Antibes, France

Actual date of this event: 3 May

For our first full day in Nice, we decided to head to the seaside town of Antibes. I had heard Antibes was a beautiful place, and I actually debated on us staying there rather than in a Nice. We made the right choice, though, as we were based more centrally to the other areas along the Cote d'Azur in Nice than we would have been in Antibes. We took the train around noon which put us in Antibes around 45 minutes later. One of the first things we noticed was the massive amount of yachts. I'm thinking Antibes is the place to be if you're a yachtsman, not Monaco!

The old town is surrounded by a wall, and is very quaint and quiet. We walked in the town a little bit, then ventured to the sea wall. The sun was bright and shining, and we both forgot to put on sunscreen.

{Above: We declared this will be our house someday.}

We came upon the daily market, but it was closing up as it's more of a morning market than all day. We sat at a cafe nearby to enjoy some French wine and beer and an antipasti plate. We were both so relaxed, and could have stayed in that spot forever. But we had only seen half of Antibes, so we continued our walk through the town.

We stopped for another drink in a small square to enjoy the sun a little bit more. Then, we decided to head back to the sea wall, and along the way came upon one of the prettiest little streets I have ever seen - Rue de Bas Castelet. It had vines draping across it, with tiny doorways into the homes, but best of all, we were the only ones there. The pictures we have of it, don't do it any justice (and we even took about 20 pictures of this street!). In fact, none of these pictures do Antibes any justice.

Back to the sea, we spotted the beach - a sandy beach! The water had to have been freezing since it was only early May, but people were swimming and enjoy it. We should have brought out swim gear, but instead, we had a beer and watched the people swim for us.

Around 5:30pm, we decided to make our way back to Nice so we could change before dinner. I say Antibes is a must visit while in the South of France, but then again, is there a town in the area that isn't worth a visit? Up next: the itty bitty but mega wealthy country of Monaco!

More from the South of France: Intro, Nice, Antibes, Monaco, Eze Village, Avignon, Pope's Palace & Pont d'Avignon, Pont du Gard, Buisson, St. Remy, Les Baux, Arles, Nîmes

RANDOM FACT:
The old town of Antibes is small and surrounded by a wall, but the actual commune of Antibes is much larger at 10sqmi.