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Cap-Ferrat-Villa Ephrussi de Rothshild-Gossip and anecdotes

Cap Ferrat contents

Cap Ferrat-Villa Ephrussi de Rothshild-a visit inside and
outside

After Nice and Villefranche the Riviera is a paradise for the “happy few”. On Cap Ferrat there are still servant-entrances, which are not rusted, solid and middle-aged but very well cared ladies jog around in the flowered lanes. A good reason for that is that it is protected territory. And this is like that since a long time. Take now the British author William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) who bought the “Villa Mauresque”in 1928 thanks to the colossal sums of money he earned with his book: “The Moon and Sixpence” and “Cakes and Ale”. This villa, former possession of king Leopold II, king of Belgium (!), was despised by Maugham (he had a terrible temper), as “ugly so it had to be cheap”. Nevertheless he lived there until his death in 1965. Exotic paradise birds as Somerset Maugham were not the exception. They appeared practically never openly or in public places. And in our days, this desire for anonymity all along the Riviera is growing more and more. It’s not only “snobbish” to receive at home, but also more secure. In Cap Ferrat numerous celebrities, like Jean Paul Belmondo, Raymond Barre and from the more ancient guests we can remember Nietzsche, Otto Preminger, and Jean Cocteau have their little “shack”! But don’t try to approach them too near! Large villas in Cap Ferrat grew into modern versions of medieval fortifications. Electronic fences and hidden cameras replaced drawbridges, deep ditches and turrets pierced to throw boiling pitch. On the “cap” everything is done to avoid that non-invited guests should dive in other man’s pools, or “borrow” and “put in another safe place” the Monet’s and Dubuffet’s. And even more, to avoid that the owner would be shot to death in his own garden. Let’s quote the American journalist in her Riviera book, Mary Blume: “ It’s not longer fashionable to have a dream villa at the Cote d’Azur. Better a dream yacht with all the possible communication gadgets and equipment, navigating in and out with the motto: as long as you move, it is difficult to hit you.”
I will come later to that other region, the Luberon, over passing the Cote d’Azur in popularity for the rich and wealthy, and where they can even have a much more secret life.

But finally between Nice and Monaco, I mean the part of the Cote where the richest and wealthiest live, life goes on as if nothing changed and everything was as joyful as before. But when I read the statistics, only for the Alpes-Maritimes, of which Cap Ferrat is a part, the Cote is already stuffed with speculative concrete, designed only for mass-tourism. Although concrete didn't make too many ravages on the peninsula of Cap-Ferrat, covered with a magnificent pine-forest, we must also notice the ravages of the “green concrete”: the newest French rage to build golf-courses whose concessions are coupled with even more profitable building of golf-restaurants and golf-hotels. And last but not least, the scourge of the “marina’s” is overwhelming everything around, which means the coastline being stuffed with yacht harbours with their concrete dikes, fancy club houses and the unnecessary hubbub. The backcountry pays every year a heavy price to this new mass culture with the immense forest fires, turning thousands of hectares into ashes.
An even bigger danger along these coasts is that you risk your own life and possessions.
I’m very sorry if I shattered some of your illusions, but don’t get me wrong!  Cap Ferrat and St.Jean Cap-Ferrat is certainly one of the most beautiful and fairy tale like spots on the Cote and you must visit it. Alone the walk around the peninsula along the sea on a well paved path, becoming wilder but breathtaking id to be done absolutely. Next article I will point out the unavoidable MUST SEES on Cap Ferrat. My introduction was juts a little outburst of my opinion, which has nothing to do with the beauty of the landscapes and walks.

Cap Ferrat view from the sea

And it may seem paradoxical, but in this area, where the most expensive villas of the Cote embellish the scenery, there exist several agreeable hotels at accessible prices!