Charming Hills Towns of the Riviera

                                   Minutes away from the Riviera's beaches...but another world

I've just arrived on the French Riviera.  Many people think beaches or film festival when they think of this area.  While I love the beach and the glitz and glam of Cannes or Cap d’Antibes, I actually prefer the hill-top villages a few miles inland from the Mediterranean.  Many of these perched villages are filled with day-trippers from Nice, but I especially love them in the evenings when these stone hamlets revert back to the locals.   Children play in the park, beret-touting men gather to play petanque (bocci ball), and cafes are filled with French drinking pastis.  Below are my three favorite villages.

Mougins

Fashionable Mougins is so picture-perfect that it feels like a movie-set.  It’s no wonder that Catherine Deneuve, Yves St Laurent, and Christian Dior have chosen to live here, as have Winston Churchill and Pablo Picasso.  With perfectly-coiffed backstreets, this tony hilltop town exudes a refined air of elegance and sophistication.  Only 15 minutes from Cannes, Mougins feels a world away.   

                                            Mougins' charms are irresistible

No cars are allowed in the old village, requiring visitors to park in lots around the outskirts.   Although the immediate area surrounding the ancient village has grown dramatically in the last 40 years (drop-dead gorgeous villas appear in every nook and cranny), the actual hilltop town remains untouched from centuries past.  

Wandering the cobblestoned streets you’ll find several art galleries, along with high-end boutiques and antique stores.  The center of the town has a pretty center square ringed by numerous restaurants and outdoor cafes catering to those with a big wad of Euros in their designer wallets.  But, the entire package is one of a quiet refinement that is friendly to visitors.

Biot

                              The feel of Biot is a local's village ...devoid of the Riviera's bling

Also an ancient hillside village, Biot is the antithesis of Mougins.  Biot’s main street offers resident services such as a city hall, post office, bank, teensy supermarche, and a boulangerie.  There are a few tourists shops sprinkled in between, some featuring the city’s famous glass and others offering the usual Provencal goodies made from the area’s brightly colored fabrics.   

Like Mougins, no cars are generally allowed in Biots narrow cobblestoned streets.  A walk through its backstreets is like a step back in time.  Whereas impeccable Mougins’ buildings are perfectly coiffed, Biot offers a slice of reality....a few stray cats, old olive oil tins that have been turned into make-shift geranium planters, and clotheslines strung between buildings filled with laundry.  It feels like an authentic village.  

                                        Biot glass is available in every shade of the rainbow 

An added bonus for Biot is its artisinal glass blowing factories where visitors can watch artisans making the city's famous bubble glass.  Although there is a Michelin star restaurant in Biot, my favorite is Les Arcades.  This small hotel-restaurant offers a rare slice of life from the old Provence.  The family that owns Les Arcades has been renting rooms and feeding diners for over a century.  As it was also one of Julia Child's favorite places, I am bringing both of the Julia cooking groups here for dinner.

St Paul de Vence

                         Art galleries throughout the village feature paintings such as this 

The stunning pedestrian-only village of St Paul de Vence has it all: one of the Riviera's top modern art museums, chic boutiques, pretty squares filled with fountains and stone bougainvillea-dripping buildings, plus a plethora of gorgeous restaurants with attractive outdoor dining.  It has that je ne sais quoi that defies description. 

One of the oldest medieval villages on the Riviera, St Paul has only 3,500 lucky residents (like most of the Riviera hilltop towns, however, the majority of the population lives outside of the old town in swanky villas).  This is an art lover’s paradise.   There’s an endless array of galleries filled with eye-popping paintings of the beautiful town, and the Maeght Museum along with Chagall’s nearby masterpiece wow even the most discerning art lover. 

Foodies will appreciate an assortment of shops filled with everything from hand-dipped chocolates to high-end olive oils from the region.  One of my faves is La Petite Vigne which offers a killer selection of the best of Provence's culinary specialties.  The shop also has a 50-shades-of-pink selection of Rosés.

A Foodie’s French Riviera

In a few days I’ll be flying to Nice for two weeks at the estate in which Julia Child wrote her famous cookbook duo, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.   I’m already dreaming of the Riviera’s culinary landscape.   What’s not to love about olives, herbs de Provence, lamb, and bouillabaisse, right? 

One of my favorite experiences on the Riviera is to visit the supermarche of all supermarkets.  Carrefour in Antibes is like Whole Foods, Costco and William Sonoma all under one roof…but on steroids.  There are 73 check-out lines and the staff wear roller skates to traverse the seemingly football-sized-stadium offering everything that any foodie could possibly desire.   There are four monstrous aisles of just yogurt alone.  The place is mind-boggling.  If you can’t find it here it probably doesn’t exist.  Check out this quick video of the incredible store:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RXC3nbPe1o

Another special place for the food-lover to procure ingredients for a dinner or a picnique is the polar opposite of Carrefour.   Cannes’ Forville Marché is a covered market in the center of the super swanky city, just a few blocks from where the star-studded film festival is held.  It was one of Julia Child’s favorite places to shop, especially for fish.  I’m taking both groups I’ve organized for a week’s homage a Julia here.   Hopefully one of the groups will be cooking bouillabaisse that night for dinner.

                                     Alziari's is a treasure trove for foodie gifts to bring home

My favorite olive oil producer’s shop is located in the heart of old town Nice.  The Nicolas Alizari company has been producing magnifique oils since 1868.   This jewel box of a store makes a perfect visit when wandering through the cobblestone streets of the historical center.  

Cours Selaya market in Nice offers a bounty of fresh food products

Not far from Alziari you’ll find Nice’s famous outdoor covered market.  Less than 100 meters from Nice’s bikini-clad beach, you’ll find vendors whose families have been renting the same food stalls for generations.  Don’t miss the "socca lady" selling the Riviera’s beloved garbanzo bean crepes called socca---she cooks them as her ancestors did over an open wood fire in a huge, specially-crafted skillet.  And, do sample everyone’s tampenade as each family has their secret twists on the classic.

                               Stunning Biot glass can be mailed home from the factory

The French Riviera offers a plethora of yummy edibles for the gourmand, however, don’t forget the mind-boggling array of Provencal fabrics to buy for your tablescape back home.  Gorgeous placemats, napkins and tablecloths can be found at every outdoor market in Provence's colorful fabrics, as well as some of the area’s finest shops (but make sure you get the ones made in France and not the Chinese knockoffs).  Finally, don’t forget to pay a visit to the enchanting village of Biot, where artisan glass-makers are still making the town’s famous bubble glass into stunning wine and water goblets, and over the top dinner service.