Juhannus on the Cote d'Azur

Juhannus, or midsummer, is a really big thing over in Finland, when people have loads of fun (it’s also the day when most people drown in Finland, but that’s another story…). I’ve heard rumours about midsummer celebrations over here on the Cote d’Azur as well, but so far I’ve not participated in one.

This time around, my former Cote d’Azur colleague Hannu, was visiting here with his family, and was attending these festivities. So I decided to join the rest of the local Finns on the beach, then. So down I headed to Antibes on my bike, armed with a bottle of cider. It was all good fun; great to meet up with Hannu and his family again. Hannu has actually left mother Nokia, as it appears I may too in the near future. The end of an era, indeed… Met up with a few other Finns as well. So all in all, it was good fun.

After a couple of hours on the beach, it was time to head back to Cagnes-sur-Mer, where “the Finnish gang” (meaning Hannu & his family, me and Mathilde as well as Mikko and Marianne) was meeting up for dinner. I’d reserved the San Marino for the occasion – seemed like a good bet for this kind of “big group occasion”. The San Marino is a rather typical Cote d’Azur touristy restaurant, but rather well located on the Cagnes seaside, near the Saint-Pierre church. And we even got a table at the rooftop terrace, with nice views over the seaside.

We spent a rather nice evening there, catching up on the good old times. The food was pretty decent for most people – however my Tajine was kind of ruined by all the honey they put in the sauce – not sure I’ve ever had a meat dish quite that sweet. Still, a great evening out, and great to catch up with everybody again!