Off to France

At the library I took out my latest novel, “The French House” by Nick Alexander, with our soon to happen French holiday in mind. I knew nothing about the author, or the book, but I thought it might get me into a more Gallic mood.

So far, I’m not sure it’s doing much for me storywise, or even as a portrait of life in France, but it is certainly making me nostalgic as so many places we’ve visited on our holidays are mentioned.

The story starts at Nice airport, a place we remember only too well after a couple of long waits there. I may only have read the first 100 pages of the novel so far but I’ve already set off west then up into the hinterland high above Nice. We’ve had a day trip down to Juan les Pins & Cap d’Antibes, both places we’ve passed several times though not actually visited. Then we had a time in Nice itself, strolling along the Promenade des Anglais past the Hotel Negresco  (closed for refurbishment when we stayed in Nice),

Promenade des Anglais, Nice

Promenade des Anglais, Nice looking towards the Parc du Chateau on the hill behind

the Cours Saleya with its flower & veg markets (where we dined a couple of times), 

 

Cours Saleya

Cours Saleya

up to the Parc du Château with its magnificent views across the port of Nice as well as the city.

View down to port of Nice from the Chateau du Parc

 

View across the city of Nice from the Parc du Chateau

In another chapter of the novel, we went off to Grasse, the centre of the French perfume industry (we stayed in a gîte just outside Grasse) before going on to Gourdon (a village we visited on that trip).

Village of Gourdon

Village of Gourdon

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Chateau at Gourdon

 
 

View from the gardens of the chateau at Gourdon

The novel may not be whisking me off to Burgundy, the Côte d’Or, but I’m certainly off to the Côte d’Azur.