GUIDE / CÔTE D’AZUR / TENDER IS THE NIGHT

“Later she remembered all the hours of the afternoon as happy -- one of those uneventful times that seem at the moment only a link between past and future pleasure, but turn out to have been the pleasure itself.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night

The most beautifully written – and perhaps the most melancholic – book that takes place on the French Riviera is Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. Published in 1934, it is based on the time that Fitzgerald spent on the Riviera with his family, while his wife Zelda Fitzgerald slowly succumbed to mental illness and his own life became more and more affected by his alcoholism. It also tells the story of the last years of “the Jazz Age”, that defining period that followed the World War I and ended in 1929, with the Great Depression. Fitzgerald begun writing on the novel already in 1925, following the success of The Great Gatsby. It is generally considered one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century, and has forever defined the image of the Côte d’Azur as a seductive and leisurely place.

The reason that the Fitzgeralds relocated to the Côte d’Azur was to find “a new rhythm to our lives”, as Fitzgerald later wrote in a letter to a friend. At the time, the French Riviera was not the well-oiled tourism-machinery that it is today, but a mostly rural and undeveloped part of France. Still, peaceful spots can still be found, by avoiding the most popular areas in high season, and by exploring places a bit off the beaten track.

Villa Kerylos from Villa Ephrussi de Rotschild

As the name implies, the Côte d’Azur centres on the coastline, which means that most visitors tend to be drawn to the beach towns and seaside resorts. The nearby mountains can however also offer many interesting sights, but with lesser crowds and a greater sense of tranquillity. The small town of Sainte-Agnès is the seaside town with the highest location – 800 metres above sea level – in all of Europe, with a breath-taking view of the Mediterranean Sea, thus nicknamed “the balcony of Côte d’Azur”. Located only a few kilometres from the coast, it is listed as one of the most charming towns in France. It has a 360° panoramic view, including everything from the nearby town of Menton to the southern part of the Alps. The climate is typical for the region, and so the town and surround forests are full of flowers, from conifers, aromatic herbs and wild lavender.

The French Riviera has not only attracted writers like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, but also people from other creative fields. One of the names most strongly associated with the French coastline is Jean Cocteau. A writer, poet, artist and film-maker, Cocteau made the Côte d’Azur his home away from home, as he from 1950 and onwards regularly would stay with his friend Francine Weisweiller at her home in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. However, he developed a particular fondness for the small town Menton, close to the Italian border and an architecturally mix of French and Italian styles, and today, there are no less than two museums dedicated to his work here.

Musée Jean-Cocteau – Collection Séverin Wunderman

Other artists were equally drawn to the warm light, comfortable climate and pleasant scenery. Pablo Picasso famously spent many years on Côte d’Azur, as did Fernand Léger, who has an entire museum dedicated to his work in Biot. One of Europe’s premiere centres for contemporary art, Fondation Maeght, is located on a few minutes’ walk from La Colombe d’Or, the iconic restaurant and hotel (where Zelda Fitzgerald once deliberately fell down a flight of stairs, annoyed that her husband was flirting with Isadora Duncan on the terrace), in the same town where Marc Chagall spent the last years of his life.

¨It is said that history is told by the wealthy and the winners of wars.¨

It is said that history is told by the wealthy and the winners of wars. This is not entirely true, but on the French Riviera, the lives of the world’s financial and cultural elite have definitely left a mark. Close to where Jean Cocteau would spend his summers, Villa Ephrussi de Rotschild overlooks the bay. One of the most prestigious houses of the area, it was built by baroness Béatrice Ephrussi de Rotschild. As the combination of two of the world’s most prestigious last names suggest, she lived a life of unimaginable wealth, and used it to create the palace of her dreams, surrounded by several theme-gardens, complete with fountains, ancient temples and statues. She fell in love with the area after having visited the summer villa of her close relatives, Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, designed to merge the comforts of the Art Nouveau-age with the style of ancient Greece.

A more modernist approach to architecture can be found in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, where Le Corbusier would spend his summers (as his wife was originally from here). Other modernist pioneers who were attracted to this spot were Jean Badovici and Eileen Gray, who together designed the villa known as Case study E–1027 (“E” stands for “Eileen”, “10” and “2” for his initials, while “7” corelates with the alphabetical position of the letter “G”, as in Gray). Just behind the villa lies the Promenade Le Corbusier, which is one of the most scenic walks on the Riviera, connecting Roquebrune with Menton.

While Nice will always be associated with the artistic legacy of Henri Matisse, the charming village of Villefranche-sur-Mer was yet another place favoured by Jean Cocteau, who would come here to paint, as well as creating the frescoes for the Chapelle Saint-Pierre in the harbour. Today, the town is still a charming and rustic place, where a sense of the old Riviera still lingers.

¨Côte d’Azur might have been immortalized by both writers and artists, but it is also appealing in its own right.¨

Côte d’Azur might have been immortalized by both writers and artists, but it is also appealing in its own right, without having to be translated through the lens of an artistic eye. The red rocks of the L’Esteral National Park are almost supernatural in both colour and shape: the clashing of red rocks and the blue sea is as unexpected as it is beautiful. A popular place for locals to go swimming or have family picknicks, this area is among the best on the coast for a nice swim.