In real time, I’m in Malta, starting Day 3 here. I’m playing a serious game of journaling catch up, so this one is going to be more of a “recap” than a detailed description!
Day 4: My cough is a bit better, but I’m still a snotty mess. Sigh… So in keeping with my “this portion of the trip is mainly for resting, and not adventuring” stance, I booked only one adventure for today- a free walking tour of Antibes so I could get to know the city a bit. I always love to do these free tours wherever I go, because the guides are a wealth of information! But remember, free doesn’t mean “free”! It means tip the guide accordingly at the end and don’t be a trashy cheap ass. (I’m a cheap ass, but not a trashy one!)
Generally there are at least 2 different companies offering free walking tours of a city, so I decide based on time (because they tend to go to the same places). Antibes just had one- the aptly named Antibes Free Walking Tours! I booked online for Saturday at 10:30. The meeting place was literally just outside the apartment door- in the park next to my beloved Dr. Pepper stocked Monoprix. 🙂 I arrived a bit early, and there was a market set up in the park. Mainly clothes and shoes and that sort of thing. I actually found a dress I really loved. Original price on the tag- $340 Euros. Market price $80 Euros. Still too pricey for my blood, though. 🙁
A little before 10:30, I wandered over to the meeting place and found my guide, Cedric. We talked a little bit before the tour. Cedric was born and raised in France, then lived in New Zealand with his wife, where he perfected his English! They have actually done a lot of housesitting as well, so it was fun to talk to someone who understands this lifestyle. They moved back to France, and Cedric was in IT work- and not really enjoying it. When his baby was born, he wanted more freedom. So he decided to go into business for himself (YAY ENTREPRENEURSHIP!!) and Antibes Free Walking Tours was born! He’s only been doing it for 2 months, and he’s the only game in town right now. We talked about marketing (which fortunately is one of my strong points and the reason why my businesses have always succeeded), and he is really on point with his marketing game- working on building and building the business through the proper connections and channels. I absolutely loved his story! We finished talking at about 10:33, and no one else was there. So for today, it would be a private tour! Awesome for me, sucks for Cedric (less tips). But such are the growing pains of a brand new business…
We headed off toward old town, and took a turn down a side street. There was a very nondescript looking church from the outside, called the Chapelle Saint Bernardin. Cedric told me to go inside and have a look around, and make sure I looked for the old doors with the date on them. WOW!! I couldn’t believe that the inside of this church was so bright and so ornate, considering the outside of it was rather plain (I didn’t even get a picture of the outside because it was so “eh”, and by the time I got back out I completely forgot!). The church was built in the 1500s over Roman ruins (One shovel, to go, please!). Doors were gifted to the church in 1587 by a parishioner who survived the plague. Now, an almost 500 year old door is pretty cool in and of itself…but the oooo-weeeee-oooo part of this door is that the church caught fire in the 1970s and was left in ruins, but this door- this WOODEN door- remained….hmmmm….yeah, still don’t believe! 😉 It lay in ruins for about 20 years, until restoration began in 1998. It took about 10 years to restore it. And I must say, they did a fantastic job!
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Here you can see some of the paintings from the 1500s/1600s that survived the fire.
Next, we walked through old town and went to an area where there was an outdoor antique mall! I had every intention of coming back and wandering around here after the tour, but alas, my energy levels/cold did not allow it. 🙁 We wandered through old, narrow, beautiful streets and came to an Absinthe museum/bar. Cedric described the history of Absinthe (which is really quite interesting!). I declined to taste it. However, he did say that the oldest Roman ruins of the city are in the cellar of this place, which hosts a lively piano bar in the evenings! Right next to that was Le Marche Provencal. This is a major fruit/veggie/meat market during the morning, and an art market at night. This was one place I DEFINTELY wanted to come back to, because as we walked through there were all kinds of gorgeous produce I had never seen and I wanted pictures! But again, the cold ruined that return trip as well. 🙁
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Then we got off the “beaten tourist path” and started wandering through some neighborhoods. Cedric asked me if I liked plants. Um, YES! And we turned into an area that was this insanely gorgeous combination of old European buildings and vibrant plants! Paradise, aka Safranier! We walked and talked about the neighborhood, and it was at this point that I could totally see myself living here! Then he showed me an ancient lavoir- basically a public washing trough where women used to gather to wash clothes and gossip! I think he said it was from the 1500s, but it might be 1600s- I can’t remember (which is why I have to keep up with my blogs and not get so far behind! Damn you, short term memory!!)
On the other side of the lavoir was a big rock wall. Ok, who cares. There are lots of rock walls in Europe. Well, look closely. See anything?
Ok, if Cedric hadn’t pointed it out to me, I guarantee I wouldn’t have seen! See, there is an artist in Antibes that has an extremely small studio. He ran out of room for his works, so he took to the streets! And he began installing faces and angels and such on the walls of the town- sometimes with the owner’s permission, and apparently sometimes without and they were promptly removed! And if you look around in this area, you will see them almost everywhere! Just on this one wall, you can see several faces, and a hand coming out in the lower left hand corner! There are also a lot of angels scattered around on various flatter walls around town. It’s kind of like a game of Where’s Waldo! Here are some closeups of the faces on this rock wall….
From here, we headed around toward the harbor area. Stunning. The fortification walls of the city were built from the stones of old Roman ruins!
We came out to a little square. This is where the Pablo Picasso museum is. The museum is a former chateau that was built in early 1600s, and became Picasso’s home in the 1940s. After that, it became the first museum dedicated to Picasso, housing about 250 of his works. I’m not a fan of modern art, so I skipped this. Next to it is the Antibes Cathedral, built on the ruins of a Roman temple in the 500s (wow!!). Of course, it has been restored often over the past 1500 years. Notably (anytime a French king is involved, I call that “notable”!), Louis XV (the one in between 2 of my 3 favorite kings!!) paid to have it restored in the 1740s after war kinda made a mess of it…
We kept heading around toward the harbor, passing a beautiful beach that is nicknamed “the toilet bowl” because of its shape (god, I hope that’s the reason!) and finally into the harbor. I was surprised to learn that Antibes is the largest harbor in the Mediterranean- with more boats moored here than anywhere else! And some of the largest. One Russian oligarch Cedric told me about has a 162m yacht that is here often! Cedric also explained a lot of the crazy features these ridiculously lavish yachts have. The one I liked best were the jellyfish barrier nets, that create a jellyfish free zone if you are out in the ocean and want to take a dip. I can get “on board” with that idea (me and the puns….). The rest of them are just stupid ways to spend money when you have too much of it and don’t know what else to do with it. Gross.
We entered back into the old part of the city through a gate in the wall. The last thing Cedric showed me was a fountain. Apparently a guy a long time ago (forgive my lack of details…they have escaped me in the 4 or 5 days since I took this tour! Hey, a LOT has happened since then!! 🙂 ) said he could find a water source for the city under the street. No one believed him- in fact, they kind of taunted him and made a joke out of him. Well, he ended up doing it, and when he built his fountain, the faces sculpted on it were those of the prominent people of the city who ridiculed him. His revenge? Give them donkey ears. 🙂
Cedric really did give a nice little tour, showing me things I definitely wouldn’t have stumbled upon on my own (especially that beautiful church, the lovely neighborhood of Safranier, and those hidden sculptures!). I wish I had been feeling better and had journaled this earlier so I remembered more of the details. I really do recommend that you support Cedric and his walking tour business! It’s so great to come across a “one man band” so to speak, who is really eager and excited about providing a super cool service.
Day 5: My last full day in Antibes. It had to be a down day. A complete and total down day. No adventures. Just working and hanging out with Molly. Because tomorrow I was flying to Malta to meet Brian and this cold had to be GONE. Luckily, hanging out with Molly is an adventure in and of itself, because that little rascal is like taking care of a super tiny toddler who is getting into everything constantly and loves to play (especially with her little Kong toy)! And ferret kisses always make you feel better!
