My French Holiday: VilleFranche-su-mer and Cap Ferrat

We arrived in VilleFrance-su-mer about 5 pm after a five hour train ride from Avignon. The train station is very close to the beach and the water front of this small- town Mediterranean village. What was disorienting at first was that this village is built on a hillside. The whole town laid above our heads on zig-zagging narrow streets. My brother, Doug, who lives in Malibu called this place "Malibu on sterioids". How was one to find the Hotel la Fiancee du Pirate? We finally noticed that there was a bus stop at the beach. With my feeble French I asked a person if the bus would take us to the hotel. We were in luck. The bus was mini bus #80 and we were about to catch the last one of the day's schedule. We were amazed as it climbed the hill from the port to the top of the hill. The streets were so narrow that the cars, which were parked only on one side of the street, had to pull in their side view mirrows so the bus could make it through.

View from our room at the Hotel la Fiancee du Pirate

Looking at the Mediterranean from our vantage point in VilleFrance.

That evening we walked a few blocks to a near by brasserie for supper. It was already dark, but we noticed on the street a sign that seemed to say we were in Nice.

How surprised we were when in the daylight we could see Nice from this vantage point spread out below us. Oh, Nice is Nissa in Italian. We aren't that far from the Italian border here and at one point in history this part of France was considered part of Italy.

A view of Nice below from our hilltop location in VilleFrance.

Nice or Nissa, it's all the same, a marvelous city by the sea.

Looking east from the city limits of Nice.

Day two in this place we ventured off to Cap Ferrat an exclusive peninsula on the Nice-Monaco route. It's a 50 minute walk from VilleFrance, but we decided to take the bus. The bus stop was only a few blocks from our hotel. We stood at the stop for over an hour counting all the smart cars and tiny Renaults going by. We gave up and used Uber to call a cab.

The main place we wanted to visit on CapFerrat was the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. This mansion dates from 1905 and is full of art and artifacts from all over the world. As we strolled through the rooms, we saw royal furnishings and personal possessions, including the baroness's porcelain collection, and other things from her many international cruises.