National Lampurd's French Riviera Vacation

We had never heard of Villefranche-sur-Mer until we began researching for our trip, and for the best beaches on the French Riviera. Situated in between Nice and Monaco, about 4km from each, it seemed like the perfect spot to stay for a mix of relaxation and several options for day trips. What we didn't know of Villefranche-sur-Mer until we arrived there was how magnificantly picturesque it is, how very proud residents are of their region's unique Provençal cuisine, and how popular it is with Italian and British tourists. Multiple giant cruise ships arrived to the bay towards the end of our stay when thousands of tourists descended on the tiny little coastal gem of a town. For us though, Villefranche-sur-Mer will always be about two things: the surreal view from our studio apartment, and a short-lived adventure with a scooter.

We rented a spacious studio apartment just outside of the town centre...a nice uphill haul with our bags for about 15 minutes. It was just up on a hill from the one main road which made for a bit of traffic noise at high times, but it didn't really bother us. Our place was bright and open, and had a kitchen that we were totally stoked about to be able to cook in again for a few meals. The best feature was the panoramic view of the bay we could enjoy from inside or outside our place on the balcony. We took a hundred different photos of that view at all times of the day. During morning coffee and breakfast, during aperitifs, over dinner, and late at night before bed. It was spectacular, and entertaining to watch the coming and going of sailboats, yachts and towards the end of the week, cruise ships.











Our first day we sunned at the beach and swam in the crystal blue water. Then our plan turned to getting to Nice to rent a scooter to be able to easily visit places like Eze with its apparent breathtaking viewpoints, quaint Vence and St. Paul-de-Vence, Monaco and Menton. So the next morning we hiked up to the Fort in Villefranche via a vaguely marked path, and took the exit route down the other side to Nice. It was a beautiful walk down with great vistas of Nice, its wealthier houses, port and beaches.











Arriving in Nice later than expected and hungry for lunch we stopped in the guts of Nice's Old Town for wood-fired pizza topped with ratatouille (more often than not the French Riveria deliciously combines French and Italian cuisines), and shared our first taste of cuisses de grenouilles (frogs legs!). From what I could tell they were dredged in flour and fried with tons of garlic, butter and parsley. They were delicious!! Like chicken wings almost, but with a milder and juicier flesh. We washed them down with a pichet of Cote de Provence rose. Mmm. Renergized we hunted down a scooter rental place and got our little white Yamaha Neos 50cc. It had no guts but it was a hell of a fun ride.


Cuisses de Grenouilles - delicious!



We stopped at home to refresh and hopped back on the scooter before nightfall for a zip through Cap Ferrat, a glamourous hotspot in its golden years of the 1920s-50s, but now bought up at ridiculously high prices by the Russian Nouveau Riche. Now the town has no bustle and many of the homes sit empty as investment properties. From there we continued through Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Eze and Cap D'Ail and stopped in Monaco to see Monte Carlo and take some token photos at the casino.







The next morning we awoke giddy to venture out on a scoot to Eze or even as far as Menton for lunch, only to find a lonely busted up lock and that le scooter était volé pendant la nuit!! (a phrase we learned to say many times to different police stations and officers in town that day). C'était très dommage... and begged the question: James Shandro, does your scooter gang extend to the far reaches of the French Riviera?! We spent that morning filing police reports, and spent the afternoon heading back to Nice on the bus to the scooter rental place where we lost our hefty deposit. That hurt real bad deep down...we still cringe. When we rented the scooter we asked about theft insurance and the renter said, no, we don't offer it, but that theft should not be an issue. We should have known better! Lesson learned, tough stuff. Le scooter was not meant to be for us.


How could a thief even think of messing with this bad dude?


An appropriate curtsy, in hindsight, as this would be the scooter's last curtain call

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening drowning our scooter sorrows in Old Town Nice. First, at a great distillery bar chatting with an older French man who'd just drove in on his new Harley from Cap Ferret for his afternoon happy hour ritual, and secondly, over dinner where we met some great new friends, Paulo, Gelen and Evan from Switzerland. Our mantra for the evening: "Nous buvons pour oublier!" (We drink to forget!) Boy did we ever!! Mitchell over did it with excitement when the server left us two bottles of digestifs to taste from after dinner, a rosemary liquor and a bottle of Marc.






Mmm... Testicules de Mouton

We spent the rest of our stay close to home, nursing the wounds of our scooter loss. We enjoyed a few great dinners in, and a couple wonderful meals in Villefranche-sur-Mer, checked out the local markets, and an interesting contemporary art exhibition happening over our last weekend in the old fortress at the centre of town.


Here's a link to more Villefranche-sur-Mer photos: More Photos