A Stroll Around the Place

I’m not kidding when I saw everything you could possibly need is in walking distance of our little apartment.   The other day we walked around our Place, Place Nationale,  and took stock of our surroundings.  Enough restaurants and cafés and such to eat forever, clothing stores, a tiny grocery, a patisserie, a museum and more.   All together in a space smaller than many parking lots.

Back home in Maine, we live in the country.  What you find when you walk out the door is garden, field,sky, trees, rock walls.  We love it.   But shopping or browsing or just canoodling around beyond the garden means you have to get in the car and drive.

Here it’s the exact opposite.   We’re in the center of the old part of Antibes, where driving and parking require that local touch.  No car for us here.  Besides, if you’re driving, you need all your attention just to get where you’re going.   No time to admire the surroundings.

Here’s a short tour of our immediate neighborhood.

Starting at one corner, there’s a café that serves small meals and snacks all day long, not to mention good café au lait.

 

If you’re in a bigger hurry, just across the corner is a take-out place that makes sandwiches and paninis.

And an ice cream shop that also sells gaubres (those thick Belgian waffles) and churros (a little bit of Spain here too!)

Then there’s a clothing store, all decorated for Christmas.

Next comes Maxi-Bazaar, a sort of dollar store//Christmas tree shop (or for Mainers, Reny’s!) squished into a narrow three floor space.   Everything for your apartment, Chrismtas and also souvenirs of Provence!

 

Next is another shop that sells table linens and other fabric items, followed by a jewelry store.

On the next side of the square, there’s a small grocery store (really small), a fishmonger, a knife store, and the small local police station.

There’s also the Musée Peynet, dedicated to an illustrator born here, Raymond Peynet.

The next section is restaruant row, with four restaurants lined up, one after the other.  I expect that in the summer, they overflow but in December things are fairly quiet.

Somewhere in there are also a hat shop and a hairdresser, and an empty space that used to be a hotel and restaurant.

Finally, on the last side of the square, there’s a fancy gelateria. A going-out –of business watch store,  a patisserie/chocolate shop, a shop selling Provencal wares, a clothing store, a jeweler, a pharmacy, a newstand, and a bank.

Right now the center of the sqaure is given over to Christmas.  A little more on that later.