Cutest Towns in the South of France
Just a short drive from the busy coast are some of the South of France's most beautiful places to visit. Yup, up in the hills away from the hustle and bustle of Nice and Cannes you can find absolute peace...and a bunch of other tourists. Hey, if you can't beat them, join them!
My friends and I, on a short trip to Nice, decided to book a day trip to some of these cute (and photogenic) spots. We looked around and found a great trip with City Discovery, which took us to a bunch of places throughout the day for not a lot of money (around £70). We were picked up by our lovely guide at 9am and set off on our adventure to the French countryside!
The first stop on our day trip was Antibes, where we had around an hour to wander around the daily market and port. Whilst the arty folk in our group went off to learn all about Picasso - he made his home there and there's a pretty impressive museum to make sure you know all about it - my friends and I decided to check out the market. Everything from flowers to food is sold every morning, and I managed to put a dent in my spending money on lavender soaps. Not even sorry about it.
Then we were on to Cannes, the town of the rich and famous, where you kinda need to be rich and famous to have the best time. A quick walk along La Croisette was about all we were up to. And some major window shopping. I might have left some drool on the Dior window. After a quick ice cream stop, we were back on the bus and back on the road.
A quick stop in Grasse to tour the Fragonard Perfume Factory. How often can you say you bought perfume from the very heart of the land of perfume? not very often in my case. The tour of the factory was interesting, though a little long, and the shopping was amazing. Again, my money took a hit. No photos because I was too busy spendy spending.
After a brief stop to take some photos of the view of Tourrettes-sur-Loup, it was on to Gourdon. When I'm old and grey and looking for my retirement place, Gourdon will be the town I'll hit up. I've never seen anywhere so quaint in my whole life. And I live in Scotland. Set on the side of a cliff, with some bloody amazing views, the town is full of pretty shops and ancient buildings, It feels like another time. Yup, Gourdon feels like my spirit home. I loved it.
Our final stop was even more picturesque if possible. Saint-Paul-de-Vence is a cobble stoned, gorgeous dream of a place. We strolled around the tiny place, eating ice cream and taking pictures. The place is seriously picturesque, full of cute little tourist shops - and lots of art - perfect for wandering away a few hours in the shady streets. It was a little busy for me, but what should I have expected? The place is made to be visited!
I'm so glad that I managed to spend some of my time in the South of France seeing more of the countryside. It's made for some serious competition in my heart for Italy. City Discovery gave us one of the best tours I've ever experienced. Such a personal, lovely experience, and one I'll definitely be repeating on my next trip!
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