What is more glamorous than a week on the Very French Riviera? Admitted, our traditional March short trip was definitely off-season, but… some of the swanky atmosphere was definitely there. However, what I personally found very appeasing, was the relaxed approach of the locals to someone like us, easily recognizable as tourists. So, as someone treated traditionally only as a mere source of income in such touristically eroded places… Maybe because we took the local buses to all destinations. Maybe because we visited mostly museums, art galleries and specific restaurants. Maybe because we visited no fashion or jewellery shops.

What was the remaining experience, was the confirmation of the fact that this part of the Mediterranean coast can be so fascinating for aesthetically sensitive people. Yes, confronted with this winter sun, at these specific angles causing extremely photogenic atmosphere, I would also have nothing against spending the winter months at the Riviera. I think I understand now all these artists arriving from Paris that they simply decided to stay there, especially for their final years of life. This warm light. And I can imagine the Russian aristocrats and intellectuals arriving there escaping the vicious east european winter and never wanting to leave. And all these other people who spent a fortune to buy a plot of land and to build a house there, with a terrace facing the Mediterranean sun.

The featuring picture was made in the village of Èze, just below the hill top taken by an exotic garden featuring mostly succulents, the most beautiful view of the whole Côte d’Azur. You get there along the main village street, where most of the shops are art galleries and all other places cafés or restaurants, although not of them opened in March. And yes, of course, in the fancy, but sympathetic parfumerie nearby the bus stop, she couldn’t resist to buy a fragrant souvenir. Why not, actually?