Our magical Villefranche-Sur-Mer!

I am in awe visiting the Côte d'Azur. It's a delight to the senses and a desire to capture every view and every moment.  It has exceeded our expectations and we are enjoying every minute and living at the pace of the locals.

Let me start with our own village Villefranche-Sur-Mer, the town we made our home base. It's a very easygoing slice of the Mediterranean life, only 10 minutes away from Nice by bus. It's a vibrant and small community where everyone knows each other.

    The town has a small harbor very well protected

A view of the town. I took this picture from the bus.

It has narrow streets from clinging hills that spill down into the harbor with boats and yatchs, and a bay bordering a pebble beach surrounded by restaurants along a promenade. It's February, still winter but the 46F doesn't stop the restaurants from setting their tables with white tablecloths along the promenade to serve their gastronomic menus. This Sunday when we were taking a stroll along the promenade we found the entire town out either at the restaurants sitting outdoors wearing their coats, hats and scarfs and enjoying their wine and food. Others were out with their picnics laying on the pebbles and getting as much vitamin D as possible from the sun. 

                  

This picture was taken on Sunday afternoon. Please note people are wearing their coats and scarfs. The tables inside the restaurants are empty. 

                                              

Many of the streets are on clinging hills.  Our apartment is by the church at the top.

The train has a station here, so it's easy to go everywhere. Besides there is an excellent and relatively inexpensive bus system. We bought 10 rides for €10 and you can transfer from one bus to another, or the tram, for nothing within 70 minutes in the same direction or as long as not returning.

The town is surrounded by boulangeries, charcuteries, fromageries, small marches and many other shops. Besides there is a very good selection of nice restaurants, pizza places, creperies, brasseries, so no matter what our taste desire we can get it. We are walking distance to all places and we are truly taking advantage of it. 

When we look through the window of our apartment there is a small plaza in front and a church that wake us up every morning when they ring the bells. We always see people sitting there talking or just relaxing outdoors. The other day we saw two ladies set a small table with tablecloth to have their lunch. Here it's is...so proper. 

 There are always people sitting at plaza, either talking or eating.

 The more we get to know the town, the more we like it!