My 4 day vacation in the French Riviera recap
Posted by
Hotkiss (aka hotkiss7348)
Jun 6 '11, 07:28
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Mind you, this was my first time to Europe so I'm sure a lot of the things I was fascinated with could apply to other countries too. Also, "going to Europe" has always been an absolute dream of mine and much of what I had expected almost bordered on fantasy-like based on tv and movies. Lastly, I don't imagine I'll get a chance to visit Europe again for at least 1.5+ years.
The afternoon I arrived, we stopped briefly in Villefranche where my jaw dropped at the glamour of the port, deliciousness of the 2 pastries we got, and utter charm of the town. I later realized that little town is just a normal, almost non-descript example of the region and what was to come.
Monaco was cute as a button and I felt like I'd never seen such luxury in my life. The buildings, nestled in the hillsides like shy rabbits, were what I had steretypically imagined "Europe" to be like. A bunch of Formula 1 stuff was still up so we had fun taking pictures with it.
Over the next few days, we hit up villages like Eze, Saint Paul, Boit, Antibes, the island of Saint Honorat off the coast of Cannes, and Mougin. We visited markets (adorable), galleries and museums, explored the hilltop towns, and took evening walks around the luxury zones and ports. Everything was just so darn pretty! If the Rivera was a kitten, I'd just want to cuddle with it forever and ever.
We were on a pretty tight budget and the brutal Euro was no fun at all. Still, I splurged on a 34E dinner for the both of us because I wasn't about to come all this way without eating out at least once. (With that said, his mother was a great cook.) We got some butter and garlic mussels, stuffed vegetables, something akin to ratatouille, creme caramel, a proschutto pizza, and I of course had to try the escargot. The food was great because we were starving, but disappointingly nothing extraordinary; however, the colorful covered art market we ate in was worth the money.
As far as the beaches go, they were definitely nice, but I think I've been spoiled by Tunisia :)
Even now the whole trip felt like a wonderful, glorious dream. One of the best takeaways is that I now feel I have a much fuller understanding for Tunisia. At least on a basic level, I can now distinguish what was essentially French-influenced and what is proudly Arabesque in this integrally fused culture.
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