Interesting set, Joe! Takes me back to 1970 when my wife and I were in Nice for ten days at the International Congress of Mathematicians. A lot of it has faded from memory, but I do remember being quite disappointed by the beach there. It was all rocks. Particularly attracted to image #7. Looks like a wonderful place for a meal and reminds me of a small Italian restaurant located just beside the hotel we were staying at. We would often go there for supper. Every meal was washed down with a bottle of good tasting yet relatively cheap wine.

In this set I present photos I took while we were vacationing at the very beginning of our summer trip with the families of our two children in the small village of MONTAUROUX located in the hills slightly to the west and inland from Nice/France. Almost all these images were taken in the department Var, except for the two at VILLEFRANCHE-sur-MER, which was right at the Côte d'Azur or, as it is called in English: the French Riviera. We have spent with our families quite a few vacations at houses that we rented, but I have to admit, nothing comes even close to the place we had here in these hills: It was an absolutely grand venue. Unfortunately I have no images in this selection, other than of a fountain in the garden, but will present some when I get to do the full albums sometime in the future.

Beside Villefranche-sur-Mer, the images in this set come from 5 different, small villages, including Montauroux, up in these hills. I append links to further write-ups on a few of these:

VILLEFRANCHE-sur-MER - A preeminent resort town with substantial historical roots and a deep, natural harbor that has made it the most visited cruise ship port of call in France. More information from Wikipedia at - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villefranche-sur-Mer

This link to the hill town CALLIAN provides at the end of its brief text sub-links to MONTAUROUX, FAYENCE, MONS and SEILLANS - https://www.francethisway.com/places/callian.php


Notes
TRIP INFO: Set # 1 provides a brief introduction to this series. Please use the link below if you would like to review this intro:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-797460-1.html

2022 TRIP INFO: Set # 19 provides more information on the two trips of the year to Europe
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-798237-1.html

EARLIER POSTS of this series: Access my topic list at UHH, the new posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-topic-list?usernum=45105

Thanks for visiting, I recommend viewing the downloads and look forward to your comments and questions.

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Joe, this is a fine example of your talent for showing us the essence of the landscapes you travel through. Your postings of your travels in eastern and central Europe and now the south of France has led me to the following thesis. As time passes, many hundreds of years in some cases, towns that are at natural crossroads or significant ports grow as the population grows into the million+ cities of today. But there are also small towns and villages that are limited in size by natural topography or other restraints and have relatively stable size and population. Over time they develop an architectural style of their own adapted to their area and culture. Each one is unique in some way which adds to it's charm. It's like survival of the fittest. Those ideas that work, persist, those that don't are replace with ones that do. Essentially, they have hundreds of years "to get it right".

That's what I see in your images. Those places that get it right, portrayed via your considerable photographic skills into images we all look forward to. From the overall layout of their towns to the look of narrow streets, fountains and small parks or even an outdoor restaurant in the perfect spot. Good job! Good show!

Very interesting response John! Your information leads me back on my own memory-lane trip. We were actually in that area for the first time one year after you, on July 29, 1971 to be exact (I had to look that up!). I had been working as a traveling auditor for Citibank for 3 years out in Asia, met my gal there and Susan and I got married on June 19, 1971 and started out on a 4-months honeymoon, spending the first two months in Europe, where I purchased a car that later came with us on the boat to North America (Liverpool to Montreal - in your neck of the woods, to be exact). In late July we were driving in Italy, coming from Tuscany and stayed overnight in San Remo, just east of the Italian border with Monaco and then France, very close to Nice. The next day we drove through Nice over to Avignon and then up towards Paris. I remember eating at a seaside restaurant in San Remo, forgot what we had for food, but a reasonably good bottle of local wine went for under a dollar, those were the days!

Your travels in the area in 1971 reminded me of ours in 1970. We were on our honeymoon, having gotten married in July. I was working for the Department of National Defence and so had access to military flights. I flew to Lahr, where Canada had a base, while my new wife flew to Paris and then Stuttgart. I met her there, and with a car that we had rented, we toured through Bavaria, a part of Austria, then through Switzerland and down to Nice, often taking back roads and stopping for lunch at some restaurant and a Gasthaus for supper and the night. We went to San Remo by bus one day and what I particularly remember about that trip is being taken at the border by one of those money exchange places. I converted some francs to lira going into Italy and back to francs on the way back. We had spent little in San Remo and I recall receiving a lot fewer francs on my way back.

Oh yes, those infamous money exchange places. While traveling in Europe was always interesting, the currency chaos was something else. Of course every country had its own currency, and the constant changing robbed us of quite some of the value of our money. Things are so much easier this day with mostly a common currency over there, but also with the extensive use of credit cards or other electronic payment methods, which in fact guarantee that only one and not multiple currency exchanges take place. Add to that the convenient of walking up to an ATM and getting out whatever amount of local currency you might still want/need to carry. We've got it easy these days!