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French Riviera Mimosa Festivals

The winter suns are in full bloom across the French Riviera and in full celebration.

Beginning last weekend (Jan 28-29 2012), the Festival du Mimosa celebrations make their way eastward, beginning in Bormes-les-Mimosas and continuing along the Côte d'Azur coastline and then inland in the Tanneron hills to end in Grasse. Most of the fun takes place on weekends, although garden visits and hikes are also planned in Mandelieu, Saint-Raphael and Rayol (gardens) during the week. Festivities last until March.

Mimosa Festival Schedule for 2012:

Bormes-les-Mimosas:    January 28 and 29
Rayol/Canadel-sur-Mer: February 4 and 5
Sainte-Maxime:             February 4 (with Evening Parade) and 5th (with Corso Fleuri parade)
Saint-Raphael:               February 11th (with Evening Carnaval) and 12th (with Day Time Carnaval) and 15th (Kids Carnaval)
Mandelieu-la-Napoule:   February 18th (with Evening Parade) and 19th (with Corso Fleuri)
Tanneron:                       February 4th and 5th (with Corso Fleuri parade)
Pegomas:                       January 28th and 29th, with mimosa walks and exhibitions until March
Grasse:                           Grasse focuses more on the perfume industry

For more information and to make reservations for the guided visits and hikes, contact the Tourism Offices for the chosen town.

Click on this line for a PDF with Toursim Offices contact information and detailed Mimosa Festival programming (in English).

Right now, snow has fallen on the Var and in the Alpes-Maritimes. The Mimosas are yellow and white. With the sun out, the flakes will soon melt...

Will it snow today?

While temperatures have dropped like a rock in the last four days here on the French Riviera, it isn't quite cold enough today (3°C) to turn rain into snow.

Snow is expected though for today!

Mostly inland, and not that far up in altitude (200 meters). We have our small plastic sand shovels ready to shuffle the snow. You guessed it, no one is ready for snow by the coast. When it snows here by the coast in southern France, the whole region freezes up for a few hours; cars panic, folks run outside and snap pictures.

 

Jean Cocteau's Last Chapel, Fréjus, France

"Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what's known as infinity." -Jean Cocteau

It takes some effort to reach the Notre-Dame de Jérusalem chapel, also known as the Cocteau Chapel, at the Tour de Mare neighborhood of Fréjus in Southern France. It isn't all that far from the center of the old Fréjus, but the road that leads to it is a hushed secret. In my opinion, it should be sign posted everywhere as a must-see for visitors to Frejus.

Reach it and you enter a different world. Like a dream, it grasps you and pulls you into its own separate  reality.

 

"Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious." -Jean Cocteau

The Chapel sits at the outskirts of the Estérel Mountains. You park outside its gated entrance and walk your way up a pathway through a garden of cork oaks.

At the end of the path, you notice a small octagon-shaped structure propped up on a mounticle, the chapel. Its three heavy iron doors greet you solemnly. Light pierces through the doors' stained glass and runs inside.

"One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends." - Jean Cocteau

On the the floor, glazed tiles shine in different tones of blue. They're shaped in elongated hexagons and slither their way to the center of the room. They move under your feet like waves on water. The murals surround you in dreamy blues and washed-out yellows. You notice bloody splashes of red across this soft pastel canvas: the Jerusalem cross, the nails in Jesus' hands and feet, the blazons of the Saint-Sepulcher order and the cup of wine all stand out in red.

"Art is not a pastime but a priesthood." -Jean Cocteau

The octagon's insides represent scenes from the Passion of Christ,from the order of the Holy Sepulcher, from the Passion of Christ and from Jesus' resurrection.

Cocteau's chapel not only depicts a world of sensations and of symbols, it embodies it. It's hard for me to convey the feeling of a visit when you plunge into Cocteau's world. The below video offers a vicarious alternative to a real visit.

To find out more:

We have previously written about the Cocteau Chapel. Read more about it here.

Read about the multi-talented artist Jean Cocteau at this site

Jean Cocteau was a very prolific and multi-talented artist. You'll find more of his murals on the French Riviera at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat at Villa Santo Sospir, at Chapelle Saint-Pierre in Villefranche-sur-Mer, in Menton (Le Bastion and Salle des Mariages) and at the Cap d'Ail though that site is not open to visitors. Also at Metz, Milly-la-Forêt and even London at the Eglise Notre-Dame de France, just off Leicester Square.

To know when to go:

From November to April: Tuesday to Sunday 9:30AM to 12:30PM and 2PM to 5PM
From May to October: Tuesday to Sunday 9:30AM to 12:30PM and 2PM to 6PM

Closed on Mondays and on Holidays. Current cost 2€ per person.

To find it:

To find the Cocteau chapel at the outskirts of Fréjus, follow the below Google map.

Show AzurAlive.com: The Cocteau Chapel, Fréjus on larger map

Cannes Croisette Carpet of Light

In Cannes on the French Riviera, the Croisette rolls its red carpet every night and not just around the Cannes Festival. It's a carpet of energy-friendly LED lights, over 1,500 of them strung along the seaside Croisette promenade.

They come alive at night, changing to play with the colors of the sun as it sets behind the Mediterranean Sea. It's a symphony in red, blue, purple, yellow. It's a mood. Not overwhelming the scenery but highlighting it. If you visit, pull up a metallic chair and enjoy the show.

 

St Tropez: Annonciade Museum

Enter the Musée de l'Annonciade in Saint-Tropez at the edge of the town's old port, and you enter a small, intimate two-floored house with white arched walls, high ceilings and a special aura. The museum is a former 16C chapel. In the 1950's, art-lover Georges Grammont transformed the building into a museum and doted the former chapel with 56 paintings from his personal collection.

Today, the little museum houses an impressive collection of paintings by neo-impressionist artists.

Browse around. You admire paintings of the village of St Tropez as it was 100 years ago. 

Paul Signac painted it, from his St Tropez house "La Hune" where he invited many of his artist friends. Pierre Bonnard painted it. Albert Marquet painted it. Jean Puy painted it. André Derain painted it. Henri Matisse painted St Tropez too.

Meander around St Tropez through these paintings at the museum and you realize that not much has changed. In the morning and especially in the evening, St Tropez drapes itself in a special natural light, an enhancing glow. Erase the neon around the handful of more obnoxious shops in town, and you find that same glow.

St Tropez, at its heart, remains a magical village. It's a magical village with a magical little museum.

The Museum of l'Annonciade, St Tropez
You'll find the museum tucked on the side of the old port at the end of Quai Suffren, at Place Grammont. The museum closes in November and stays otherwisde open from 10AM to Noon and 2PM to 6PM every day except Tuesdays. Phone: 04 94 17 84 10.

View AzurAlive.com: Annonciade Museum, Saint-Tropez in a larger map

How we see Antibes

Everyone sees Antibes differently. To some, it's all about ancient history with Antibes' Greek origins as Antipolis; to others, it's a parking lot to display over-sized yachts; to others, it's an active and quaint old French Riviera town filled with cafés and colorful open markets. To a few, it's simply home.

Yesterday, while strolling around the old town of Antibes, my son and I each snapped a couple of pictures.

Here's what struck me about Antibes that day:

And what struck my son about it:

To each of us our own!

 

New Year's at Place Masséna

Place Masséna in Nice is at the heart of the French Riviera town. Around New Year's, it's decorated with light shows, a little Christmas market and even an ice rink down the road. Lots of family fun!

Here's a quick view of the light show at Place Masséna:

Christmas in Saint-Tropez

Visitors to the French Riviera often ask: "How is St-Tropez in December?" The frequently heard answer is that Saint-Tropez in December is quiet, flat, boring. That's not the whole story. St-Tropez in December has nothing to do with the vibrant sizzling town of mid-summer. Not all restaurants are open. You can easily find a parking spot at the port or at Place des Lices. The famed Barbarac ice-cream shop is closed. Yet the little town has a lot going for it around Christmas time.

This December 22nd 2011, St Tropez sports a cool light show projected on the facades of the peach and cream colored houses lining the port. Down rue Georges Clémenceau, shops like Marinette Decoration display a festive spirit with snow-capped trees and shining Santas. And at the Place des Lices, the ice ring fills with a happy bunch. Kids inch their way up the free rock climbing wall at the corner of the place.

Only the pooch in front of the shoe store looked bored today!

 

 

The Eery Stillness of Malpasset

When we hiked along the cobbles and rocks of the Reyran river towards the ruins, no one spoke. It wasn't the first time we hiked to the ruins of the Malpasset dam. We walk there at least once a year, often taking a hiking group along.

Yet when we walked past these giant cement blocks scattered by the river bed, something muted us. Something about the power exerted by nature (in this case, retained water behind a wall) and the way in can explode tons of concrete into smitherings.

The story of the Malpasset dam bursting in December 1959 is well-known in Frejus, and in all of France. Take a look at our full description here: http://www.azuralive.com/2007/01/le_barrage_de_m.html

We continued our hike up from the river bed onto the main path and stopped at the upper viewpoint.

The hike to the Malpasset Dam is hike #6 in the hiking guide to the French Riviera "26 Gorgeous Hikes on the Western Côte d'Azur". 

Note that as of December 2011, the cemenet ford on the D37 which leads the parking lot to the Malpasset Dam has collapsed. Work is under way to reinforce that section of the D37 road. We expect it to complete before the Spring 2012. In the meantime, you can park just ahead of the broken ford and continue afoot to the hike's start point.

The 26 Gorgeous Hikes hiking guide is available from Amazon France:

From Amazon US:

St Tropez: La Voile Rouge

As of this Fall, the famous beach bar and restaurant on the St Tropez beach of Pampelonne is no more. Paul Tomaselli opened the Voile Rouge restaurant in the 60's right on the St Tropez beach. It quickly earned a reputation for fun-filled exuberance, but also for good food as Paul's mom was a mighty cook.

In the 21st century, La Voile Rouge wasn't nearly as excentric as its reputation would lead to believe. Folks would hang-out around its open-air tables or lounge on its rented beach mattresses.

Sure, champagne could start flowing, and when a celebrity like Paris Hilton or Bruce Willis dropped by, the place would go hay-wire. But that's St Tropez in the summertime.

La Voile Rouge shut down a couple of weeks ago. Long-lasting legal battles over permits for operating on public domain seaside grounds forced it to close. La Voile Rouge has unrigged, but the legend remains.