Easy hiking trails in the French Riviera
If you have been in Nizza at any time during the past three years, you will have noticed that large sections of the city appear to be under construction. The various building sites across the town centre are all part of the Nice Tramway Line 2 project, the east-to-west line designed to complement the T1…
Briga is the Italian mountain village from central casting … … that somehow got lost and wound up on the other (French) side of the border where it was subsequently renamed La Brigue. Whatever nomenclature you prefer: this is a pleasant little place, much more charming than gloomy Tende a few kilometres to the north,…
Untouched nature in the French Riviera coast is rare, but it exists. As Exhibit One, we present today’s post. Untouched nature – where it exists – is also, as a rule, well hidden. To find the lush green valley that provides the scenery for this week’s hike, you must go to the back of the…
It is a truth locally acknowledged – among people who live near the Riviera coast, whether permanently or temporarily – that every trip to the region should include at least some hiking in the mountains. Most of these people are – like us – residents of the coast themselves and would not think of settling…
No matter where your personal preferences may lie, the French Riviera is a great area for hiking. There are short and dramatic trails as well as long and epic ones, trails through lush coastal scenery as well as through lunar landscapes higher up the mountains. There is, however, one type of walk that is nearly…
A few weeks ago, we climbed the mountains overlooking Monaco (the Tête de Chien) and Eze (Mont Bastide). On Easter Sunday, we turned our attention to the steep hills of Menton and tackled one that overlook our adopted home town. When I wrote late last year that climbing some of the Riviera peaks would be…
Hollywood and Monaco: at first glance, this appears to be a match made in heaven. There are probably no two places on earth that share the same combination of glamour and money – or the same type of cheerful, unapologetic vulgarity. Upon further review, however, you will realize how rarely this seemingly perfect match has…
What is it that gives the French Riviera its unique flavour? It cannot be the mix of sunshine and spectacular landscapes, because many other places in the world have that, too. It cannot be a richness of history and culture, because there is – frankly – little of either. No: the one ingredient that gives…
Granted: not many famous writers have come from the Riviera. Writers, however, have always loved to travel to the southern coast of France, sometimes only to relax and to have fun, but sometimes also to work and – eventually – to write about it, in one form or the other. The list of visiting great…
Several years ago, when we had already established our base on the Riviera but not yet turned it into a proper home, we decided one day to walk from Eze-sur-mer all the way up to Eze village. This turned out to be a fairly tough hike, particularly for that half of the easy hiking team…