Promenade Le Courbusier

Anyone who has been regularly to the ocean knows of its healing qualities. Being close to water is calming, for both body and soul. Deep-rooted, mystical connections between water and people relieve stress and relaxes the mind.

According to marine biologist Wallace Nichols, this has less to do with nature’s mysteries and more to do with science. Water covers more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and makes up nearly 70 percent of the human body, which is why our brains will release neurochemicals when we are near water.

Seawater contains potassium, magnesium, chloride and sodium, beneficial for skin and hair (including treatment for eczema) while also fighting infections and reducing inflammations.

The ocean air is also different from inland air – as it has a higher salt content and is thus quite “thick”; as you inhale, it clears your throat and respiratory system, allowing clearer breathing and subsequently also better quality of sleep. The ocean can also restore equilibrium to the soul, as expressed already by the narrator in Herbert Melville’s Moby Dick: 

”Whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off— then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

Even politicians have realised the benefits of being close to water. In 2016, the European Union initiated Blue Health 2020, with the aim to get its citizens to spend more time close to water, so that they can lead healthier and happier lives.

Water can improve the well-being of people, regardless of whether they are living in densely populated cities or in the countryside. Water is the antidote to anxiety and stress, and the sound of waves crashing have been shown to have an almost immediately relaxing effect.

Being close to the ocean engages almost all of the senses – sight, smell, hearing and touch – and this physical immersion can also have beneficial emotional effects as well.

On a more esoteric note, staring into the deep blue sea can have calming effects on the mind, as it is an almost meditative experience. Some scientists have suggested that regularly being close to the sea can even temporarily change the frequency of brain waves to match that of the sea.

Perhaps this was part of the reason that Le Corbusier incorporated ocean swimming into his daily routine. However, Le Corbusier’s love for the sea had not been without incidents. In August 1938, outside of Saint-Tropez, he had a dangerous encounter with a boat’s propeller, which he outlined in a letter to his mother: 

"After the first turn of the blades, I was thrown out of the circuit and seemed not to have been hurt. I reached the surface, and breathed air. I hadn't swallowed a drop of water. I saw the boat gliding slowly away. I shouted: 'Hey, wait a second, you went right over me, there may be some damage!' Quite automatically my hand went to my right thigh, my arm fitting nicely inside. I looked down: a big area of blood-red water, and half my thigh floating like a ray (the fish!), attached by a narrow strip of flesh: 'throw me a buoy, I’m badly hurt.' The yacht headed toward me, throwing me a sort of rope knot too big to be held in one hand. The side of the yacht was too high for anyone to help me. 'Throw a lifesaver'. It comes, and I sit inside it. And here are some fishermen coming into port; their boat is low, they hold out their hands, and I give them my left hand, because I'm holding my thigh together with my right; we reach the place I started from, on the breakwater; I get up on the jetty; a kind driver appears out of nowhere and helps me sit down beside him. The fisherman gets in the backseat. Hospital. They put me on the table and began sewing me together. This lasts from six to midnight, in two sessions. I’ve already told you the rest.”

The boat’s propeller had cut lengthwise, rather than across, which gave him a large scar that stayed with him for the rest of his life, but left him without any serious or lasting damage to the nerves.

And even after this close encounter, he continued going for a daily swim whenever he was by the ocean.

In 1965, Le Corbusier was 77 years old. On August 27, he (as he did on all summer days) went for his daily swim by the Buse Beach, when unexpectedly he suffered a heart attack and drowned.

He received a grand national funeral in the Louvre’s courtyard, orchestrated by the Minister of Culture André Malraux, after which he was buried in Roquebrune, next to his wife, in a grave he designed for the two of them, with a beautiful view of the sea that they both had loved so much.

To commemorate his legacy, the town changed the name of the promenade that stretches from Roquebrune Cap Martin to Menton, from “Le sentier des douaniers” to “Promenade Le Corbusier”.

(The original name referred to how this walk used to be patrolled by customs officers.)

If accessing the promenade from Menton, one only has to look for the bust of Le Corbusier: the promenade starts shortly after and follows the curve of Cap Martin. Soon, the skyscrapers of Monaco will become visible.

The view is the most dramatic on the western side, and the sea takes on an almost turquoise colour here.

It is advisable to avoid the promenade after lunch in the summer, as the heat will be quite intense. Better to go in the morning, bringing a bottle of water, a swimsuit, a towel and a good book. There are plenty of rocks to sit down, rest, read or go for a swim.

When you reach Roquebrune Cap Martin, passing Villa E–1027 as well as the buildings designed by Le Corbusier, you will come to an SNCF train station.

If you continue walking past the station building, you will soon arrive in Monaco.