residential town, built in several layers between sea level and the mountainside of the Tête de Chien, is not just a dormitory town for people working in Monaco, even though it is only one station away by train: there are several noteworthy attractions, notably the nice beaches, Belle Epoque architecture and various rather luxurious villas with numerous famous residents over the years, such as Greta Garbo, Winston Churchill, Lord Beaverbrook, Sacha Guitry and the Lumière Brothers.  If you’re interested in this, I’d advise to check out the  Cap d’Ail Tourist Office website, which has quite a lot of decent information.  

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Cap Martin and the Sentier des Douaniers

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Cap Martin and the Golfe Bleue beach

This coastal footpath is part of a longer walk between Monaco and Menton, alongside the picturesque Cap Martin, a rather wild peninsula with very secluded villas separating the two towns.  It affords fantastic views of Monaco, the perched village of medieval Roquebrune, Menton and the Italian coastline so is well worth a few hours on a beautiful afternoon.  The most scenic part however is located between the railway stations of Carnolès and Roquebrune-Cap Martin so I will be covering this in that direction, as the views are slightly nicer.  Walking at a leisurely pace, this section can be covered in about 2 hours and combined with a visit to Menton or Monaco to make a pretty complete day trip.

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Typical medieval alleyway in the Old Town of Monaco

Walking Tour around the Old Town of Monaco

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Typical medieval alleyway in the Old Town of Monaco

This is basically part of the walking tour I recommended to guests staying at my hotel a few years ago.  Allow about 90 minutes at a leisurely pace, excluding food pitstops or visits of monuments.

The tour starts at the Place d’Armes: the central market square within easy downhill access from the train station (turn right when exiting the train from Nice towards the “Fontvieille” exit” and go through the tunnel with travellators then follow the signposts and the crowds of people). The typically “Provençal” (ie. slightly overpriced but with lots of good quality “Mediterranean” produce) market is open every morning until around 12pm, so could be worth a quick stopover to have a nice coffee or to grab a snack – there are several reasonable places inside, including one selling “socca”, a typical regional pancake made of chick pea flower. The Place d’Armes is also a great place for people-watching and to see real Monegasque locals going about their daily business (quite a feat especially in the summer), and where most gossip is exchanged about what is going on in town.

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The whole Rock of Monaco viewed from the Jardin Exotique

Introduction to the Old Town of Monaco

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The whole Rock of Monaco viewed from the Jardin Exotique

This is also known as “Monaco Ville” or “Le Rocher” (the Rock) and is the government and historical centre of the Principality, as well as being one of the two main tourist sites. The old town of Monaco might seem a bit too clean and glitzy for connaisseurs of other more authentic villages in the region, such as Sainte Agnès, La Brigue or even Villefranche – it is Monaco after all…  However, if you follow the advice below, it is always possible to have a nice walk around, trying to avoid the hordes of tourists and souvenir shops. That is why the best time of day is dusk, once the souvenir shops have closed, the streets are quieter and the crowds of tourists have taken their coaches either back to their cruise ship or to drive round the harbour and “visit Monte Carlo” in 15 minutes.

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A walk around the historical neighbourhood of Cimiez in Nice

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The lovely park of Cimiez, full of olive trees and nostalgia from the Jazz Festival that used to take place here

Cimiez may be slightly off the main tourist trail but is definitely one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Nice, located about 2 kms north-east of the Nice Ville train station on top of a small hill.  This pleasant and upper-class residential district used to be the Roman settlement of Cemenelum before becoming in the late 19th century one of the favourite haunts of the rich and famous, notably British aristocrats, explaining the sumptuous Belle Epoque architecture.  Queen Victoria was a regular at the Regina Palace Hotel, which still dominates the hill with its magnificent 200m wide façade, even though it is no longer a hotel, hence her statue at the entrance of the neighbourhood.  Attractions include the Matisse Museum, the Roman amphitheatre and archaeology museum, a neo-Palatine Monastery and an olive-filled park where the famous Nice Jazz Festival used to take place every July until it sold out, became too commercial and was moved to the centre of Nice. Here’s a quick guide to the area.

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Monaco or Monte-Carlo? What’s the difference?

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There’s always been a certain degree of confusion between the two names, which is especially unfortunate as both of them are pretty famous. So just to clarify once and for all, here’s the difference.

MONACO is basically the name of the country. Yes, Monaco is actually a real country, a constitutional monarchy in the same vein as San Marino or the Vatican but with more leeway and independence, a full member of the United Nations and the Council of Europe and with its own royal family (or “princely” family), led since 2005 by H.S.H. Prince Albert II. More on this elsewhere.

View over most of the Principality of Monaco east from the Palace square

The city of Monaco is split up, like any other town, into several neighbourhoods: among others, MONTE-CARLO, which happens to be the area on the hill overlooking the main harbor that houses the casino and the luxury hotels.

The emblematic Casino of Monte-Carlo by night during the Xmas festivities

Contrary to some information that freely circulates online, Monte Carlo isn’t the capital of the country. The official capital is the neighbourhood known as “Monaco-Ville”, also known as “Le Rocher”, which is basically the large promontory that cannot be missed once you are in town and that houses the medieval Old Town, the Oceanographic Museum and the Prince’s Palace, as well as several government institutions.

Oh and finally… Despite the fact that the names are almost homonyms in several languages, including Chinese, neither Monaco nor Monte-Carlo have anything to do with Morocco!

 

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Welcome to the French Riviera Blog

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Welcome to the all-new French Riviera Blog! The aim of this website is to provide totally opinionated information for visitors to or residents of the French Riviera to make the most of their time here, avoid getting ripped off at tourist traps and to enjoy the very best that the area has to offer, for all sorts of budgets.

The coastline off Villa Hanbury, just across the border in Italy near Ventimiglia

Naturally, all the opinions provided are totally personal and unbiased: I simply recommend places that I have personally visited and where I have had an enjoyable experience (and I do enjoy eating out and sampling lots of places). There is therefore never any form of bribery involved for a good review!

Reviews will tend to be more oriented around the, prettier in my opinion, area between Nice and Monaco, simply because I live there and therefore have easier access to the destinations.

What are my qualifications for writing about the Riviera? Well, as a foreigner who has lived in Monaco since 1989, I have always perceived the area as a place where there is constantly something new to be discovered, unlike London which is where I was born and bred.

In September 2004, I figured it would be fun to run my own business and, despite never having worked in the tourist industry, therefore decided to purchase a small hotel in the centre of Nice, Hotel Notre Dame: life was a rollercoaster ride ever since, with enough interesting adventures within the day to day management of the hotel to write a very thick novel.

Hotel Notre Dame in Nice, where it all started...

One of the advantages of the hotel however was that, given the hugely cosmopolitan nature of the client base – this may seem like a cliché but in my case, the clients really did come from all over the world – it was a real pleasure to chat with them, exchange information about the Riviera and to learn more about their own cultures.

I ended up selling the hotel in March 2007 and am now back in Monaco doing something completely different but still enjoying life here.

I have tried since I moved here in 1989 to glean as much practical information as possible about what to see, do and where to eat in the area, and figured that a blog would be an ideal platform for potential visitors to learn more about the Riviera, beyond the stereotypes of glitz, glamour and Z-list celebrities that may be spread around by the press (with the notable exception of St Tropez in the summer!).

And finally, I have done quite a fair bit of travelling myself, all around the world. Some of these experiences will find their way onto this blog in due course.

Professionally, I have done all sorts of things in addition to owning and running a hotel: after studying in London and York in the UK and living/working in Brussels and Beijing, I returned to live in Monaco in 2002. My experiences here included a role as purchasing manager in textiles, as commercial manager for a company selling Italian food to supermarkets all over France and my last position, in the first half of 2011, as part of the press team at the Prince’s Palace of Monaco helping to promote the Monaco Royal wedding in July, a once in a lifetime experience.

I have also been, since 2003, an active member of the Junior Chamber International in Monaco (JCI Monaco), an amazing global association promoting leadership and entrepreneurship among young people aged under 40. In March 2009, I was fortunate enough to have been elected as National President  of JCI Monaco for 2010 and the organisation has helped me meet some amazing people from all over the world and gain some fabulous experiences, some of which will be recalled in this blog. So I can definitely recommend joining, especially for new residents to meet like-minded people in a friendly atmosphere.

JCI Monaco, an ideal way to meet like-minded young people in Monaco

Anyway, enough talk… I hope you enjoy reading my posts and if you have any feedback, positive or negative, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me – I won’t bite!