Paris

So Smollett liked Nice and as we all know the British were ferocious travellers. You could find them all over the world, cruising on the Nile, exploring Afghanistan, studying fauna and flora anywhere in Africa, alone or with the whole family. Imagine that it was not very difficult to convince them that the Cote d'Azur was an ideal place to stay over winter. The very sacred hour of the "siesta" was even disturbed by those strange "Brits" who didn't find a better way to dispense their energy by footing, running around in the early afternoon sun. But at last they were forgiven since they brought wealth, money, luxury and fame to the region. That's why you can look upon the cote d'Azur as being sort of British colony for 2 centuries. One of the celebrities who visited the Cote: queen Victoria who stayed for 7 winters. She lived in the hills of Cimiez, up in the Nice countryside, and had her whole staff with her. Scot Guards, Hindu butlers. The Nicois must have had funny thoughts about the way these crazy English dressed! Nevertheless, main reminders of the British influence are the names they left on streets and avenues: promenade des Anglais, rue Smollet....More about Smollett in my Cannes series later…
1868, another important date for the Cote d'Azur: the railway arrives and connects now London to Menton. Until that time, the journey to the Cote d'Azur was a long and dangerous one. But once her access eased, the Cote d'Azur attracted a much less adventurous clientele in favor of a much more pleasure-making clientele. During the "Annees Folles", the Cote d'Azur was the spot where you had the most fun : an international fauna invaded the "French Riviera", and finally France discovered the charms of his own South-East.
Let’s not forget to mention the period between the two world wars, when the Cote welcomed another short of "boom": American millionaires and billionaires and their satellites. The famous "Those Magical Twenties" were invented by Gerald Murphy and his wife Sara, who had one point of view: "living well is the best revenge". By the way, that's the name Calvin Tomkins gave the book he wrote later about the Murphy years. Murphy had a famous court around him: Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway for instance. But 1936 would be THE historical date for the Cote d'Azur! The birth of a new social era in France, obtained by the then socialist government "Front Populaire”: “les conges payes” or in English, paid vacations (by the state and bosses of course). The glorious epoch that the Riviera was the privileged territory and Olympus of the wealthy and mighty was over. Numerous and huge trainloads of a total new public poured to the Cote d'Azur and the arrived along the Nationale 7, long escape way to sun, sand, see and love. The English invasion died out, dissolved in the mass of new arrivals.
Today, it looks as the Riviera capitulated forever to the real estate promoters and industrials of mass tourism. The coast from Bandol to Menton is overwhelmed by concrete and it is highly unlikely that the Cote d'Azur will ever regain any relation to authentic nature again. But, a trip along the Riviera, especially out of season, is a particular experience anyway. Don’t let Jack discourage you! He is just a grump who happens to remember the cote 35 years ago.

Bibliography:

Tobias Smollet, "Travels through France and Italy", (Oxford University Press, Oxford, New-York in the series World Classics), John Pemble, "the Mediterranean Passion, Victorians and Edwardians in the South", (Oxford University Press 1988), Mary Blume, "Cote d'Azur. Inventing the French Riviera" (Thames and Hudson, London 1982)

From Nice to Saint-Tropez (suite)

Cap d'Antibes

Juan les
Pins-Golfe-Juan-Vallauris

Cannes

Iles de Lerins

La Napoule and Henry Clews

Esterel cornice to Frejus

Frejus

Sainte Maxime to Port Grimaud

Old Grimaud and Cogolin

Saint-Tropez

From Saint Tropez to Cassis

Ramatuelle-Gassin-Croix Valmer-Cavalaire sur mer

Le Lavandou-Bormes les Mimosas