A day at Villefranche-sur-Mer

After a pretty uneventful weekend (some sailing, a bit of DIY, movie at home on Saturday….) we decided it was time to get off our behinds on Sunday. Especially since the weather was looking very good indeed! We drew up a very ambitious plan which involved starting with a walk at Villefranche-sur-Mer, and then carrying on to Italy for a nice lunch followed by perhaps a touristy visit, or something along those lines…

We arrived in Villefranche well on schedule, and embarked on the rather unambitious walk. The hike basically took us up from the port at Villefranche; up to the Basse Corniche (there are three Corniches at various levels, which basically follow the dramatic coastline from Nice to the Italian border). We followed the Basse Corniche for a while, and then walked up along the interestingly named Chemin de Madone Noire (sounds almost scary…). All along the way, we had simply stunning views over the coastline, basking in sunshine… Absolutely amazing – once again we had to pinch ourselves to make sure this was in fact an October Sunday and not a dream…

The walk descended down to where Cap Ferrat starts. We contemplated whether we should carry on that way, but decided in the end to stick to the original plan and made our way back towards Villefranche. As we strolled along the beach, busy with people, we decided to modify our plan slightly and have lunch here instead. Felt a bit pointless not to make the most of the beautiful weather then and there. So we sat down for a light lunch (Italian salad for me and Italian sandwich for Mathilde), after which we decided to ditch the plan of going to Italy altogether. Instead we got our swimming gear from the car and continued enjoying the sun on the beach. What a perfect afternoon, with the cloudless, blue skies, crystal-clear water and beautiful views.

After a couple of hours of swimming, reading and sunbathing, we walked back to Villefranche for a bit of tourist action. Although we’ve been to Villefranche before, we’ve not really spent a lot of time visiting it, so this was an ample opportunity for it. It’s a very pretty little port town, architecturally very similar to some of the Italian towns in Liguria. Over the years, it has (nor surprisingly) welcomed some rather famous inhabitants; such as Jean Cocteau and Gregory Peck. Especially Cocteau was very fond of Villefranche.

To honour this famous poet-artist-director, we decided to visit the Chapelle-saint-Pierre. The interior of this small chapel was decorated by Cocteau in 1957. It’s a very beautiful and peaceful place, perhaps slightly less impressive than the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Jerusalem near Frejus, which was also decorated by Cocteau. Well worth a visit, both of these chapels!

After a relaxed non-alcoholic cocktail (what’s happening to me?) at one of the bars by the beach, it was time to call an end to a great Sunday. Hopefully the weather stays like this for just a few weeks more… (until the ski season, pretty please with sugar on top?).