The Villenueve-Loubet Plage station is just a few minutes' walk from our timeshare, which is a bonus. Good timeshare (#4944); very nice two-bedroom apartment with all modern conveniences and a great terrace complete with outdoor setting and chaise lounges, overlooking the marina on Baie…Read More

The Villenueve-Loubet Plage station is just a few minutes' walk from our timeshare, which is a bonus. Good timeshare (#4944); very nice two-bedroom apartment with all modern conveniences and a great terrace complete with outdoor setting and chaise lounges, overlooking the marina on Baie Des Anges (Bay of Angels). Between the timeshare and marina, are lots of shops, supermarche, and restaurants, and then a band of trees and gardens. Nice is just a short train ride away.

Of course, the French are great sun worshippers and seem to love to lie like lizards on the mainly pebbly beaches (much better than sand sticking to you - they say – sure!).

Visited Antibes, a very nice place and walked around the port, marina and old city. Lots of historical sights to see and lots of great outdoor cafes. Antibes has a very nice feel to it. Home to a famous Picasso Museum.

Cannes is the famous promenade of the stars each May, with the Annual Film Festival, edged with palm trees and beaches around the bay. Lots of beautiful shops along Rue D'Antibes – out of the range of us poor people, with some really fabulous shoes on display. Many well-dressed women. Great buildings and architecture and lots to see in the old part of town.

Nice is nice, lots of history, great buildings, radiating out around the curve of the Bai Des Anges. Beaches all around the bay, sunshine - NICE! There is so much history to see here, Nice having been first settled by the Greeks in the 4th century BC, the Romans in 100 BC, and then, through the ages, it saw lots of fighting and squabbles; then, in 1860, it became a fashionable holiday centre. It has the highest number of museums in France after Paris and has France's second-busiest airport. Great food and shopping.

A day trip on the bus to St Paul De Vence proved to be a real highlight (north of Nice). The stonewalled city right on top of a hill was erected in the early Middle Ages, but few remains have survived except the churches, some ruins, and the aqueduct, and so the architecture is a mix from 16th and 18th centuries (Renaissance period). Now it is just such a fantastic place, with lots of little streets where locals still live, but there are shops everywhere filled with paintings, sculptures, and arts – a browser’s dream. We spent hours wandering around--just gorgeous. Then, on our way back, we went to Cagnes-Sur-Mer, which also has an old fort and palace on a hill overlooking the newer town. This was built in 1300 by Rainier Grimaldi, Lord of Cagnes, Admiral of France. The Chateau is now a museum. We went on the free shuttle to the main part of town, then on to see "Les Collettes", the house built in 1907 by Pierre-August Renoir, where he lived till his death at 78 in 1919. The house is now a museum, filled with his belongings, furniture and paintings, and the surrounding gardens have citrus and olive groves, as well as many flowers, especially roses planted by Renoir’s wife. Very impressive. Another great day.