South to Antibes

We left Strasbourg over a week ago and came south to Antibes.   Here we’ve rented an apartment for a month and intend to enjoy Christmas and New Year’s under the sun and palm trees.

If Alsace celebrates Christmas all month long, here in the slower-moving south of France, the holiday mood is just beginning to take hold.  But then, all this sun feels like a celebration to us.

To help you situate it – Antibes is on the Mediterranean, between Nice and Cannes.   It’s a very ancient settlement, going back hundreds of years, with a long history of colonizers, conquerers and invaders, from the Greeks to the Romans to the French, with a few others in between.

These days Antibes boasts the largest yacht habor in the Mediterranean, and it’s full of pleasure boats moored cheek by jowl, one after the other.   There are several too big to come into the port, which are moored further out -

 

Stretching south from the port you can walk along the water and look back on the old town, the chateau and the Alps in the distance.  The chateau now houses the Picasso Museum.

 

Our apartment is in Vieil Antibes (Old Antibes), which has narrow streets, small shops and restaurants, the fabulous Marché Provençal and lots of small hidden corners.    Everything you could possibly need is within walking distance – and that ‘s pretty much what we’ve been doing – walking. 

It’s chilly in the morning and cools down at night, but when the sun’s out, it’s warm and the cafés are full.  On the main square – Place DeGaulle – you can follow the sun as the day progresses.

 Winter on the Riviera - not so bad...