Patricia Sands

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Antibes-Juan Les Pins

HÔTEL BELLES RIVES ~ A repost I love to share!

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Yesterday in Antibes-Juan-les-Pins with our current women’s tour ~ June 15/22

Our 2022 Reunion Tour is in full swing with a wonderful group of women who have travelled with us before. They enjoyed touring the south of France with us and asked us to create a special tour for them. So we did! Yesterday my co-leader, Deborah Bine, and I were happy to bring them to the Hôtel Belles Rives for “tea”. I was inspired to share the article below with you. If you enjoyed it before, I hope you will again.

Repost …

Do you ever come across something special when you are looking for something else? Then you read it or hold it in your hands to admire and remember all sorts of good things about it?

This afternoon I was sending some information about Antibes to my good friend Julie Mautner, creator of the excellent website, The Provence Post.

The next thing I knew I was re-reading this article and a wealth of great memories wrapped around me. My husband and I often drop by the Hotel Belles Rives for a meal in the exceptional La Passagère restaurant or a drink on the dazzling terrace. It’s always memorable. But the particular morning I gathered information for this article is something I will not forget.

Today I’m reposting the article I wrote for The Good Life France in 2016. After all, we can never have too much of a good thing, n’est-ce pas?

Hotel Belles Rives ~ Antibes southern France

Written by Patricia Sands in Provence-Alpes

Entrance of the hotel Belles-Rives in Antibes with purple bougainvillea growing round the door

The frivolous lyrics from Cole Porter’s Let’s Misbehave might very well have epitomized the mood on the Côte d’Azur when the song was published in 1927.

“There’s something wild about you child, That’s so contagious. Let’s be outrageous, Let’s misbehave!!!”

Not only was he penning the song, but quite possibly Porter was working through it while he hung out with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. They were staying at their rented Villa Saint-Louis on the shore of a scenic cove on the west side of the iconic Cap d’Antibes. The Fitzgeralds loved partying with their Jazz Age friends. The semi-Bohemian crowd included wealthy Americans and visiting artists, writers and hangers-on. Picasso, Hemingway, Cocteau, John Dos Passos, Gertrude Stein and Dorothy Parker were just a few of the regulars. Porter was a fixture at the piano in the music room of Villa Saint-Louis, overlooking the shimmering Mediterranean.

From all accounts, notably captured in Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night, along with letters, journal entries and recorded memories by others in the Roaring Twenties, the French Riviera was rather a wild place to be. It was also, and continues to be, a fabled coastline of incomparable beauty and light that inspires artists to settle there and create.

The  Belle of the French Riviera

View from the bar of the Hotel Belles-Rives overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea

Since 1929 the privately-owned Villa Saint-Louis has been known as Hôtel Belles Rives. At the time it was the only hotel on the water along the Côte d’Azur. And since 2001, the gracious third-generation owner, Marianne Estène-Chauvin has guided her beloved 5-star, 43-room gem with a clear desire to keep the best of the Fitzgerald years alive.

TO CONTINUE READING, CLICK RIGHT HERE  for the link to the entire article and photos on page 55 of The Good Life France magazine. It’s a long article but worth the read (she said modestly …). ENJOY!

It was a pleasure to spend the morning with Madame Estène-Chauvin, a charming, savvy businesswoman and artist, who loves what she does. To sit and chat and then be shown around the beloved property by her was truly an honour. Have you visited this iconic hotel?

Never too much of a good thing, n’est-ce pas?

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Do you ever come across something special when you are looking for something else? Then you read it or hold it in your hands to admire and remember all sorts of good things about it?

This afternoon I was sending some information about Antibes to my good friend Julie Mautner, creator of the excellent website, The Provence Post.

The next thing I knew I was re-reading this article and a wealth of great memories wrapped around me. My husband and I often drop by the Hotel Belles Rives for a meal in the exceptional La Passagère restaurant or a drink on the dazzling terrace. It’s always memorable. But the particular morning I gathered information for this article is something I will not forget.

Today I’m reposting the article I wrote for The Good Life France in 2016. If you read it then, I hope you will enjoy it again. After all, we can never have too much of a good thing, n’est-ce pas?

Hotel Belles Rives ~ Antibes southern France

Written by in Provence-Alpes

Entrance of the hotel Belles-Rives in Antibes with purple bougainvillea growing round the door

The frivolous lyrics from Cole Porter’s Let’s Misbehave might very well have epitomized the mood on the Côte d’Azur when the song was published in 1927.

“There’s something wild about you child, That’s so contagious. Let’s be outrageous, Let’s misbehave!!!”

Not only was he penning the song, but quite possibly Porter was working through it while he hung out with Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. They were staying at their rented Villa Saint-Louis on the shore of a scenic cove on the west side of the iconic Cap d’Antibes. The Fitzgeralds loved partying with their Jazz Age friends. The semi-Bohemian crowd included wealthy Americans and visiting artists, writers and hangers-on. Picasso, Hemingway, Cocteau, John Dos Passos, Gertrude Stein and Dorothy Parker were just a few of the regulars. Porter was a fixture at the piano in the music room of Villa Saint-Louis, overlooking the shimmering Mediterranean.

From all accounts, notably captured in Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night, along with letters, journal entries and recorded memories by others in the Roaring Twenties, the French Riviera was rather a wild place to be. It was also, and continues to be, a fabled coastline of incomparable beauty and light that inspires artists to settle there and create.

The  Belle of the French Riviera

View from the bar of the Hotel Belles-Rives overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea

Since 1929 the privately-owned Villa Saint-Louis has been known as Hôtel Belles Rives. At the time it was the only hotel on the water along the Côte d’Azur. And since 2001, the gracious third-generation owner, Marianne Estène-Chauvin has guided her beloved 5-star, 43-room gem with a clear desire to keep the best of the Fitzgerald years alive.

TO CONTINUE READING, CLICK RIGHT HERE  for the link to the entire article and photos on page 55 of The Good Life France magazine. It’s a long article but worth the read (she said modestly …). ENJOY!

It was a pleasure to spend the morning with Madame Estène-Chauvin, a charming, savvy businesswoman and artist, who loves what she does. To sit and chat and then be shown around the beloved property by her was truly an honour. Have you visited this iconic hotel?

 

 

If it’s Friday it must be France …

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Ooops – it is Friday and I haven’t written a post. I’ve written tweets, Facebook messages, e-mails, information and bio as requested by another website, and 3000 words on my manuscript (I was on a roll!) but I haven’t written my Friday post. I made a commitment to write something about my four-month stay in the south of France every Friday and I intend to stick to that. I’m taking a blogging course that the awesome Kristen Lamb is running so I’ve had to make some firm decisions about my blog and better stick to them … or else! She’s made that very clear!

So this Friday, I’ll tell you a bit more about my temporary home in Antibes on the beautiful Cote D’Azur (French Riviera) and also encourage you to follow your dreams and make them come true. There are definitely benefits to getting older and being retired and being able to run away for a few months is one of them. No question, in these tough economic times, it requires saving and planning. But I’m here to tell you it can be done. More about that another time. In the meantime if you have any questions, fire away.

 Antibes-Juan Les Pins, as it is officially known is about half-way between Nice and Cannes. Fast and efficient bus or train service takes us to both and all sorts of beautiful places in between. But for today, it’s just about Antibes. Given the chance I could go on ad nauseum. Don’t worry, I’m going to brief  and show you some of what I see when my camera and I go for our morning walk.

The recorded history of the town goes back 2400 years beginning with the Greeks who were followed by the Romans. There is an impressive collection of artifacts and ruins in the town and at the excellent Musée Archéologique D’Antibes. Some of this history can also be seen here and there throughout the village.

For example, the column in the middle of this fountain dates from Roman times between the first and third century A.D. I think it’s cool that this piece of history is still very much a part of the everyday life of the town. There are cafes in the square all around the fountain and the street is one that leads to the daily provençal market. I realize it doesn’t exactly compare to the Forum in Rome or other places that have extensive ruins but somehow it’s a small detail that adds charm to this and many other small towns throughout the country.

The ancient communal washing area is still a gathering place for special activities.

Water troughs and fountains hundreds of years old continue to be used. Dotted throughout the village, one can refill a water bottle during a stroll on a hot day as the quality of the drinking water is excellent.

There are many ways to enter the old part of Antibes and one of them is through an original gate that is part of the walls that surrounded Antibes 500 years ago. I love this sort of history and the blending of old and new so I hope you find it interesting too. Inside the gate area, you can still see the beam and places where bolts held hinges to activate the drawbridge. The walls were very thick (20 feet) and originally inside housed military battalions. Today there are art galleries inside but the town has been very careful to preserve the fittings and finishes as they were. France really is to be commended for the way they have preserved the past. The cost is HUGE and sometimes communities step in to help. Such is the case with the beautiful Chapelle Saint-Bernardin, erected on the former site of a Roman temple in the 16th Century. Inside there are frescoes dating back to that time but the most beautiful part to me are these carved doors dated 1581. Apparently there had been a terrible plague in the countryside and the villagers gave these doors to the church in thanks for being spared. Every time I walk by them I get a little thrill to think of the history they hold. Magnifique.  (I have no idea why these last few lines are underlined and it’s too late to try and figure it out. I’ve got to go to bed as it is almost midnight here. Got to make my Friday deadline! Bonsoir!)