Provence and the French Riviera: Villefranche sur Mer and Beaulieu-sur-Mer

Provence and the French Riviera are an amazing collection of charming cities and villages with breathtaking coastlines, and sunshine that nourishes and restores the soul.  It is our home for two months.  We're here to explore the area, but some days we feel like just taking a nice walk and enjoy the spectacular views from the Villa we were fortunate enough to rent.

Our first sunset the day we arrived. 

We have a nice hike we do regularly which takes us up to Fort Alban. 

View of Nice and the snow covered Alps in the background.

Stones for those who care to practice their climbing.  I'll use it to hold me up.

 Fort du mont Alban is a military fortification built from 1557 to 1560.  The exterior walls are almost perfectly preserved.  It looks out over the coastline of the French Riviera.  While we can't go inside the fort it's worth the walk, so as to admire the views.

Fort Alban

Colorful tile roof

The front wall of the fort which unfortunately is not open to the public.

View from Fort Alban

View of the fort from our Villa

The sprawling city of Nice

The bay of Nice

Sunrise from our Villa

The weather has been gorgeous.  It's been nice enough that we've been eating lunch at various restaurants by the water.  

Mussels, french fries and a bottle of wine.  Lunch in Villefranche-sur-Mer.  Delicious!

Note the cobble stones used in the construction and repair of the streets.  They are all placed by hand.

The water is crystal clear

It's in the high 50's F but warm enough in the sun to lay out on the beach.

Tom is starting the climb up the stairs.

View up the walkway

 Rue Obscure in Villefranche-sur-Mer is a covered and arcaded street from the 13th Century.  It is the oldest street in Villefranche.  This street was originally open to the sky.  A person figured out that he could enlarge his house by extending the upper levels over the street.  Others copied his idea and covered most of a 400 foot long section of the street. 

Rue Obscure which means dark street.

Some people are brave enough to swim in the Mediterranean even in the winter.  As one woman entered the water I heard a great deal of "oh la la, oh la la."  The temperature is approximately 55 F.

View of Villefranche-sur-Mer from across the bay.

While it's lovely to sit around enjoying the views, or hiking up to Fort Alban, I'm insisting that we need to expand our sights and be tourists.  We walked to Villa Kerylos one day in Beaulieu-sur-Mer.  The round trip was 6.5 miles.  The Villa Kerylos was built between 1902 and 1908 for Theodore Reinach.  It is based on the nobel houses found on the island of Delos (Greece) from the 2nd century BC. Not only was a Greek house created but they also reproduced furniture, tableware, fabrics and decoration.  This was the Reinach family's holiday house. 

This is the bathing room and confirms the ritual and social importance of baths in ancient times.

The dining room has woven leather beds the same height as the tables so people could eat from a reclining position.  Somehow that doesn't appeal to me.

It's important to look up at the ceilings as well as see the floors you walk on.

How's this for a shower after spending the day swimming in the ocean or playing on the beach.

There was a recurring pattern found in the furniture, ceilings, doors and floors.

All the custom cabinets had beautiful inlays.

Lovely cabinet, mosaic floor, and marble walls.

The men's lounge with mosaic floors, custom made furniture and Italian marble walls.

A sample of one of the tile floors whose pattern is found repeated on the furniture.

In the entrance hall on the floor is this mosaic depicting family symbols - a cockerel, a hen and chicks.

We had lunch in Beaulieu-sur-Mer outside on the terrace of a hotel/restaurant.