Plages and Calanques on the Cote d'Azur

The Cote d'Azur has the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranean. Amy and I spent about 1 month travelling from Marseille to Menton on an unforgettable journey filled with beaches, blue water, parks, wonderful people, and music. For this month, we lived the epitome of the beach life while France rose to be the 2018 Champion du Monde.

Quintessential Cote d'Azur. This is the beach in Nice, the most colorful water in the Mediterranean. It is called Promenade des Anglais.

It is important to find time to relax, to think (or stop thinking) while travelling. When you are moving in and out of homes on a weekly basis, navigating the public transportation system, packing and re-packing, life can get stressful and the intention of your travels can get lost in the noise. While in the south of France, my intention was to experience the different walks of life on the most prestigious beaches in the world. Life can be simple and calm in the many small towns tucked away in the blue water bays, or you can get lost in the commotion of the big cities like Marseille and Nice. I got to see how the richest of the rich partied on their yachts in Saint Tropez (I could not afford to partake 🙁), and how the locals cherish the sea during the hot summer months in Menton.  Many times the walks of life are dictated by wealth, but there are some places like the Calanque d'En-Vau, where all you need is a bathing suit to have all the fun in the world! I also spent a good deal of time enjoying Gin and Tonics on the beach, arguably the most important thing to do while on the beach :)

Laying in the water with a Gin and Tonic in La Ciotat. This was our daily beach spot, where Amy and I relaxed and started getting some color.

Travelling between the many towns and cities of the Cote d'Azur is easy. Although the local train system, SNCF, is not timely and a bit unreliable, it is the best option because it is very convenient and affordable. Additionally, the local markets operate regularly (some daily) and have a large variety of fresh vegetables, the best in the Mediterranean. Having convenient transportation and food goes a long way when travelling for extended periods of time.

Our route from Marseille to Menton. We always took the SNCF train to travel from stop to stop, even though this map shows driving directions (due to limitations of Google Maps).

Marseille was our first stop on the Cote d'Azure. During our one and only night, we saw the city come to life in the late hours. Since we had very limited time, we only explored the Opera and Saint-Victor districts. This area is packed with restaurants and bars down the little alleys. It is very fun to walk around, grab dinner, a few drinks, and hit the clubs if you are up to it. I'll admit we were not up to it after a very long travel, lame I know.

Amy standing in front of the beautiful train station in Marseilles, Gare de Marseilles Saint Charles.

Gare de Marseilles Saint Charles with the beautiful Amy in the foreground and Boulevard d'Athènes in the background.

Next on our route was La Ciotat, a fun town next to a world class national park that has turned out to be one of my favorite places in the world! La Ciotat gave me the first impression of what the beach life is all about. For about 1 week, we went to the beach every day with Gin and Tonics. There is nothing like a beautiful beach, clear blue water, and the sun shining. Time spent under the hot sun in the cool water makes my limbic system happy 😊.

The beaches in La Ciotat are nice and plentiful. There are pebbly ones, others are sandy, the water is turquoise and blue, and there are many fishes.

The shipyard crane in La Ciotat.

Looking like a bathing suit model!

On our way to the Calanque du Grand Mugel.

Graffiti

Walking down alleyways in La Ciotat.

There is a world class national park near La Ciotat and Marseilles. The Parc national des Calanques is a unique place carved from the limestone by flowing glaciers millions of years ago. The steep, rocky bays are called calanques, and they look like they are from another planet. Amy and I went on a 5km hike from the port of Cassis to the famous Calanque d'En-Vau. It is a spectacular hike that takes you through trails on the cliffs, past the long winding Port Miou, the little swimming hole at Port Pin, up the 180m tall ridge where you get a panorama of the bay of Cassis, and finally down a precipitous trail to the awe inspiring Calanque d'En-Vau. We were impressed by how many people made the tough hike to calanque! Even with a couple hundred people, there was plenty of space to play around and sun bathe. The water is an amazing turquoise color, the beach is nice, and the limestone has several cliff jumping spots. It is a beautiful adult playground made by Mother Nature.

The Calanque d'En-Vau, a beautiful creation by Mother Nature. The limestone was carved by ice glaciers into these epic formations millions of years ago.

The beach at the Calanque d'En-Vau.

Cliffs at the Calanque d'En-Vau.

On the trail to the Calanque d'En-Vau. I was a bit lost at this moment, but we found our way. 

It was quite a strenuous hike!

At the top of the trail before the precipitous cliffs down to the Calanque d'En-Vau.

Amy, making her way down the steep trail.

Enjoying the Calanque d'En-Vau, a natural playground where all you need is a bathing suit to have all the fun in the world. The beautiful formations are carved from limestone by ice during the last ice age.

Amy should be a pro diver! After she showed off in front of the crowds, I had to step up and try some dives too. The water is crystal clear at the Calanque d'En-Vau.

Our hike back from the Calanque. We were exhausted!

In the afternoon, the light shines on those cliffs in the background to give it that amazing red color. In the morning it just looks black.

If you are in the area, you must make an effort to go here! Bring plenty of water, pack a hearty lunch, and wear athletic shoes (sneakers, hiking boots, etc). From the tourist office in La Ciotat, we caught two buses to the port of Cassis (use the Moovit app for options). On the return home, make sure to leave Cassis well before 7pm! The buses stop running around this time, and I learned the hard way. After making our 5km hike back from the Calanque d'En-Vau, we missed the last bus so we had to hike an extra 4km to the train station! The buses were not running in La Ciotat either, so we had to hitch hike back to our Airbnb. It was a very long day (7am to 10pm hiking and swimming).

The 5km hike from the port of Cassis to the Calanque d'En-Vau. Google maps is very accurate for this hike (but not for any public transportation in the area).

After our amazing stay in La Ciotat, we moved onto experience the pinnacle of wealth at Saint Tropez. To make our stay affordable, we rented an Airbnb in Saint Maxime, just a 20 minute ferry ride from Saint Tropez. Our time in Saint Maxime was enjoyable, but not a highlight. The beaches were a bit dirty, and the food a bit expensive. That being said, the beachfront cafes were great and the famous Tarte Tropézienne is very delicious. Saint Tropez is a different world, set apart from the rest simply by an outrageous concentration of wealth. It is a small fishing village turned yacht club, where the yachts now vastly outnumber the fishing boats. The mere fact that we did not arrive on a yacht, but the sheepish little ferry, set us apart from the elite. It was very impressive walking down the docks, admiring beautiful yacht after yacht, each with its own style. We got a drink at the Dior Hotel, where they poured my Heineken in a wine glass while I was being sprayed by a pleasant mist from the umbrellas. We did not stay for the night life given our budgeting issues, but I will be back when I have a yacht of my own 🤑. Saint Tropez is like Las Vegas and Monaco; it makes you feel like you have to be rich to deserve having fun.

This fishing town turned yacht club is a spectacle. The yachts now vastly outnumber the fishing boats in Saint Tropez.

An awesome, blacked out yacht from Monaco. Most of the yachts are from Georgetown, Bahamas because of taxes.

Soaking in the sun and some bubbles at Mario Plage.

Mario Plage is the best beach for swimming and sun bathing in Saint Maxime.

Taking a dip on the hot day in Saint Tropez. This is around the corner from the port near Ponche Beach.

Colorful scooters and trees.

The gorgeous Amy lounging at the Dior Hotel.

Cannes, the city famous for the Cannes Film Festival, was a short and fun stop. The private beaches had cool sun bed docks (I haven't seen this anywhere else), and the fancy bars are well known. At the time, the bar scene was dominated by the World Cup, which was very fun because France was doing very well! Amy took me to a really nice rooftop bar with great drinks at the Five Seas Hotel.

Photo op at our Airbnb in Cannes. It was a wonderful place with a great view!

I had to bring Mavi in quickly because the seagulls were about to attack!

Cannes has sun beds on docks, very cool, and I have not seen any other private beach with docks like this in the Cote d'Azur. This was the Cristal Beach.

A beer on the beach 🍺 Can you beat it?

Happy about her Mojito 🍹

Nice alleys in Cannes.

After the short stay in Cannes, we visited the big and lively city of Nice. This is an amazing city surrounded by a wide variety of places to visit and activities. The "main street", Avenue Jean Médecin, is full of shopping and cafes. We walked down this street everyday on our way to the Jardin Albert and the beach. I'm not sure why, but Nice has the absolute bluest water in the Cote d'Azur. At midday, when the sun is shining down on the Promenade des Anglais (the beach front walking path), the water turns an amazing light turquoise blue. The best private beach was Castel Plage, which has a really cool island life atmosphere and nice sun beds. There is also a place to swim and jump off the rocks on this end of the beach (the East end). Near here, you can walk up the street to the famous #ILoveNice sign, and if you are up for a drink you can go around the bluff to La Shounga for 5‎€ margaritas (a good deal in this part of the world). Keep your eye out for mega yachts in the Nice Port nearby. After being re-energized by your margaritas, hike up to the Colline du Château where you will find some ancient ruins and amazing panoramic views of Nice. Make sure to leave well before closing time or else you will get LOCKED IN. I'm not kidding, Amy and I literally got locked inside the park with half a dozen other poor folks. After about an hour, we finally found an access road left open after hours on the other side of the park.

The incredible Promenade des Anglais in Nice, with the unmatched turquoise blue water!

The popular #ILoveNice sign.

A street artist on the Promenade in Nice.

I found blue water!

69 little boats in the Nice Port.

Chillin.

The beautiful view with Nice in the background.

Amy's and my favorite neighborhood in Nice was the old town, Vieille Ville. Here you will find the classic, small winding alleyways with many shops, restaurants, and bars. There is a bit for everyone here, from gelato to fashion to grimy bars. La Lupita was a really fun and tasty Mexican restaurant/bar with live music! If you want to get grimy and drink with the underage locals, I recommend the Irish pub L'Oxford. I didn't have the courage to go inside, but the bar tenders were very nice and served us a couple cold ones on the street tables outside. There are also many popular bars and restaurants on the beach front that get poppin in the evening.

We were so lucky to get to watch France become Champion du Monde during our time in Nice. We were in the thick of the celebrations all week, watching France shred its way through the World Cup tournament. We watched most of the games at densely packed sports bars and cafes. We had to arrive very early to get a good seat because most of the TVs had so much glare you could hardly see without grand orchestra seating. Everyone was decked out with the national team gear and face paint, perpetually, for the entire tournament. With each goal, the crowd erupted in cheers, screams, and song. They would sing the chorus of their national anthem, over and over and over:

Aux armes, citoyens,

Formez vos bataillons,

Marchons, marchons!

Qu'un sang impur

Abreuve nos sillons!

which translates to:

To arms, citizens,

Form your battalions,

Let's march, let's march!

Let an impure blood

Water our furrows!

And you wondered why the French are so damn proud... everyday they sing about slitting throats and watering their furrows with the blood of their enemies!

The city of Nice erupted in cheers and celebratory flames for the entire day and night after France won the World Cup. Flares filled the streets with colored smoke, revving engines of scooters and motorcycles were deafening, people climbed on top of parked buses, and the military calmly watched as the chaos engulfed the city. According to French football fans, it was the second best day in French history (the best being July 12th, 1998). It was a sight to behold.

Letting it all out during the Champion du Monde celebration in Nice.

The Promenade was consumed with people on foot and on scooters.

All the cold ones were gone within minutes at all the grocery stores after France won the World Cup. I had to drink warm beer!!!

There was a lot of tension on the web after France won the World Cup, which significantly detracted from the celebrations. People were lashing out against France's racist and xenophobic culture, which is somewhat called for given some of the employment statistics I've seen, immigration policy, and monetary policies of African CFA countries. Yes, most nations have deep rooted prejudices that are constantly being purged and hopefully improved upon, but winning the World Cup should be a time to celebrate the diversity of France, not shame it. The players are proud French citizens, representing their country above all. The values ingrained in the French culture by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, are different enough from our American culture to cause misunderstandings. The Declaration of the Rights of Man reads, concerning law, that "All the citizens, being equal in its eyes, are equally admissible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that of their virtues and of their talents." Since the law treats its citizens without distinction, it is embraced that all men are French citizens before anything else. This is very different than American culture, where we celebrate individual differences, and all are free to be different, rather than free of differences. Furthermore, France did NOT elect Marine Le Pen (yay!), Emmanuel Macron champions progressive policies, and I met a French Muslim from Algeria who was very patriotic and absolutely loved Marseilles. Hopefully you get my point, and I digress, onto more fun things.

After experiencing the World Cup, Amy and I extended our stay to attend the Nice Jazz Festival. It was incredible! The performance of Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa" by Gregory Porter, with a full ensemble, was moving. It is hard to describe the emotional experience of listening to Gregory Porter sing with strings, brass, percussion, the works. Then we saw Jack Johnson perform hit after hit. I now actually like jazz! Looking back I'm so impressed with everything Nice had to offer, it was an amazing city with a lot to discover.

Ready to hear some Jazz!

Many months ago, before I quit my job, Amy and I had planned to live in Menton for 6 months, rather than tour the Mediterranean. This didn't work out because of some renting issues, but we were especially looking forward to staying in the small city of Menton. This is a relatively quiet city, close to the border of Italy, that stays out of the spotlight during the summer months. It is a wonderful place to spend some time to experience the local beach culture. Since it is so close to the border, there is a lot of Italian influence, which is perfect because you get all the relaxed and colorful vibes of the Italian culture without the downsides of a failing economy. We spent about 15 days in Menton living the beach life. The city was very active in the summer, with live street performers, farmers markets, and beach parties almost every day. The old town of Menton is quaint, with many nice restaurants and architecture. I ate the best sweet and savory crepes I've ever had at La Petite Cave (thank you PJ for showing us this great restaurant!). The cleanest, clearest, and most comfortable beach was Plage Solenzara, where you can decide to lay your own towel down on the public beach or pay for a private sun bed. Interestingly, I saw more fish here than any other place we have been in the Mediterranean.

A sky view from Mavi, of the Saint Michel cathedral in Menton. This is one of my favorite pictures ever taken with the drone!

Turquoise water in Menton, beautiful!

Stunning! We look good, hanging out in the Jardins Biovès.

We found ourselves at a DJ Water Party!

Night time long exposure.

Chillin with my Piña Colada.

It's a beach day!

More beach days.

The mountain range behind Menton is spectacular. This was taken with Mavi.

A gorgeous view with Menton in the background.

Our favorite day in Menton was the scooter day! We rented a scooter at Bike Trip for 24 hours and rode it about 60km along the coast. The entire route was amazing, with breathtaking views from the scooter and amazing pit stops. Our first stop was Monaco, where we got another taste of the rich life. It was similar to Saint Tropez, but more urban with sky scrapers, super cars, and high end restaurants. This was a very short stop, because any longer and we would have gone broke. Next was one of our favorite beaches, Plage de la Mala. It is surrounded by cliffs, has a beautiful bay, and some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean. There weren't that many fishes, but snorkeling in such clear water was surreal. After the beach, we rode the scooter along the most beautiful part of the famous Corniche Inférieure to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Here, I ate amazing oysters at a very nice restaurant La Cabane de l'Écailler with excellent service. Touring around the residential part of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the scooter was very cool, where we got to see the biggest mansions and nicest hotels on the entire Cote d'Azur. On our way back to Menton, we took the high up Moyenne Corniche through the small town of Èze. From the garden at the very top of Èze, there is an incredible view of the coast. It is like standing on a cloud, looking down on paradise 😍. The tiny old town feels like a maze, with narrow winding alleys. We got very expensive but delicious drinks at Château de La Chèvre d’Or for sunset, before we rode back to Menton.

The route for our Scooter Day! We started in Menton, went around Cap Martin to see the anchored yachts, and made a short stop in Monaco. After, we moved on to Plage Mala, a stunning beach, then Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, and finally the unique town of Èze.

Scooter Day!

Amy seriously wanted to buy this car (I think it was an old Citroen). It was for sale, and we were brainstorming ways we could fix it up, register it, and drive it around Europe! Cool thought, but we stuck to the trains and buses.

A quick stop at Cap Martin to snag some pics on the scooter. This was a brand new scooter from Bike Trip, highly recommended.

Plage de la Mala, one of our favorite beaches in the entire Cote d'Azur.

Gotta get those drone shots! At Plage de la Mala.

Stunning!

Plage de la Mala

The amazing bluffs at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat.

5-star Grand Hotel in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. This is the pinnacle of luxury.

I love oysters, so much. I had some excellent oysters at the La Cabane de l'Écailler while watching the yachts come and go in the port of Saint Jean Cap Ferrat.

The famous Moyenne Corniche, carved into the mountain range above the Cote d'Azur.

Views from Èze captured by Mavi. We saw a proposal go down up here!

Hanging out in the gardens above Èze. This is a spectacular place and a must go if you are in the area.

The most expensive, and most delicious drinks we have had during our entire European Adventure. The view really topped it off at the Château de La Chèvre d’Or.

On one of our last days in Menton, some wonderful family friends (PJ, Dominique, Jordan, and Jeremy, love you guys!) took us hiking up the Sainte Agnès mountain. Menton is surrounded by a beautiful mountain range, and this is one of the highest points. There are some old ruins and an incredible view at the top. Thick fog rolled in as we approached the summit, giving it a really cool ominous look and feel.

Thank you PJ and Jeremy for taking us on the wonderful hike up Sainte Agnès!

Being goofy!

The cliffs below swallowed by the dense fog. Ominous.

An old fortress at Sainte Agnès.

The Cote d'Azur was fantastic. I loved every bit of it, the mega yachts, luxury restaurants, hot beaches, foggy mountains, nice people, the best crepes in the world, and of course blue water. I'll be back. 

Thank you for reading!