Villefranche-sur-mer 2023 - 1 Constants

 Dear Friends,

We have been in Villefranche since December 29, 2022, and this is the first post I have made this trip.  We first came to Villefranche in January 2014.  In that time, we have seen many changes and many things that remain the same.  When we are here, it is more like we live here than like we are visiting here.  Nevertheless we have new adventures, and we see things change.

Early in January we visited the town of Saint Agnès for the first time.  It claims, "Le village du littoral le plus haut d'Europe."  (the highest costal village in Europe)  Given the number of switchbacks we did to get there, I am not going to argue with their claim.  It is a beautiful little town with spectacular views.  Even if I were Ansel Adams, I'm not sure I could do them justice.  Here are a few.

One thing that has not changed is that there are storms in the winter.  A storm over the Mediterranean can result in large seas in the Villefranche harbor.  The harbor is well protected from three directions but opens up straight south so seas have the full fetch from Africa to build.  The seas build over a several day period allowing for beautiful sunny days but with high seas.  Of course, that brings the surfers out in force.  There is really only one small area of the harbor that is good for surfing and it, ends in rock cliffs so the surfers have to bail before they get to shore.  Here is a picture of beach as the sun is rising and the swells are growing.

Here is a picture from the same vantage point a couple of weeks later.  Notice that a lot of sand on the beach was pushed up to the wall particularly on the right side of the picture.  In actuality, the sand was pushed over the wall and covered the road several inches deep.  So in Villefranche they have to shovel sand instead of snow.

The surfers came out to test their skills and they had some good waves.

This is the area they are surfing in on a day without swells.  Notice the rock cliffs at the end of the run.

The storms do more than move the sand and rocks on the beach around.  They can wreak havoc with the boats anchored in the harbor.  In recent years, the town has been trying to clean up the harbor.  First, they decided that they would put in mooring buoys so that there would not be so many anchors damaging the sea floor.  Now they are making an effort to clean up the sea bed by getting rid of some of the more recent ship wrecks.  For several days, they brought in a barge with a large truck crane on it.

They would move the barge near to the yellow buoy marking the wreck.

Once they are near the spot of the wreck, they deploy the crane.

They also deploy a diver to connect the crane to the wreck.

Then they would hoist the wreck up.

And place it on the barge and repeat.

Another thing that happens when the swells get big, is that the beautiful lights around the bay short out.  Here is a photo of a full moon and the lights last October from our balcony.  

We have really missed the lights for the last couple of weeks.  Fortunately, today the crew came out to fix them.  So we are looking forward to seeing them again tonight.

While the local fishing fleet has dropped from about 30 families to just one or two, we can watch the fishermen doing their work from our balcony.  We also get to eat some of their catch in the local restaurants. Here the fisherman is putting his nets out.  He starts by dropping a buoy and then makes a really big circle with his net and returns to the buoy.

Then he comes back at night to take in his net with the catch.

Another constant of our time here is that we can always find new wonderful places to eat.  Yesterday, we went to Nice to run a couple of errands, after which we just roamed around the old town.  For some reason there were very few people even for a weekday in the winter.  Just around lunch time we came across a restaurant that we had heard about but had never eaten at.  Needless to say, we went in.  We were the only customers for the whole lunch.  The rest of the world didn't know what they were missing.  The name of the restaurant is Oliviera, and it also sells olive oils.  

The proprietor who was also the chef, waiter and sales person made us feel like we were guests in his home.  He spoke perfect English, but when we spoke some French, he immediately asked us which language we would prefer.  We said French because we love every chance we get to practice.  

He has a small menu.

We started by splitting the Aubergine Oliviera (Roasted eggplant with roasted red peppers).

We then split the Lasagne Butternut (Lasagne with butternut squash, spinach, cranberries, cheese).

Both of them were absolutely delicious.  We enjoyed a couple of glasses of red wine.  The proprietor also spent a lot of time talking with us and teaching us about all the olive oil he carries and ships around the world.  As we were finishing our lunch, he started to cook a rabbit stew for some customers that were coming the next day.  When we showed an interest, we got a wonderful lesson on how to cook a stew.  

All in all the perfect finish to a trip to Nice for a couple of errands.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal

Villefranche-sur-mer Fall 2022 - 1 Changes

 Dear Friends,

I can't believe we have been here for a week already.  After having been gone for seven months, we immediately felt at home in Villefranche again.  

There have been some changes.  Most of which are not for the better.  Our favorite boulangerie, Chez Marie Claire, has closed because Marie Claire has retired.  Unfortunately, we were not able to say goodbye.  Our wonderful memories of her creations and her personality will remain.  According to a small sign in the window as well as local gossip, a new boulangerie is coming that is not a chain.  This is very good news, if and when it happens.  

Another to retire is the local optician who was really great, both professionally and personally.  We got a chance to see him as he is still working with his replacement who also seems really nice and professional. 

Villefranche decided to upgrade the boats in its harbor which in my opinion has caused the harbor to lose some of its romance and charm.  Now there are fewer boats and close in the harbor they are all moored in a line.  Here are before and after pictures.

 Before

Today

Perhaps I am just showing how spoiled we are.

On the bright side, there is a new coffee shop, boulangerie, wine bar and deli just down the street that our apartment is on.  We have only tried the croissants and pain au chocolat both of which were great.  We will go there more to check out all they have to offer.  

Plus you never know when you will see something new.  Here is a spear fisher person going after octopus in the rocks along the shore just below our apartment.  You probably can't tell but those white things at his waist are several octopi that he has speared.

Of course a lot has stayed the same, so that our love for this place continues.

The full moons over the harbor as seen from our apartment.

Fortunately, it still rains occasionally just to break up the days on end of 60° lows, 75° highs and sunny or mostly sunny.  We take those days in stride.

Then there is the joy of having a wonderful meal outside.  Our favorite restaurant where we go the first and last nights that we are here as well as several times in between, is Le Serre,  It is a restaurant where the staff is fantastic, the ambience is local casual, the food is authentic, ranging from pizzas to starters and main courses of the day which are great.  We are so used to being there for wonderful dinners that we keep forgetting to take pictures.

The range of restaurants that we have enjoyed is very broad.  Here is a sampling so far this trip.

Spalato is quite a nice restaurant right on the quay that runs along the bay.  We had lunch there on the day we arrived.  

Aren't the plates great.  The wine glasses are not as big as they look in the photo.  

That is a huge serving of very fresh burrata on some wonderful fresh vegetables.  

Le Cosmo is a more casual restaurant but with good food and service.  You never go hungry here because even the salads are big.

Sometimes we will have our French lessons outside at a cafe.  La Baleine Joyeuse ("the merry whale") is one we frequent because it is close to our teacher's apartment, and they don't seem to mind if we sit there for several hours in the morning having just a coffee and sometimes a croissant.  One day last week we decided to stay for lunch.  I had mi-cuit thon (half cooked tuna).

Jane had a salad nicoise.

You would never guess that such food would come from this restaurant.

One of our favorite restaurants in Beaulieu sur mer, is La Maison de Beaulieu.  It was closed last winter for renovations.  It has reopened and is even better than before.  It is almost exactly a 2 mile walk from our apartment so we feel that we can eat freely when we get there as we will also have a 2 mile walk home.  Although in fairness we can take a bus so the walk is only about a half a mile.  While it is the most expensive of the restaurants in this series, the price to quality ratio is excellent.  You can see that in the presentation, and we certainly could taste it.  

Jane had a chicken caesar salad.  The Americanization of the name does not do it justice.

I had seared tuna again.  It is so great here.  Note the difference in presentation from the dish by the same name at La Baleine Joyeuse.  There is a significant price difference.

Since we walked all that way and because the waiter was very persuasive, we had a pavlova with fresh strawberries for dessert.  Just to prove we aren't complete degenerates, we skipped the lemoncello offered at the end of the meal.

Of course with all the wonderful places to buy fresh meats and vegetables, we do not have to go out to a restaurant for a great dinner.  Here is a sampling of meals that we made at home.

entrecôte

blanc de poulet

côte de porc

There are also two things that are eternal and never change.

The sea and one's need to swim in it.

And the dog poops (but at least they are artistically placed on the sidewalk).

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal 

Villefranche-sur-mer 2022 - 5 An Empty Harbor

 Dear Friends,

We have been coming to Villefranche-sur-mer in the winter since 2014.  The Rade de Villefranche (the bay) is the only well protected deep water harbor on the northern coast of the Mediterranean.  I love looking at the water, the boats and all the comings and goings.  The apartment that we rent is right on the water, but we are quite a bit above water level.  Even in January and February there are quite a few boats in the bay and lots of activity.  Here is a picture of the bay from January 2020.  

All these photos are taken from the balcony of our apartment.  You can understand why I like it here.  Here is a photo of the bay from early this year.

As you can see, there are still quite a few boats in the bay, many of them have been here for years.  On Monday, all of the boats were removed from the bay either under their own power or by the various maritime police groups.   Here is what that the bay looked like Monday afternoon.

I don't know why the authorities decided to clear the bay out.  I have always thought that there were a number of boats that were abandoned.  There were other boats with people living on them but that could never move under their own power.  There were other boats that were occupied by people who were living on them and fixing them up or at least keeping them in good condition.  I am quite sure that many of them were in violation of any number of regulations, including not paying whatever the fee is for anchoring in the bay.  

Regardless of the reason, on Monday morning early a group of six or seven maritime police vessels arrived and began a massive operation to clear the bay.

They brought with them a couple of private contractors to help with the operation.  In the photo below, the top circle is a maritime police boat and the two bottom circles contain the private contractors.  It is not hard to tell the difference.  You probably cannot tell from the picture that the cover on the private contractor's boat on the bottom left is covered with sea gull poop.

The operation was very efficiently done.  Seven boats were towed to a near by anchorage while they await being taken out of the water and put in a junk yard with the other three boats that have already been sent there.  In the photos below, they are towing boats away.  It was quite easy, they had big chain cutters and just cut the anchor rodes.  

They also made quick work of taking several boats out using a flat bed truck with a crane.  They don't bother spending any time carefully unrigging to take the mast down.  They just attach the mast to the crane and cut all the stays.  In the photo below the mast has just crashed into the water.  

They also don't have to spend any time worrying about marring the hull, so they just lay the boat on its side on the truck bed.

They got quite efficient at taking the boats out this way.  In the photo below they have just put one the truck and had two others waiting to go.  

At the end of the operation, there were still several boats left.  According to a Facebook post by Villefranche, the larger boats here will be taken away over the next week.  I don't know what will happen to the dinghies, some of which are completely disgusting.  One of the sail boats has a for sale sign on it.  It has solar panels and is fairly well maintained and can move on its own power.  The owner is on board.  I don't know how long he will be permitted to stay.  

A couple days later on a walk, I found many of the boats that had been removed.  The first photo is of the boats that were moved and awaiting haul out.  The second photo is the boats already in the junk yard.  

There were also a number of boats whose owners were on board.  They were told to leave.  In the photo below the double masted sailboat is being sent off by the authorities.  It was sad.  It is a nice boat, it has been in the bay for several years, and the owner has been working on it diligently.  

According to a Villefranche Facebook post, the operation removed all the boats that were illegally in the bay.  Apparently, all the boats in the bay were illegal in some way, hence the now empty bay.  That Facebook post also indicated that next week the authorities would start a cleaning of the bottom of the bay.  I am sure that there are many things on the bottom that will be of interest.  Plus after Monday's operation there are a bunch of anchors and anchor rodes.  I am looking forward to seeing how they clean the bottom. It may be like watching submarine races.  I will let you know.

I worry about the Rade de Villefranche.  It appears empty and lacks much of its former character.  I hope that the authorities have not ruined one of the many reasons that I love Villefranche just in the hopes of gaining more revenue or upgrading the boats that come to the bay.  We will see.  I will keep you posted.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal