During my walking tours of Nice, I like to introduce visitors to local specialties. For this purpose, I often offer them a taste of a signature dish from Nice: “La tourte aux blette” (Swiss chard pie). There are two types of this delicious tart, one sweet and one savoury. The …

After a long stretch of scorching summer days, cooler autumn weather in Provence offers a chance to serve warm, hearty meals. Fall mornings wrapped in a cloth of humidity with heavy dew and fog clouding the early hours until the sun does its work. With the hard work finished for …

Like theTour Eiffel of Paris or the Big Ben of London, La chaise bleue has long been considered the symbol of Nice. The iconic chairs, as blue as the rippling Bay of Angels they overlook, are wedged in rows of 20 along the famous Promenade des Anglais. While in winter …

The funny thing about life and travel is that we are often more curious about a new environment than our status-quo location. According to Margo Lestz, “Life in a foreign country is never dull and each day is a new learning experience.” She launched her blog The Curious Rambler in 2012 …

Italian by birth, Giuseppina Mabilia first visited Provence in 2004, and now she calls the Luberon village of Goult home. The years in between have allowed Giuseppina to establish herself as a private chef in the region, and more recently launch her cooking school Venise en Provence.  Although the geographic distance …

Summer holidays call for easy recipes and portable meals that work just as well at the beach as on a buffet table. This summer picnic menu is inspired by the endless sunny days and cicada-filled symphonies of Provence. Enjoy summer dining al fresco with these simple to make, easy to pack and delicious …

Barbara Schuerenberg says, “I always joke that I learned to cook out of self-defence as our mother was a terrible cook.”  Clearly, she was successful in that pursuit as she enters into her sixth year of running her cooking school Cuisine de Provence in Vaison la Romaine. German-born Barbara’s journey …

Like an old postcard or an entry in a dusty travel journal the city of Nice has long summoned me to return and I did! The half-moon smile of Baie des Anges still grins under 300+ days of sunshine as locals and tourists slide by on the Promenade des Anglais. …

How do you test a hotel’s 5-star rating? Forget about checking for dust on picture frames — deliver a thunderstorm in the middle of a meal service. L’Orangerie’s terrace was brimming with lunchtime customers enjoying their market-fresh plats du jour and local rosés when the typically far-reaching view of the Luberon vanished …

Let’s just say it had been a few years since I had spent any time in Nice. My last visit was during an era when backpacks with external frames were acceptable, walkmans were hip, travel on $20 a day was possible and the Euro had not been invented. I was …