Villefranche-sur-mer 2020 - 3 A photo tour of Villefranche

Dear Friends,

Villefranche is a very photogenic spot.  Everyone knows how much artists love the light on the Côte d'Azur.  The light is exceptional.  Unfortunately since I am not Ansel Adams, my photos do not do it justice.  Our apartment balcony faces east.  Here is a not atypical sunrise.

Here is the view from the balcony as the sun is setting behind us.  In case you are wondering the photo is of a compound for a single family.

The hills above Villefranche are quite steep, and the colors change with the time of day.

At the beginning of the month the moon was rising early.

We just past the full moon, and it is now rising later so the sky is dark when it arrives.

There is not a lot of visible wildlife, but the sea gulls love to glide on the updrafts in front of our apartment.

The flowers even in January are quite beautiful and plentiful.

The harbor at Villefranche is the only natural deep water harbor on the north coast of the Mediterranean.  In the winter there are not a lot of tourist boats, but there are an assortment of boats just hanging out for the winter.

At one time the town had over 30 families that made their livings fishing.  There are now just a couple, but they go out a few times virtually every day.

There are some well known landmarks for us in Villefranche.  The Hotel Welcome is probably the best known.  It was the home to many celebrities and artists when they visited Villefranche and occupies a premier spot on the bay.

Of course religion played a big part in the history and life of Villefranche.  The main church with its bell tower is easily seen.

Jean Cocteau was a very well known artist who spent lots of time in Villefranche.  In addition to doing a lot of paintings in the Hotel Welcome, he completely decorated a small chapel on the waterfront for the fishermen, Chapelle de Saint-Pierre des Pêcheurs.

Since I enjoy playing pétanque while we are here, I have to include a picture of the members only pétanque club.  I have never played there, but I pass by it on my way to play pétanque with a certain amount of envy.

No group of photos of places in Villefranche that are important to us would be complete without a photo of the apartment where we stay.  It is the more orange building with the green shutters.  We have the top floor.  If you look closely you can see one of my shirts hanging out to dry in the front and the rest of our laundry drying to the right.  

As you walk around Villefranche you are almost constantly surprised by yet another fabulous view.

As the only natural deep water harbor on the north coast of the Mediterranean,  Villefranche has a long history of building and maintaining ships and boats.  It still has a working harbor with in the big bay referred to as the Darse.  To get to the Darse you must pass by this landmark.

The Darse is full of boats, big and small, utilitarian and beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed this little pictorial tour of Villefranche.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer 2020 -2 Walk Adventure

Dear Friends,

While we have only been here less than two weeks, we have had some great adventures.  These adventures are, of course, in addition to our wonderful normal activities.  We have restarted our french tutoring which is going very well despite our lack of discipline when it comes to doing our homework.  We have been to our favorite restaurant and visited with our favorite butcher, baker and green grocer.  Of course we have also walked.

In fact the first adventure has to do with walking.  On New Year's Eve Day, we had coffee at Chez Betty to catch up with friends who live in Villefranche.  We were joined by good friends from Minneapolis.  She is staying for 3 weeks, but her husband was only here for a week.  We finished our coffee around 10:30 and decided we would walk along the coast to Nice.  Jane and I had never done this walk, but we knew many people who had and they all survived.  We were not planning on a long walk so we were not particularly dressed well, had no backpacks and no water.  But who said we were smart.  It was, however, a perfect day, so off we went.  Here is a picture as we look back at Villefranche.

And one of the four of us as we start the rough part of the walk.

Jane and I took a little rest before we reached the end of the point going to Nice.  Don't worry there really is a path behind us.  It is just hard to see.

As you can see there were lots of steps both up and down.

The views are spectacular.  This picture is a view back towards Cap Ferrat.  Notice the blooming cacti on December 31st.

When you finally round the point you get a great view of Nice and beyond.

Then came the long climb up from sea level.  The steps wind back and forth but you end up straight above where we were when we took this picture.

But it is all worth it because when we got to Nice after an hour and half of grueling up and down, we had a great lunch at a favorite restaurant of ours, Chez Papa, a small but wonderful restaurant just off Place Garabaldi.  

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer 2020 - 1 Connections

Dear Friends,

We are here in paradise again.  We arrived on December 29 and have had perfect weather everyday - sunny, slight breeze, highs about 60 and lows about 45.  It really doesn't get any better.

Ever since we first came Villefranche in January 2014 to go to l'Institut de Français, we have discovered amazing connections with people who live in or lived in Minnesota.  One of the first people we met at l'Institut was a woman who lived just two blocks from us, but that we didn't know.  Of course, we figured out lots of people that we knew in common.  We also met another woman from Jackson Hole but who grew up in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  We were happy to find out that she is one of the very few Democrats in Wyoming.  We have seen her frequently here in all of the intervening years, consequently she will reappear several times so I will refer to her as JB.

The next year we discovered that the brother of my first cousin's wife is the former husband of our landlady in Villefranche.  We also met another couple from Minneapolis who have a house here that we knew of but had never met.  Unfortunately the husband has died, but we continue to see the wife here.  Strangely we do not see her in Minneapolis - maybe this year.

In the intervening years, we have met many other people from Minnesota here and some of our good friends have also come to Villefranche.  Most of these people come here to go to l'Institut or just to study french or just to be in paradise when it is cold at home.

Four years ago through one of our good friends from Minnesota, AN, who came to study at l'Institut, we met a woman, JB2 from California who grew up in Minnesota but moved to California to start a new life.  As we have talked with her over the last four years, we have discovered some interesting connections.  It turns out that JB2 is related to the husband of AN.  She also used to date another cousin of mine.  She also dated the guy who is currently married to one of the people my parents wanted me to marry, JT.  Coincidentally JT's step sister just met JB in Jackson Hole and discovered the Minnesota connection.  It also turns out that JB2's kids live in the same area of LA as the children of JB.

Last year we met SB and her husband BV here in Villefranche.  They are from Minneapolis where BV was the chair of the Alliance Français in Minneapolis.  Of course we have many friends in common but the most amazing connection is that SB grew up in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  You will remember that JB, now of Jackson Hole, also grew up in Grand Rapids.  Needless to say, despite a few years age difference they did in fact know each other over 50 years ago.  The more they talk, the more connections they find.

Keep in mind that the population of Villefranche-sur-mer is just over 5,000 people.  During the summer in the height of the season it is full of tourists, but now it is winter and while there are still some tourists and people like us who spend 1 to 3 months here, it is quite small - as is the world.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal