Sunday 29 June 2014

JUAN LES PINS, FRANCE

WHAT CHANCE HAS THE SMOKING MESSAGE GOT WHEN IT'S UP AGAINST BEING COOL.
Juan les Pins is the very same Juan les Pins that Peter Sarstedt mentions in his 1969 hit 'Where do you go to my lovely?' You know the one with the lyrics:

When you go on your summer vacation
You go to Juan-les-Pins
With your carefully designed topless swimsuit
You get an even suntan on your back and on your legs

The topless swimsuits are still here but as the French are probably outnumbered by the Russians on the beach there are not so many perhaps as the swinging 60's. Speaking of swinging and speaking of the 60's the women on the beach who are topless are mostly those who were there in the 60's and call Juan les Pins their summer home. Being Australian and sun aware, I dodge the sun but these old ducks are leathery tanned and work on it daily.

We have a great little downstairs flat a bit less than ten minutes walk from the beach. Anne stirs me every morning trilling her question "coming for a swim?" I'm not a morning person, I'm lucky if I get a coffee before I groggily schlepp down to the beach and drop in the Med. Frankly, it's too cold for me at the moment. Yeah, I know, it's lovely to swim once you're in but I'm only good for two hundred metres and I'm out to leave Anne to do a few more laps of the beach.

It's more crowded and more touristy here. I'll refrain from saying the beach is tacky but I don't think it is dry to the touch. We are only 15 minutes walk to Antibes old town with it's stunning marina and a good little cafe so we've done that walk several times and also cycled and walked the Cap D'Antibes, a beautiful cape with probably some of the most expensive real estate in the universe. Big 'For Sale' signs in front of palatial mansions are in Russian.

If you've got the flash car Juan le Pins is a good place to flaunt it when you've worn out the circuit in Antibes. Antibes old  town is really quite charming but I'm glad we didn't rent a place there, it's very tight and noisy. We wandered down to Antibes on the day of the 'Les Voiles D'Antibes', the classic timber yacht race event over four days in June. Stunningly expensive, sparkling timber yachts on display, many having been sunk once or twice or left to rot before being rescued and restored to their classic glory. We watched them all cast off and parade out to a start line somewhere in the glittering sea of sails.

French Wine: I have no idea. One, it's all in French and Two, they often don't tell you the grape variety, I'm just expected to know what they pump out of Bordeaux or what goes in to the Bordeaux style. All I can do is go roughly on price and what the person next to me is choosing. I even got the supermarket wine man to help me find a Cabernet Sauvignon, you know that French sounding name that was coined here around the 17th Century when by accident Cabernet Franc was crossed with Sauvignon Blanc. In fact that is not far from here where I type which is not far from where Hemmingway typed. I'm steeped in history but back to the wine. He gave up, he couldn't find one! It's actually a prominent part of Bordeaux wines where it's blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc. I found that out later but I have no idea whether there is much straight Cab Sauv around.

But wait! I have actually discovered a cheapie that is head and some of it's shoulders above it's price point. For five euros I have found a wine that although short on length, does have some very nice liquorice notes and a little bit of body. It's got Merlot, Cab Franc and Cab Sauv, the Bordeaux Mix, and I present it here as my one and only cheap wine travel tip.


Our hosts here are very nice. Shona is seriously fit and swims distance every day. Pablo is a sailing megayacht captain, a collector of windsurfers and has given me tips on sailing locations in Turkey. They invited me to a great little evening picnic at their favourite beach when Anne was at a conference in London where I discovered that their 11 year old daughter has the same camera as me, a Canon G15. I think back to the Kodak Instamatic I had when I was 11. Sheesh!

We leave here in a moment for the UK. Anne has said almost every time we walk back from a swim in the morning with a fresh warm baguette in hand that she could live here. The place has it's points.


ARRIVAL AT THE GATED STREET OF OUR NEW DIGS
THE BINOCULARS HAVE BEEN VERY HANDY FOR YACHT SPOTTING
OUR ANTIBES COFFEE HAUNT
SHONA ABOUT TO HEAD OUT AFTER DOING THE SCHOOL RUN

LUNCH
STEVE, SHONA AND PABLO AT 'LES PECHEURS' BEACH

CRUISE LINERS OFF CANNES
JUAN LES PINS SUN WORSHIPPERS
THE CACTUS JUST FLOWERED OUTSIDE OUR ROOM.
ABRAMOVICH'S 'ECLIPSE'. WAS THE LONGEST MEGA YACHT IN HISTORY, NOW THE SECOND LONGEST.
ANTI MISSILE SYSTEM, TWO HELICOPTER PADS, TWO SWIMMING POOLS, HOT TUBS, DISCO, MINI SUBMARINE, 70 CREW.
ANTIBES MARINA
THE HOME OF THE MIGRAINE?
ON OUR BIKE RIDE AROUND CAP D'ANTIBES
ENTRE
FIFA FEVER AT MICHAEL'S
DAMN! SOMETIMES MY CAMERA JUST GOES OFF.
SOMEONE HAVING FUN ON DRILLS
THE KIND OF NEIGHBOURHOOD ON CAP D'ANTIBES
WOODEN BOAT CLASSIC
WEDDING
SOME MONSTER HEADING OUT
OUR BEACH
OUR GIRL
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE
ANTIBES
MY BABY










COTE D'AZUR

A CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH

THEOULE SUR MER

First post in a long time. Thanks to my faithful few who have urged me to post again, and here it is!

We've been en France for two months. We're here mostly for a better time zone fit for a contract consultancy job that Anne has, rather than be up working all night in Australia. We are just about to head off to the UK so I better squeeze in a retrospective post or two. 

We arrived in Theoule Sur Mer on the Cote D’Azur early May just as they were setting up for the Cannes Film Festival across the bay. Back in Australia before we left, a chance conversation with a friend ended up with us renting her friend's holiday house on the side of a hill with billion dollar views. It was a 1970’s un-renovated DIY time capsule. A James Bond inspired concrete creation, nestled in amongst a hillside of otherwise mega luxury holiday homes, most of which were empty while we were there.

With quiet roads and national park behind us, we went out walking, exploring, driving, shopping and going to Cannes while the film festival was on, but the best part of the day was always coming home. Such a stunning view and the remarkable peace and quiet from the crowds below, it was just perfect.  It was a view you could never grow tired of with the changing weather and sweeping views across the Bay of Cannes to the snow capped Alpes. No wonder we ate in on all but two nights.

You can't write about this place without mentioning the wealth on show. Every day was a passing parade of outrageous wealth in mega yachts while private jets swarmed around Cannes airport. I would google the yachts in the bay and see who owned them. Very interesting, looks like the big money is in French Telecom, British mobile phones, UK retail stores and Australian shopping centres. Well, they were some of the owners who anchored below us. 'Octopus' owned by the co founder of Microsoft anchored off Cannes for the festival decorated with a helicopter at each end. I've seen Mercedes models here that I've never seen before and I'm starting to get used to the Bentleys, Rollers and expensive go fast options.


 We woke one morning to find a young deer paddling laps around the pool. This was early May and the water was cold. It could have been there for hours. The deer swam straight towards me when I went to help it, no fear at all, it must have decided there was no time to lose. I managed to pull it out antler first, it didn't go far but after some time recovering, shivering and thawing out in the garden it got up and wandered off.

While Anne was working week days, I was full time yacht research with the plan to go looking in Croatia in Sept/Oct. But, as one thing leads to another and then another, with twists and turns along the way, I ended up buying one or at least putting the deposit on an Australian flagged one while we were there so it seems I have bought into a whole new line of adventure.

We felt very lucky to have had a great time and a great month spent in our eyrie before we headed on down to a new location for a month in the far more urban beach side setting of Juan les Pins.

THEOULE SUR MER
 VIEW ON APPROACH
 JAMES BOND FISH POND AND BRIDGE

VIEW FROM THE BALCONY ACROSS TO CANNES
A SELECTION OF MEGAYACHTS

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY ADVERTISING FOR THE COMING CHARTER SEASON. 500,000 EUROS A WEEK.
LES ALPES IN THE DISTANCE



I STUDIED THE FRENCH CAR PARK TECHNIQUE OF PARKING SO YOU DON'T BUMP THE DOORS
IT SEEMED FAIRLY STRAIGHTFORWARD. LOT'S DO IT AND NO ONE SEEMS TO MIND
THE LINE MARKINGS ARE SIMPLY AN OPTIONAL GUIDE. SO I HAD A GO. MY FIRST EFFORT.
JAMES BOND GOLDFISH
A VERY COLD AND TIRED DEER
MY FIRST DEER RESCUE
TIKI PLAGE ON OUR WALK TO CAP DU DRUMONT
ILE D'OR

CHATEAU DE LA NAPOULE
ONE OF THE FEW MODERN ARCHITECTURE HOLIDAY HOMES IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
EMPTY MOST OF THE YEAR.
A FUNICULAR FROM THE GARAGE TO THE HOUSE!
NOTRE DAME D'AFRIQUE MEMORIAL IN THE HILLS BEHIND US
SUNDAY RANDONEE
ORIGINALLY PIERRE CARDIN'S HOUSE
THE ARCHITECTURAL FOLLY OF THE BUBBLE HOUSE 'PALAIS BULLES'
WEEKEND SAILING

RENE WORKS ON THE PHONE LINE TO GET OUR INTERNET BACK
WEIRD AND WISPY
THE FRENCH ARE CRAZY ABOUT ROSE SO WE HAD TO TRY IT
BREAKFAST ON A COOL SUNNY MORNING EARLY MAY
OUR STREET
THANKS MICHAEL AND EMMA
A TOAST TO THE FORTHCOMING YACHT PURCHASE
KEEPING UP MY AUSSIE BLOKE BARBIE SKILLS
LEAVING OUR STEEP, STEEP DRIVEWAY FOR JUAN LES PINS.