The Alpes-Maritimes department in south-east France, including the world-famous Côte d’Azur, is home to several hundred medieval hill villages, fortified towns and ruined iron age camps and many are close to Nice.  The “villages perchés” vary from little more than a pile of ruins to perfectly renovated sophisticated small towns…Continue …

Contributor blog post by Phoebe Thomas: I was drinking my coffee this morning in a reflective mood remembering this day 16 years ago when I hoped my first baby would be born; the date was 9.9.99 and I liked it as a birth date.  Baby had other ideas however and …

Contributor blog post by Phoebe Thomas: With the best of intentions earlier this summer I set out to write about a beach a week, which didn’t seem such a hard target, however last week got the better of me and I forgot!  But summer isn’t over in the South of …

Contributor blog post by Phoebe Thomas: Continuing on our tour of beaches on the French Riviera, this week’s destination isn’t really one beach but a whole island of beaches.  Ile Sainte-Marguerite is located just off Cannes, easily reached by a 15 minute ferry ride, and bursting with tiny rocky bays, …

Contributor blog post by Phoebe Thomas: This is the next addition in her series on “A Beach a Week.” Enjoy the latest glimpse at the best of the Cote d’Azur. In case you’re not aware, I’ve been running a little summer series, writing about one local beach each week for …

Contributor blog post by Phoebe Thomas: Today’s beach in my series a-beach-a-week is one of the longest sandy beaches on the Côte d’Azur, situated just east of Fréjus at the edge of St Aygulf in the Var.  Esclamandes beach consists of 4 sections – family (regular), nudist, kitesurf and dogs …

Ratatouille, pronounced ra-ta-too-ee, is a delicious vegetable stew from Nice, commonly found all over Provence and the South of France.  I have to mention that it was this long before the Pixar film of the same name, and the reason I say that is that if you google “ratatouille”, the …

Contributor blog post by Phoebe Thomas: Villeneuve-Loubet beach, east of Marina Baie des Anges, is our closest stretch of coast and we’re rather fond of it.  It’s where we pop out to for a quick evening dip, or where we meet friends for an evening picnic/apéro.  It’s really not on …

Contributor blog post by Phoebe Thomas: In a complete contrast to last week’s beach which was wild, fairly empty and reasonably isolated today I’m taking you to a city beach, la Réserve – it’s actually in the port area of Nice – which is always crowded and absolutely tiny!  The …

Contributor blog post by Phoebe Thomas It’s no secret, I love living where I live.  I’ve lived a nomadic life moving country 9 times though sometimes all those other countries seem a very long time ago as I’ve now been in France for nearly 18 years.  But even within France …