La Turbie and Roman ruins

If you want to see an iconic French Riviera film, then To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, is the one. In the film Grace Kelly takes Grant for a ride in her convertible at wild speed on the Grande Corniche (rather unnerving to watch considering her tragic crash near this area many years later). The Grande Corniche is the most breath-taking, winding coastal road on the Riviera. As you drive along it and reach the village of La Turbie, an extrordinary sight comes into view: the remains of a Roman ruin rise up behind the medieval hilltop town.

The Trophy of Augustus was built about 2,000 years ago to celebrate the victory of Augustus over the people of the Alps. It was partially restored during the early part of the 20th century and the steep climb is worth it to see the beautiful views over the sea and down to Monaco. There is a a tiny, rather shabby, but none the less interesting museum attached to the site. But the pleasure is seeing the architecture of the monument and walking through its wild hill-top setting.

If you want to eat at a really good restaurant with the locals, try Café de la Fontaine on La Turbie's main road. It's a blackboard menu and one of the better meals I have had on the Riviera recently. Honest steak and chips and other simple rustic dishes in a great atmosphere.

Snow storms and mimosa

Nobody really talks about the weather on the Côte d'Azur because, well, the weather is usually blue skies and sunshine and that's just not really interesting enough to spend time talking about. But the Nicoise have all suddenly taken to greeting one another with ... 'isn't it incredible!' or 'did you see the snow, how deep it was?!' They say it happens every 20 years in Nice (but being the French, some contrary types say every 15 years). We awoke from our sleep to see the palm trees covered in snow. Cars stopped, work stopped, people ran into the street and threw snowballs. It lasted only a couple of days, but we will never forget the snow.
Then, as if to laugh at this crazy snow-covered world, the mimosa tree - the first early sign of spring in this region - fluffed out its can-can skirt of bright yellow flowers to celebrate Nice's annual gaudy, confetti-strewn carnival. And we all sigh happily as we know Spring, thankfully, is around that corner.

Why live anywhere else ...

From sleety, wintry London yesterday, I landed home in Nice to be greeted by blue skies. As we swept over the Baie des Anges, I thought it couldn't be in starker contrast to where I had come from (and the reason we choose to live on the Cote d'Azur ... I just thought I would drop that in...). This week-end's France Show was a great success - incredible to see so many people braving the elements to come and visit. I was especially happy to see people who I have only talked to on the phone or by email - thank you for coming. And sorry to have missed people on Friday because of the snow keeping me in Nice (hello and see you in Nice, Ursula and Suzanne!)

All of us at the French Entrée stand worked flat-out fielding enquiries and explaining how an independent agent's buyer works (in the interests of the buyer, not the seller or estate agent). I particularly enjoyed chatting to people about their dreams of moving to and living in France. I understand because it was once my dream too ... and look at me now. The week-end ended with a raffle of a particularly fine bottle of 1966 cognac (donated thanks to property finder extraodinaire Graham Downie - see his Blog at cognacproperty.blogspot.com).

So, at Côte Abode, we start the New Year feeling mighty positive and looking forward to helping people move to the French Riviera. It really is a little bit of heaven under blue skies.

Less than an hour from Nice and you find yourself in a ...
winter wonderland! People think of the South of France as a place for beaches and sunbathing. However, ski resorts (like Valberg in this picture - with my daughter and I enjoying the snow!) are so close you can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon.

France Show 2010 London

Côte Abode will be at the show. Look for the French Entrée Property Finders stand. Friday 8 Jan and Saturday 9 Jan. I look forward to meeting people there!

Life under blue skies