An Early Valentine to Villefranche-sur-Mer

The Chapelle de St. Pierre des Pecheurs decorated in and out by Jean Cocteau.

My infatuation with Villefranche-sur-Mer (hence to be identified as VSM for the remainder of this blog) should have begun when Peter and I made our first visit t the south of France in 2005.

Our itinerary was brief, drive first from Nice to Cap d'Ail, then Arles, then back to Nice and home. Why Cap d'Ail? Porquoi-pas (why not). I knew nothing of the region, knew nothing of the hotels, and I had just enough Marriott Rewards for a two-night stay at the Marriott Cap d'Ail. Doesn't sound very European, but the hotel was actually quite nice with a balcony overlooking the marina and in a short walk we were in Monaco.

There are three coastal roadways that run between Nice and Monaco; they are known as the Grande Corniche, Moyenne Corniche and the Basse Corniche or Corniche Inferieure. This was my first time driving in Europe, and considering that I was tired from my overnight flight, it was raining, the signage was in French (Duh!) and I was driving a Chrysler PT Cruiser (considered a small car in the US but actually pretty large for European roadways) I smartly opted for the Basse Corniche. This is the slowest route passing through all of the coastal towns en-route to Cap d'Ail. I suppose it is forgivable that I wasn't even aware of passing through VSM the very first town after leaving Nice.

What we saw of the Cote d'Azur so impressed me that I made a return solo visit to Nice in 2006 while Peter was traveling on an Eastern European tour with his sister. Trying to learn about the city of Nice, I never went beyond the city limits.

Fort du Mont Alban seen from VSM.

But when Peter and I returned to Nice the following year we were determined to be a little more adventurous in learning about the city and its environs. So adventurous indeed! We arranged for three private car day-trips from the hotel. The first full-day trip took us to Biot, Vallauris, St. Paul-de-Vence, Gourdon and Grasse. 

The last trip was to the market in Ventimiglia, Italy. 

The trip in-between to visit Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu, and the Musee Ephrussi de Rothschild on Cap Ferrat. took us from Nice to the top of Mont Boron where we stopped at the Fort du Mont Alban, a military fort built in the 16th century. From it's elevated position at 220 meters there are spectacular views of Nice to the west and of Villefranche-sur-Mar to the East. We descended to the village itself for a very brief visit. Little did I know that this would be the first of many visits and stays.

I became very smitten with VSM during our stay in the spring of 2010. As I have related in an earlier blog, we stayed at the fabulous Romantic Riviera Villa. This property is in the hills above the old-town, situated between the Moyenne Corniche and the Basse Corniche. In that we were to travel to Italy and that there were at least 356 steps down to the old-town, we had a car that I would drive down to the municipal parking lot daily so that Peter could have his grand creme and croissant. After breakfasting, we would often stroll through the few streets before driving off for sight-seeing at the neighboring towns.

Restaurants to the right of the apartment.

Roadway curves around the harbor to the beach.

The apartment seen from the beach.

It was during one of these strolls that I took the large photo above without realizing that I was looking at the apartment we would rent two years later. In April 2012 we returned to VSM for a two-week stay, we rented the apartment directly below the top-floor wrap-around balcony. The apartment called Le Petit Bijou (The Little Jewel) is beautifully situated. The town rises up behind, the cafes, bars, and restaurants were to our right, the beach to our left and the harbor and Cap Ferrat were directly ahead.

The views from our balcony were fantastic. With a new Cyber-shot camera, having a 30x Optical Zoom I caught intimate images that I would never have tried for before. 

Another unique feature of my camera is to apply a watercolor effect to your photos.
While I pride myself on not doctoring my photographs, I couldn't resist with this scene.

Alexandra and Brigitte - La Grignotiere

But the real love affair with VSM happened outside our building's entrance door. The pedestrian street, rue du Poilu, runs through the old town. From our door to the train station in one direction and through town to our favorite restaurant in the opposite. Brigitte at La Grignotiere, despite serving me many meals over the last  three years, never, ever, spoke to me in English requiring me to place all my meal orders in my best French. Practically everyone else spoke to us in English. We marveled at their command of our language while we could barely say Bon Jour! 

Walking rue du Poilu every day, to the boulangerie, to the cafe, restaurants, and to the mini Casino Supermarche (all the while practicing our Bon Jours) made us so recognizable to the shop keepers and locals we passed,  that by the end of our stay we felt accepted and very much at home away from home. 

The entrance to the apartment is at the top of rue du Poilu,
right behind the cluster of people in this picture.

Two things happened on our very first day in VSM that helped to make this trip extra delightful. The doorbell rang and I answered to find three American ladies looking for my landlady Shelley for an appointment to see the apartment above ours. I directed them to wait at the Place du Conseil, a lovely little square across from our entrance. As they waited, we introduced ourselves and chatted. Once they had met Shelley and had seen the apartment above, we invited them to visit our apartment. From that day on, we continually ran into them, seeing them at lunch or dinner or passing them on the streets. We eventually invited them to a "Cocktail Party" at Le Petit Bijou which was a wild success. My first party in France!

Was it Jody, Susan, Judy? or Judy, Jody, ach!
They should have had name tags.
But they were delightful! Taken at Le Bistrot de la Rade.

Place du Conseil

The other remarkable happening that first evening occurred as I was looking at my emails on my iPad. (That's right, on vacation and I took the electronics with me) Imagine my surprise at receiving an email from a woman Peter and I had met two years earlier in VSM! Shelley, who hosts a soiree for her guests at her office or cave (as a good portion of the space is carved out of the hillside), had invited us on the last evening of our stay where we met Susan and Simon among others. Susan had come across my blog and recognizing my picture, sent me such a pleasant message that ended with her saying that she was anticipating their return to VSM and to their favorite apartment in which she had stayed... Le Petit Bijou. I had a photo of that fateful meeting, that I sent to Susan and that I include here.

I don't have all their names, Peter at left, Shelley at right.
If I'm correct Susan and Simon and their daughter
are center left.

There's no substitute for getting to know people while on vacation, be they natives of the lands you are visiting or fellow travelers. We met so many people at our meals and had a great time comparing stories. But my final anecdote that I will share with you concerns Shelley. As part of my 2010 VSM holiday, I had made pre-paid reservations for two for the Les Petits Farcis cooking class in Nice taught by Rosa Jackson.  Unfortunately, my cooking partner, Noemi, had been unable to make the trip to France, and I was faced with forcing Peter to take the course with me. 

I had felt instantly comfortable with Shelley, when we first met at the Romantic Riviera Villa that I invited her to join me at the class. She accepted and offered to drive us both to and from Nice. It takes only 15 minutes to drive between towns, but in that short time, I got to know about Shelley, about VSM, about France. And the class was great! We shopped at the market in Nice, and prepared Cod Fish with garlic confit and olive-oil mashed potatoes, and a Strawberry Tart made with olive oil and as Rosa said "the very best strawberries you can find". Considering that it took Rosa 10 minutes to select from Carpentras and Carros strawberries at the market, the results were indeed excellent.

Of course this is only a brief snap-shot of all that VSM has to offer, Even with all my visits, I still haven't explored all this beautiful town has to offer. Nor do I have the room in one blog to showcase the various other photos that I find interesting.

For all these reasons, images and memories, I Heart Villefranche-sur-Mer. 

I'm sending this early valentine to the town, to Shelley, Susan, Rosa, Judy, Jody, and Susan, Noemi, Brigitte and Alexandra and a Happy Valentine's Day to you and all my other lady friends as well.