Afoot in Antibes

Two of my favorite items on most French breakfast tables are croissants and café au lait. I’ve been indulging in both since we’ve been here, as well as other varieties of French bread. I likely could live on French bread alone! 

The itinerary for today included a tour of Antibes and the Picasso Museum, lunch at L’Amandier de Mougins, a tour of the village of Mougins and the Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins, and dinner at la Table de Kamiya. Another full day! 

During our initial Zoom call with Philip, our travel specialist, Tim and I asked him to recommend the places we should see. He suggested that we might want to visit a few sites that are not on every tourist’s agenda, and that’s how we ended up at the ancient city of Antibes this morning so we could visit Mougins this afternoon.

Although Antibes is well-known, we found it less crowded than Nice. Also located on the coast, Antibes has the Europe’s largest yacht harbor, and that’s where Cécile began our tour. After gazing at some of the megayachts, we walked towards the small fishing fleet. We watched as several fishermen displayed their catch and then cleaned and fileted the fish for their waiting customers. Some of the fish must have been quite special because Cécile could not get over the prices that people were willing to pay.

That's Quite a Catch, But Some of the Fish Are Really Ugly!

Medieval stone ramparts, built to repel invaders, still enclose the Old Town of Antibes. After passing thought the main arch, we climbed the steps to begin our walk along these walls. Across the harbor, behind the masts of dozens of sailboats, we could see Fort Carré, one of the first fortified strongholds to be built in the Renaissance.

The Ramparts of Antibes

We stopped at the Château Grimaldi, built in the late fourteenth century as the residence of the Grimaldi family, the same dynasty that still rules Monaco. Today the building houses the Picasso Museum, which we visited. I think Tim enjoyed our visit more than I, since Picasso is not my favorite artist, but I’m still glad we stopped in.

The Picasso Museum

Cécile led us through a warren of narrow streets with interesting architectural details until we arrived at Market Hall. Unlike the one in Nice, this market is housed under a permanent, nineteenth century canopy. The offerings, however, were just as wonderful! I can’t remember the last time I saw such a variety of luscious tomatoes. 

Tim and I are really enjoying our market visits. Although we didn’t buy anything, we encouraged Cécile to do so, since she hadn’t had time to shop for food with her seven-day-a week tour schedule. It was fun to shop vicariously through her!

Interesting Architecture and Details on the Streets of Antibes

Culinary and Visual Delights in Market Hall

We continued on our walking tour and passed one of the city’s lovely squares. Before leaving Antibes, Cécile stopped inside the main arch to let us view a beautifully illustrated map of the city on wall tiles. Here, she pointed out the main sights and the route we had walked. It was then time to leave for Mougins.

Cécile Wanted to Show Us Where We Had Been