Ports de Estaque

Herbs and lavander faded aroma fills your nostrils as you approach the clear, blue waters of one of the most exquisite holiday destinations, The French Riviera. Here, under the pine shaded beaches, visitors nourish in the typical mediteranean climate with warm, dry, sun-soaked summers and gentle winters.

In the late XVIII-th century, the area of France’s mediteranean seashore became a fashionable spa resort for the brittish elite, as well as celebrities such as Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, the Rothschild family, as well as artists and writers such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edith Wharton, Somerset Maugham or Aldous Huxley. It is said that before that,  it was mostly a poor region of France, known for its fishermen small ports, olive plantations and flower cultures, that would be used for the fabrication of perfume. 

The region’s  name would later come from writer Stepher Ligeard,born in the french region “Côte d’Or. He would then reffer to it as “La Côte d’Azur”, in the book with the same name, due to the azure, crystalline color of the water. While here, one must not miss Palais du Prince, the residence of the Grimaldi family of Monaco, built in 1191. Rummaging through its corridors, it’s dramatic history of having been bombarded and besieged by many foreign powers will undoubtably leave its mark upon you. The enchanting wide thoroughfare in Aix-en-Provence, Cours Mirabeau is most likely to leave you breathless as you stroll through its 440 m length and 42 m width, softly caressing your imaginative muscles. 

Cannes, hosting its famous Festival de Cannes since 1946, is another major landmark located in Provence – Alpes – Cote d’Azur, about 50km west from the city of Nisa. While here, one should see The Promenade de la Croisette, the waterfront avenue with palm trees, known for it’s picturesque beaches, cafés and boutiques, the fortified tower and Chapel of St Anne house of the Musée de la Castre. Walk right into Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Count of Monte Cristo by venturing out in The Château d'If, a fortress that would later become a prison. The fortress is located on the island of If, the smallest in the Frioul archipelago, about a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille in the Mediterranean Sea. Altho in the famous novel, the main character Edmond Dantès manages to escape from the gruelling prison, in reality, no one ever has, making it an even more impressive, shipe shivering landmark.