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Fabulous-French-Riviera
Fabulous-French-Riviera

Fabulous French Riviera.

Fabulous French Riviera

St Tropez

Fabulous French Riviera or Côte d’Azur, what can I say that has not been said or written about before. So I guess I’ll just highlight my favourite parts of this famous coastline, and try to pass on some travel tips and advice. For the best deals on hotel bookings with a choice of when to pay + a lowest price guarantee, just click here.

Magnificent motor yacht 

french riviera

One thing is certain, no matter how big your boat is, someone will stop beside you in a bigger one. The wealthy are always trying to out do each other, well good luck to them, I like most people love to see how the rich & famous live. That is not an example of the rich & famous below, that’s me David Herd and my friend Jodie O’Neill from Australia.

St Tropez

french riviera

Strangely enough my two favourite places are at opposite ends of the Riviera, St Tropez for sheer opulence, people watching, & great restaurants and bars. Beside the Italian border is Mentone a much more subdued city but with many things to offer the tourist. You can leave your car at the hotel and jump on a train to have lunch at Nice or Monte Carlo, or go the other way into Italy. St Tropez is not on a railway line so once you are there the car is your only option. The photo below is the St Tropez flea market open every Saturday at 6.30 am, these are the biggest Paellas I have ever seen.


St Tropez Saturday market.

french riviera

The biggest paella I have ever seen.

Pebbles on the beach at Nice.

french riviera

One of the most popular cites on the Riviera.

  This does not look comfortable

Fabulous French Riviera

 However I would be very happy lying beside her, I would gladly put up with the pain from the pebbles.

:)

The harbour at Nice.

french riviera There are thousands of boats of all shapes and sizes along the whole French Riviera, no matter where you go you can smell the money.

Monte Carlo harbor & Castle.

Monte Carlo Monaco At the end of the 12th century B.C., the Romans occupied the region. Monaco is part of the Province of the Maritime Alps. During their occupation, the Romans erected at La Turbie, the Trophy of Augustus, which celebrates the triumph of their military campaigns.

Mentone

Fabulous French Riviera

Menton was a real surprise packet, a great place to be based, close to Italy as well as the French Riveria.

Art gallery Mentone

Fabulous French Riviera

Lots of interesting shops in Mentone

The Sultan arrives, chopper on-board of course. :)

Antibes Mediterranean resort

There is so much wealth here on the Fabulous French Riviera.

Paella in Antibes

Spanish Paella

Great food, here I am eating Spanish food in France.

Antibes

Antibes French Riviera After the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire, various barbarian tribes seized Antibes. This resulted in destruction and a long period of instability. In the 10th century, Antibes found a protector in Seigneur Rodoart, who built extensive fortified walls around the town and a castle in which to live. For the next 200 years, the town experienced a period of renewal. Prosperity was short-lived, as the whole region fell into disarray for several centuries. The inhabitants of Antibes stayed behind their strong city walls as a succession of wars and epidemics ravaged the countryside. In the 1244, Antibes’s bishop moved his see to Grasse. By the end of the 15th century, the region was under the protection and control of King Louis XI of France. Relative stability returned, but the small port of Antibes fell into obscurity. From around the middle of the 19th century the Antibes area regained its popularity, as wealthy people from around Europe discovered its natural beauty and built many luxurious homes here.

Cafe de Paris in Monte Carlo.

Cafe Paris Here are my friends Jodie O’Neill & Deborah Holliday putting on the ritz at Cafe de Paris in Monte-Carlo.

Another Cafe de Paris in St Tropez.

The Cafe de Paris St Tropez

People watching is the main pastime in St Tropez.

St Tropez’s most famous face, Brigitte Bardot.

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot; born 28 September 1934) is a French former actress, singer and fashion model, now an animal rights activist. She was one of the best known sex symbols of the 1950s and ’60s. Starting in 1969, Bardot’s features became the official face of Marianne (who had previously been anonymous) to represent the liberty of France. Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer in early life. She started her acting career in 1952 and, after appearing in 16 obscure films, became world-famous in 1957 with the release of the controversial film And God Created Woman. She later starred in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 film Le Mépris. Bardot was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress for her role in Louis Malle’s 1965 film Viva Maria! Bardot caught the attention of French intellectuals. She was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir’s 1959 essay, The Lolita Syndrome, which described Bardot as a “locomotive of women’s history” and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France. Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973. During her career in show business, she starred in 47 films, performed in several musical shows, and recorded over 60 songs. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985, but refused to receive it. After her retirement, Bardot established herself as an animal rights activist. During the 1990s, she generated controversy by criticizing immigration and Islam in France, and has been fined five times for inciting racial hatred.

Nice & Antibes are very nice places, Monte Carlo is unbelievable and over the top as you would expect, and as for Cannes in my book, forget it, unless you are there for the film festival. Below is the world famous Monte Carlo Casino, perhaps the most famous landmark on the French Riviera.

Monte Carlo Casino

Monte Carlo Casino

Thanks for visiting my Fabulous French Riviera photo blog.

Lets finish how we started

Fabulous French Riviera

It’s a long way to Byron Bay. 🙂

That’s all folks

Playing Blackjack sexy girls

                            Here are some more posts to check out
 
         

 

Everything you wanted to know about Bangkok but were afraid to ask. 🙂

 

 

Super travel tips.

Hotel bookings. The best deals including your choice of when to pay, now or later, + best price guarantee.

A good hotel in St Tropez is Les Palmiers, 150 Euros per night. Click here.

One of Europe’s best markets is in Ventimiglia over the border from Mentone every Friday.

You can fly Singapore Airlines from Asia to Nice via Milan.

Lots of tourist information here on this very good site.


La mer - Mr. Bean holiday

Counter only started February 16 2020.

Author: David Herd

My history, particularly over the last 30 years is dominated by overseas travel. I sold my home in Australia October 20th 2011 and have have been living in Thailand since then. I don’t know where the time has gone? It seems like you go to sleep one night, wake up the next morning, and 20 years have flashed by. Not sure how many years I have left, however I have enjoyed a wonderful charmed life, and if it all ended today I would leave this world with no regrets. I was born in Sydney halfway through the last century, started my travels in the 60s with the usual U.K. Europe adventure at the age of 20, back to Australia and worked in Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide in Sales & Marketing with multinational companies including Sanyo, Canon & Remington. Engaged to be married 3 times and never quite made it to the alter, finally realized by the mid 90s I was not cut out for "long term relationships" so I moved to the Gold Coast in Queensland in January 1987, worked for a couple of banks as a Financial Planner, I took a year off work in 1998 to travel and never went back to full time work again, after 25 fun filled years on the Coast I packed up and moved to Thailand. What is the purpose of this blog? Well I really want to use it to record my travel experiences & to display my photographs, give and receive travel tips, comment on places I visit, restaurants I eat in and use it to replace the autobiography I intended to write, apart from all that it helps me fill in my day. :) I moved to Thailand mainly because I wanted to keep travelling while my health allowed me to, there are huge advantages being closer to all the places I want to visit. Cost of living in Thailand is around 35% of the cost in Australia, plus flights are 50% cheaper because you are much closer to everywhere. ???? Consequently I am able to travel to many more places compared to living in Australia. Having said all that, it is & has always been my intention to return to Australia when my travelling is finished, I predict this will happen around 2021.

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