A Week in the French Riviera

Each night Frank and Joelle set up the trays for the next morning's breakfast at Hotel Patricia, and so this is how we begin each day.  The baguettes are chunchy on the outside, and the perfect amount of chewy and airy on the inside; the butter and jam, ideal companions. The pain au chocolat: a tasty conclusion that pairs perfectly with our last sips of coffee.

Hotel Patricia sits on the top a penisula called Cap Ferrat.  During our stay, we were fortunate to make friends with a lovely Brazillian couple living in Piedmont, Italy.  One evening they drove us out to the peninsula for a stroll; the views were spectacular as we gazed out at the northernmost point of the Mediterranean Sea and across the bay to beautiful Nice.

Our hotel is situated between the towns of Beaulieu and Villefranche, both with their own flavor. Beaulieu has been good for practical purposes: a wonderful boulangerie where we found sandwiches for lunch, and grocery markets where we found supplies for our picnics.  Villefranche-Sur-Mer: more tourists, and slightly more charming than it's neighbor, with colorful alleys filled with quaint restuarants - mostly overpriced, and shops selling various soaps, handbags, and other travel whimsy.  

                                                                                 

And of course, what first week in
France would be complete without a meal of steak frites?  This is topped avec une sauce aux champignons blanche.  It was delicious.

The picture below was taken on the bridge that links Beaulieu to Villefranche.  On the bottom of the image you can see the beach where we swim.  All of the beaches are wonderful, but that one is our favorite. The water is much warmer here than in Italy; it feels like a theraupeutic bath. Ariel and I like to wear our goggles so we can submerge our faces in the water and see the fish swimming all around us.