Snugglepotting in Villefranche

Villefranche is a lovely enclosed harbour on the French Riviera coast. We snuggled up in here, and found it to be a delightful, albeit somewhat rolly anchorage.

The bay in Villefranche

Railway station at Villefranche

Another view of the bay at Villefranche

Streets of Villefranche

Antique market

Fort at Villefranche

We took advantage of the local railway station to catch a train into Nice, which was nice but not so interesting.

Open airy town of Nice 

Main boulevard

Stony beach at Nice

WW1 monument 

Impromptu dance performance

We took another train trip up to Grasse, in the hinterland of the Cote d'Azur. Grasse is the main perfume flower growing area, with many perfume producers located there. We visited the perfume museum, and the show-room of some of the manufacturers. Grasse was an interesting village, with windy lanes up steep hills.

Graffiti at Villefranche railway

Climbing up the steep path from the railway at Grasse

We were rewarded at the end of a very long climb, with a church which contained three Rubens, and some paintings by Fragonard, a Rococo painter native to Grasse.

12th century church in Grasse

A Rubens hanging in the church

Another Rubens

Altar with a Fragonard painting

The perfume museum also had an exhibit of Belle Epoque art, with several Mucha paintings.

Alphonse Mucha

... and another

We swanned around Villefranche for several days, but eventually felt the need for progress. We discovered the wonderful french invention of the quay d'accueil, where you can tie up for several hours (by negotiation with the Capitainerie) for free. We decided to try this, so we headed into Antibes. We fuelled the boat, then strolled into the wonderful town of Antibes.

Antibes main street

Sculptures along the marina town walls

Shady and cute cafe's....

... interesting streets .... 

... and merry go-rounds.

We managed to see the town, do our shopping and water the boat for free! We will file this away for future use. Too much town living and visiting, so we were after some quite relaxation. Our next destination was the lovely Iles de Lerins, which was the ideal ticket. See you there!