French Riviera, 2022, part 9 (Antibes, Nice)

When I arrived in Antibes by train, I easily found my way down to the Marina, since it is only a few hundred metres away from the train station.

Antibes Marina

At the other end of the port I could see Fort Carré, a star-shaped ground plan fortress from the 16th century. This time I was not interested in the visit to the fortress, but I took advantage of the comparatively calm waters in the marina to play with my photo camera.

Antibes Marina and Fort Carré

Antibes Marina

Antibes was founded in the 4th century BCE by the ancient Greeks as their colony and at the time it was called Antipolis. In the year 43 BCE, the Romans officially incorporated it into their territory. The fortifications that can be seen here today and that had additions made to them during the Middle Ages actually originate from the period of the Roman rule. From the direction of the marina I could notice some people playing boules (bocce), as well as the fortifications and a passage in them that can be used in order to enter the old part of Antibes.

Antibes, a detail

Antibes, one of the arched passages that can be used to enter the old part of the town

The fortifications are thick enough that they allow the premises made within them to be used nowadays as small art galleries.

Antibes, a detail

I merely continued to stroll around the town which like most of the places along the French Riviera is a magnet for visitors, But, on this chilly spring day there were actually not too many visitors in the streets of Antibes.

A street in Antibes

But, not all the streets in Antibes are wide and earmarked for tourists.

A street in Antibes

Walking randomly left and right, I also reached a nice and spacious square, Place Nationale. In the square (in the photo below to the left), you can see a 5-m high column that was given to the town by Louis XVIII.

Place Nationale

In 1946, Picasso spent some time in the town and on that occasion he was offered to stay at castle Château Grimaldi that had been restored previously and envisaged to become a museum. Since he spent and worked here for some six months, in the end he donated some of his works to the town and over time the castle became the Picasso Museum (Musée Picasso).

I did not go to the museum, but I passed by a market, Marché provençal, where I had to peer into a cheese shop. I can live without Picasso, but without cheeses – no!

Cheese shop in Antibes

Joking aside, as I’ve explained in the previous sequel of my stories dealing with my stay at the French Riviera at the beginning of April 2022, I actually came to Antibes in order to go to a walking trail that runs around a part of a promontory that belongs to this town – Cap d’Antibes.

In order to get out of the town, first I had to pass through a gate, Porte de l’Orme. The bases of the tower are from the Roman period, while the rest of the walls is medieval.

Porte de l’Orme

But, there were other parts of the town behind the gate as well. I merely glanced in the direction of the Picasso Museum and the Cathedral.

Antibes, a detail

Soon I reached the outer ramparts and there, along the walls there is a street and a nicely separated pedestrian path that I followed.

View at the south parts of Antibes

Here, practically along the entire coast, there is pedestrian pavement that is nicely marked and often fenced off from the street. I wanted to get to this special walking trail, so I just pressed on, looking back only from time to time in order to see where I came from.

View at the old part of Antibes: you can see the ramparts, while the highest building is the Picasso Museum

South parts of Antibes: the old part of the town can be seen in the distance on the left-hand side

Well, now, let me explain how the things regarding this walk of mine turned out in the end. Like so many times, I overdid it. I cannot say that I underestimated my capabilities, since I did reach that trail, but in the end, when I returned to the train station in Antibes, I was at the end of my strength. Namely, from the train station to that trail and back there are over 13 km! And that was not all. In order to get back to the station while there was still daylight, I had to walk fast. In the end, I nearly collapsed with exhaustion. Because it needs to be taken into account that I did this during an afternoon, after I had already walked around Cannes and Sainte-Marguerite Island.

Was it worth it? Well, not really. Since I’ve done this, I can say that I’m glad that I went through it all, but would I do it again? No. At least, not on foot. The sights were nice, no question about it, but not so that I would walk there twice. If one has a car, then this trail is easily reached and there is a fine parking lot. I did not have a car, I did not see any taxi along the way and had no idea how to call a taxi and explain where I was. So, I had to walk all the way. Maybe I could have gone along some streets that would serve as a shortcut, but I was afraid lest I got lost, while I always keep in mind a piece of advice that I received from a boss many years ago: “The shortest route is the one you know.”

Shore in Antibes, a detail

In order to kill the time, I paid attention to different details along the way. For instance, a bumblebee.

Bumblebee near the sea

Although there are houses and properties that take up space between the street and the sea, most of the houses that can be seen here are located on the “land” side of the street that follows the coastline.

Shore in Antibes, a detail

Looking at those houses I was passing by, I realised at some moment that most of them were without inhabitants. At least in April.

A house in Antibes in April, a detail

Some of the houses in Antibes in April

I thought that most of the owners either have them in order to spend their summers or at least the summer vacations there, or as an investment that they would sell after a while for more money.

Since I was rather idle when passing by these houses, not counting the walking, I started to think about some other aspects. Needless to say, I could not afford to buy even a pantry in these houses, for they are way out of my financial league, but that did not prevent me from pondering casually about them. And so I came to a conclusion that if I had that much money that I could buy a house in Antibes, I would actually never buy it. Namely, I live in a flat in a high-rise building and I have neighbours. These are mostly nice people, but every now and then (seemingly regularly) there are new neighbours who have just bought a flat in the building and then those flats get renovated. Or some old neighbours want to renovate themselves. This often entails months of lots of noise that I mind. But... I am not rich to be able to afford a house in Antibes and so I live in a building with a lot of flats and a lot of potentially new neighbours or creative old neighbours. And then I looked at these houses and thought that they were also essentially piled up and densely distributed. Even here, if a neighbour would decide to renovate something, it would be noisy. Or perhaps a neighbour wants to throw a party with loud music that lasts the entire night. Or maybe I want to do it. Or a neighbour wants to run naked in its property at any time of the day, while I cannot help but see him from my balcony. Or I want to do that and then he can see me. All in all, I was thinking, idly and casually, that I would actually not like to live here in Antibes. I already have densely distributed neighbours in my life anyway and I do not need new ones. If I cannot have a large property where nobody would bother anybody, then I’m quite fine where I already am.

There, that’s what was passing through my mind while I walked along these 13 km. The brain cannot be still easily and it almost always needs something to deal with. Even if this is very idle and silly.

Be as it may, at some point I reached the well known Garoupe Beach (Plage de la Garoupe). Needless to say, at the beginning of April, it was also completely empty.

Garoupe Beach

Coming here was a huge relief because the walking trail that I wanted to reach starts right at the east end of the beach.

Part of the walking trail on the promontory Cap d’Antibes

The trail is called Tire-Poil, which more or less means “pull-hair,” and it is believed that this name was given after the wind that blows here on the promontory almost always and thus pulls people’s hair. At the beginning of the 20th century, wealthy people started to come to this part of the riviera where they had their villas built and they practically privatised the coast. But, relatively recently, a coastal law was passed and it made it possible to return the coast to the public. In 2015, this area was bought by the French Coastal Protection Agency and it is managed by the town of Antibes. Apparently, nowadays one can see a whole plethora of flora and fauna.

And so, a circular trail, almost 5 km long, has been made here and it is said that the whole trail may be covered in around 2 hours. Most of the trail runs along the coast, but at some point it enters into the land and with time it brings the walkers back to the parking lot by Garoupe Beach from where one usually starts.

I did not have 2 hours, of course, because I had to return to Antibes, but as I was already here, I decided to walk along the trail at least for some 15-20 minutes.

As it can be seen in the previous photo, the trail is often paved, but there are also segments where you walk directly on the ground, with multitude of different details, such as wooden benches in places that are particularly nice for a short respite and enjoying the view.

Tire-Poil walking trail, a detail

In some places, the access to the sea is simple and possible, while in some others the sea is separated from the trail by rocks that would be difficult to cover.

Tire-Poil walking trail, a detail

After this short walk, I slowly returned to the Garoupe Beach that now seemed even more beautiful probably because there was less reflection from the surface of the still water.

Garoupe Beach

And then I put myself into the highest gear and speedily headed back to Antibes. After a while, rather tired, I could see the skyline of the old part of Antibes.

View at the old part of Antibes

Still, when returning to the railway station, I did not go through the old part of Antibes, but in the area around the beach Plage du Ponteil I decided to leave the shore and walk through the newer parts of the town. Before doing so, I found it interesting to see several women in the water on the beach led by their instructor while doing water aerobics dressed in diving suits since the water, although wonderfully calm, was apparently still far too cold.

Water aerobics

I also looked back once again at the parts of Antibes that I had walked through.

Last sunrays of the day shine at the southern parts of Antibes

And then I started to walk along contemporary urban streets directly leading to the train station.

Newer parts of Antibes

Luckily, the train arrived soon meaning that relatively quickly I returned to Nice and my rented flat where I could finally have a good rest.

For the next day I had a plan that was quite unusual for me. Namely, according to the Christian Orthodox calendar this was the day of a major feast of the Annunciation, while I had learned, which I have already written about, that the Serbian priest would join the service for the Orthodox congregation that would take place at the Russian church in Nice. Although I am not a practicing believer, I certainly did not want to miss out on this and so I went to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas.

Church of St. Nicholas in Nice

Church of St. Nicholas in Nice, a detail

During the liturgy, the access to the church is permitted only for the Orthodox believers, which certainly allowed me the passage. Still, let me say that it seems to me that this is only the official stance, since nobody asked me anything. However, one needs to know and respect certain elements, such as the use of a headscarf for women, etc.

The service took almost two hours and it was in Russian, which means that I did not understand anything, but it was beautiful nonetheless and I was very glad that I came since this was for me the first service at a Russian church. Admittedly, I was still very tired from the previous day and from the days before, so I found all the standing quite strenuous from time to time. But, there were some benches by the pillars and I could sit there sporadically in order to rest a little. Unlike catholic churches, the orthodox ones do not have pews for all the congregation coming for a service, but only an odd chair or a smaller bench. I presume that this is a part of the philosophy linked to the service to God.

There were also written signs saying that it was not permitted to take photos and I very much respected that at the beginning and during the liturgy. But, when the service was over, I could see a lot of people taking photos of the interior of the church using their mobiles. Perhaps mischievously I followed their example and here are a couple of photos:

Church of St. Nicholas in Nice, the interior

When the service was over, I first went to a nearby bakery where I had a wonderful piece of cake and then I walked to the train station from where I moved two stops farther (eastbound) to the town called Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Here, too, I planned to walk around the area, but to start with I went through the town itself.

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