Villefranche-sur-mer 2019 - 13 Eating Out

Dear Friends,

After publishing my last post, I was afraid that I had left the impression that we never venture out for a meal.   What a mistake and lost opportunity that would be.  I would also be lying by omission.  So I hope this post will clear up any misconceptions.

Villefranche-sur-Mer has many great restaurants ranging from very casual to very fancy.  Our favorite restaurant in Villefranche and maybe in the world is Le Serre.  It does not have a website, but here is the link to Trip Advisor.  There are many reasons that we love it.  The owner, Sylvie, and the staff we see the most often, Marie, Beranise and Mikado are warm, welcoming, funny people who are great at their jobs.  We are always welcomed like old friends and treated like royalty.

The food is simple but great.  They have lots of different pizzas, most of which are named for various US states.  We cannot see any connection between a particular state and the pizza with the name of that state.  The salads are also great and can be a full meal.

Each day Sylvie plans a 19 euro three course meal.  Every night there are three potential entrées (in France an entrée is the first course as it should be since it means entrance or starter), three potential plats (main courses) and a dessert of the day.  Two of each are the same every night but one of the three changes each night.  The two constant entrées lately have been tomato mozzarella toasts and a niçoise salad.  Last night the third was a tarte fin tomate mozzerella (a tart with fine herbs,

tomato and mozzarella).  The tart was fantastic.  The third choice for a main course yesterday was a vol au vent de la mer.  I do not know how to exactly translate that but it is seafood en croute.  I did not have it so I do not know how it was.  The dessert of the day was a strawberry panna cotta which was great.  In addition to the pizzas and the prix fixe menu, there is a full menu of other items.

We always eat at Le Serre on our first night and our last night.  We also eat there from time to time during our stay.  Here we are sitting outside at Le Serre on the night we arrived in Villefranche, exhausted but happy.

Here are a couple of other pictures of the wonderful food at Le Serre.  

a salad

 a chicken brochette with a zucchini tarte

a beautifully decorated panna cotta 

When we eat out, it is often for lunch.  One of the first days we were here, we met a friend for lunch at Le Mayssa Beach restaurant (trip advisor here).  It was a beautiful day and the restaurant is on the second floor overlooking the water.  Two of us had the loup (usually translated as sea bass) grilled and presented whole but then expertly deboned by the server.

Jane had a crab meat, avocado and tomato salad.

Le Mayssa Beach is right on the waterfront in Villefranche so there is virtually no walking involved which is a problem with a several hour French lunch.  With the need for exercise in mind, we sometimes walk to Beaulieu or Saint Jean Cap Ferrat for lunch.

One day we walked to Beaulieu with the intention of going to a small restaurant we had eaten at before.  Unfortunately we arrived after they had closed for lunch.  We walked to a string of restaurants in the fancy marina and went to L'Atelier d'Emile.  

We ate outside on a beautiful day.  Rather than rewrite the review I wrote for Trip Advisor (here), I will just quote myself.

"My wife and I stopped at L'Atelier d'Emile on a Friday afternoon just before 2:00 pm without a reservation and a little late for lunch. Nevertheless we were immediately seated in a very comfortable outdoor area. 
We both ordered the plat du jour which was "Le Filet de Lieu Noir Roti au Beurre Blanc Boulgour aux Légumes". We were not familiar with the type of fish. The waiter described the dish as a white fish in beurre blanc sauce. The kind of fish is saithe which is also known as coalfish, coley, or Atlantic Pollack. Apparently it can also be cod. In any case it is a wonderful light white fish that is flaky with a great texture. The beurre blanc sauce was fantastic. It had a great flavor yet was very light. The bulgar wheat went perfectly with both the sauce and the fish. The vegetables were finely chopped but still crunchy. They provided a wonderful taste, color and texture to the dish. For dessert we split a "riz au lait de coco aux fruits frais". It was a rice pudding with a not too heavy or sweet milk/cream sauce with coconut and beautiful fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. It was delicious. 
The price was very reasonable particularly for Beaulieu. For two plat du jour, two glasses of house wine, one dessert and two coffees, the total bill including tip was 57 euros."

While this was a big lunch, please keep in mind that we walked about two miles each way for a total of 4 miles just for lunch.

Another day we walked to Saint Jean Cap Ferrat to a restaurant in the fancy marina there, Le Pacha du Sloop (Trip Advisor here).  This restaurant is just over 2 miles from our apartment so once again we walked over 4 miles in connection with this meal.  Actually we walked more than Google Maps would give us credit for since we took the scenic route past the house that used to belong to David Niven.  It is the only house that is actually right on the water without a public right of way between it and the water.  This picture was taken a couple of days earlier when we were out on a boat ride with the couple that we rent from, but that is a story for another time.

We had been to Le Sloop a couple of times before, and it is always good.  We splurged and each had the 27 euro prix fixe menu.  Sorry for the bad photo, but we didn't take it until the end of the meal.

For our entrées,  we split the marinated artichoke salad

and the green asparagus and basil salad.

We each then had the fresh grilled dorade (translated seabream by the restaurant).  It came grilled but whole.

We were left to do the deboning which did not look as great as the way a professional server does it.

The dessert du jour was a raspberry panna cotta with fresh raspberries on top.  It was great but a picture could not do it justice.  Jane did finish with a noisette which is technically a hazelnut but when ordered at coffee time is a small espresso with some warm milk.  The fashion and amount of the milk varies greatly depending on the place and who makes it.

While I was engrossed in writing this post, Jane reminded me that it was almost 2:00 pm and that we had not eaten lunch yet.  I remembered that we had no bread so we were forced to go out to lunch.  We just walked down to the row of restaurants along the quai and went to Trastevere (Trip Advisor here).  We had a simple but good lunch.  We split an Italian salad (lettuce, tomato, mozzarella, parma ham, melon and parmesan)

and a neapolitan pizza.

Unfortunately it took very few steps to get to Trastevere, but fortunately we took a nice walk along the beach this morning.  Such is life in Villefranche.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer 2019 - 6 Un chemin côtier (a coastal walk)

Dear Friends,

Friday was a perfect day here in Villefranche - the sky was a perfect blue, there was a breeze, and it was about 55 degrees.  There could be no better day for a walk around Cap Ferrat.  Jane was going to Ventimiglia just over the boarder into Italy for the huge market with some friends, all girls.  I had the perfect excuse to skip Ventimiglia and take a walk I had always wanted to do.  As I explained in an earlier post, I have wanted to walk this fabulous coast line ever since we first came to Villefranche.  Earlier this year we walked the finger of Cap Ferrat (really looks more like a thumb).  Now I could walk the main part of Cap Ferrat.

To cut down on the time, I decided I would take a bus from Villefranche to one end of the walk and catch a bus home from the other end of the walk.  Since I would be walking around lunch time, I decided it would be very french to buy a pre-made baguette sandwich at a local boulangerie.  I packed my camera, water, sandwich and hat into my backpack and set off to catch the bus.

The Route 81 bus runs from Nice to Port Saint Jean on Cap Ferrat through Villefranche with a detour through Beaulieu.  I got off at the stop called Passable/Rothschild as you can see below.  This stop serves both the Villa Ephrussi Rothschild and the plage de passable (Passable Beach).  I thought that I had written a post about the Villa Ephrussi Rothschild, but I could not find it so I will write one someday.  For now just know that it is an incredible villa and garden built by a couple one of which was a Rothschild and the other an Ephrussi and the Ephrussi was the richer one.  The villa and the gardens are fantastic and change with the seasons. Plage de passable is a public beach.

It is just a short walk from the bus stop down to the beach.  I was greeted by the sign below.  Note that I am now on the west side of the cap.  You will see a similar map at the end of the walk when I arrived at Port Saint Jean on the eastern side of the cap.  Please do not be too afraid of the big DANGER WARNING sign.  It says that you shouldn't walk on the sentier du littoral (the coastal path) if the seas are high or there is bad weather.  If you need that warning, you have many other problems to deal with.

The plage de passable was virtually deserted except for a group of women who were setting out a picnic.  In the summer it is wall to wall people.  The village you see in the background is Villefranche.

The walk is absolutely gorgeous.  Every time I turned around or looked up or turned a corner there was yet another fantastic vista.  The one below is about half way out to the lighthouse.  I am looking back at Villefranche.

The rocky cliffs are full of these beautiful yellow flowers. I am once again looking back at Villefranche.  You can just see a green fence.  It is there to separate the people on the path from the billionaires that own the property overlooking the sea.

As you can see the cliffs fall right down to the water.  This picture looks across the rade (harbor) of Villefranche to the Cap de Nice, the cap that divides Villefranche and Nice.

As you can see from the next two pictures, if you have a fear of heights you might want to skip this walk.  In some places there is barrier of some sort between you and falling into the sea but in many as in the pictures below there is nothing so don't lose your balance. The little ledge at the bottom of each picture is the path not some barrier.  

The path itself goes up and down a lot but nothing too steep.  The surface of the path can be very sharp rocks where you need to watch where you are stepping or you may end up with a sprained ankle.

Other parts of the path are quite smooth and easy to walk on.

The lighthouse is about half way as it is on the tip of the cap closest to the rade at Villefranche.  According to the maps, it is a 50 minute walk from the plage de passable to the lighthouse.  It was a little longer than that for me because I stopped to take so many pictures.  My first close up view of the lighthouse was the one below as I rounded a bend.

When I reached the lighthouse, I decided I should stop to eat my sandwich.  There are benches and places to sit along the way but there were several places by the lighthouse.  I looked at this sign while I was eating.

Just past the lighthouse you get the last views of the Cap de Nice and Nice.  This one is the Cap de Nice.

This one is the big bay of Nice.

As the walk continues past the lighthouse, the views are no less impressive and the number of visible mansions increases.  In this photo I am looking back west towards the lighthouse.  It is hard to tell but the house in the foreground is spectacular.

Once past the lighthouse the coast line changes dramatically.  This picture is looking east.  The path also becomes flat and smooth as you walk towards Port Saint Jean.  I should note this part of the path goes in front of the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, a Four Seasons hotel, that is surrounded by huge mansions perched on the cliffs overhead.  That probably accounts for better path.

As I rounded another bend, I saw this traditional boat slowly heading out to sea.  That is Monaco in the background.  Amidst all the conspicuous consumption of Cap Ferrat, it was comforting to see someone enjoying a nice boat ride in a simple but beautiful boat.

As I approached Port Saint Jean, I could not resist yet another picture of Eze Village.

Just before I got to the village of Saint Jean, I came across this rather fun decoration of a rock.  Proof that there are real people here not just the billionaires.

By reaching Saint Jean, I had completed my walk around Cap Ferrat and here is a picture of the sign to prove it.

From there it was easy.  I found the bus stop and took the 81 bus back to Villefranche.  What a great and beautiful walk!!

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer 2019 - 4 Saint Jean Cap Ferrat

Dear Friends,

Yesterday we took a walk that we have wanted to take for a long time but had never found out how to get started.  First, I should provide some orientation.  Below is a map showing the edge of Cap de Nice on the west side, the rade (harbor) of Villefranche, Cap Ferrat and then the bay of Beaulieu on the east side.   You can see that Cap Ferrat is a rather substantial peninsula sticking out into the Mediterranean Sea.  The little finger of land jutting out from Cap Ferrat to the east is called the finger of Cap Ferrat.  We think it looks more like, and should be called the, thumb of Cap Ferrat.  We walked around the finger, only about a two mile walk but incredibly beautiful.

The photo below certainly makes all of Cap Ferrat look more beautiful but even it does not capture its true beauty.

The entire cap is covered with huge (and I mean huge) villas owned by very rich, but not always famous people.  Today the real estate signs are in French, English and Russian.  We suspect that there is a fair amount of money laundering/tax evasion going on.  You can read about one offering for just $69 million here.  Despite the power of money, there are walking paths throughout the cap and one that goes all the way around it so in effect none of the villas have direct access to the sea, except for one, the villa that used to belong to David Niven.  You do not have to worry about these poor homeowners trying to take a swim in the sea.  Virtually every villa has its own swimming pool.  In addition, many of the ones that but for the walking path would be right on the sea have a tunnel under the walking path that leads directly to the sea with no need to be near the ordinary people.

The walking path around the finger is a very easy path that is for the most part quite flat and well maintained even though there are times when the terrain is rather uneven.  Here I am on a part of the path farthest out into the sea.  In the background you can see the main part of Cap Ferrat.

The views all around are incredible.  In this picture you see a little spit of land which is just part of one of the villas with the main cap in the background and flowers (remember this is January) in the foreground.

I really love outdoor flowers in January, something we don't have in Minnesota.

While the picture below was not taken from the walking path, it was taken from the finger of the cap. For those of you unfamiliar with the coast line of the Mediterranean, the picture centers on the town of Eze.  It is a beautiful medieval town perched on a cliff.  You can read a quick summary here.  In addition to loving the town, I have always been fascinated with the bridge to get there.  You can see it quite well in the photo.  It is scary to take the bridge so high up even by car.  I am really amazed at some of our friends here who walk from Eze-sur-mer (Eze on the sea) up to Eze.  Not only must they walk up a virtually straight up hill, but they must cross the bridge on foot - cars on one side and a fall to certain death on the other.  The town itself is just to the right of the bridge.

At the end of the walk we came to this drinking fountain which provides a message we all would do well to remember and live.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal