|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
Antibes, Biot and Vallauris Antibes
and Nice watch each other from each side of the Bay ; they share a
2000-year-old history and a border, that they were still guarding from
their respective sides, less than 150 years ago. A river was then
separating France from the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia ;
Italian was spoken in Nice and French in Antibes. Nice
has lost everything from its past of a border-town, Antibes conserves a
good part of its fortifications, to start with the so-called "Fort
Carré" (literally meaning "Square Fortress") that
overlooks the largest marina of the French Riviera ; there's an amazing
number of big yachts docked in this marina. From
the pier, once passed the arches of the bastions, a 5' walk is enough to
enter the historical heart of Antibes, a little square, where the
manycoloured façade of the Cathedral and the one, white and austere, of
the Grimaldi Castle are facing each other. This Castle shelters today the
Picasso Museum. Picasso
worked in the Castle in the summer of 1946.Then, once the vacations over,
he left all of his works on site to make a museum of it, on condition that
the works are never lent to other institutions, so that if people want to
see the "Picassos" of Antibes, they simply have to come to
Antibes. The "Joy of Life", that expresses all the happiness of
the painter at that post-war time, is the major work of the collection. The
Safranier section, then the indoor local market are two steps away from
the Castle ; this is generally where the walking tour finishes. As
Antibes is located between Cannes and Nice, a half-day tour of this town
can either starting from one of those two places. Very
central, Antibes combines perfectly as a full-day tour with Biot, reputed
for its glass manufacture, Cannes, Grasse, Nice, St Paul(see descriptions
in the corresponding pages). Vallauris
provides also a good second part of a tour, since it used to be one of the
residences of Picasso as well ; the painter has left large frescoes
("War and Peace") in the Romanesque chapel of the Castle in
Vallauris. Conditions
: As
we are tour specialists, our goal is to help you harmonize your choices to
build a well-balanced product. Tours and transfers can be created to suit
any timetable. Standard
duration : Half-day service - maximum duration is 4 hours comprised between 8.00 am and 7.00 pm. Above this package, additionnal hours are billed. Full-day
service - maximum duration is 9 hours comprised between 8.00 am and 7.00 pm Important: This page and all of the other pages of this website, are protected by the law . Anyone found guilty for total ou partial reproduction runs the risk of prosecution.
|
