SAINT-JEAN-CAP-FERRA.
From the late 19th century to the present day, the peninsula of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat remains one of the most expensive places on the Côte d’Azur. It is also called the peninsula of billionaires and is famous for its fashionable hotels, ancient port, private beaches and villas of celebrities.
In the villa “Moresk” wonderful English novelist and playwright Somerset Maugham settled for several decades. During the First World War he was a professional intelligence officer and worked for the Intelligence Service. In peacetime to live on the Côte d’Azur almost without leave, he was forced by not quite ordinary circumstances: he settled here, in a villa, with his young lover, an American adventurer Gerald Haxton, who for some reason was ordered to enter England. In this corner of paradise, the writer liked to host many of his Riviera neighbors: Winston Churchill, Herbert Wells, the Duke of Windsor and, of course, Jean Cocteau. The latter settled here much later, from 1950, at the Villa Santo Sospir. In the same year, 1950, but only for one year, Marc Chagall also settled here.
Next to the cozy little beach of Passable is still located Villa “Radiana”. Since 1902 here lived a charming blond Frenchwoman, to whom the King of Belgium, who lived in the neighboring villa “Cedars”, went to play cards under the cover of night… The Frenchwoman became a baroness and gave birth to two sons.
The Rothschild heiress married the financier from Odessa Efrusi (having multiplied her already not small fortune). Having fallen in love, like many others, with the Côte d’Azur, the rich woman decided to build a decent villa. Having changed many architects, Beatrice Efrusy de Rothschild built a pink palace – villa “Ile de France”. Built in the Italian Renaissance style, it is surrounded by beautiful gardens. Each of them represents a different corner of the world. There is a Spanish garden with pomegranate trees, Florentine with marble statues, Japanese with mirror carps, exotic with a small bamboo forest. Park of stones, fairy-tale rosarium, French garden with a copy of the temple of love, pink lilies and with a singing fountain… Excerpts from “The Magic Flute” and other classical music sounds here every twenty minutes…. And with the first chords, the fountain begins its beautiful dance. In the palace of Beatrice there are amazing collections of art works of XVI – XIX centuries, medieval tapestries, unique furniture from the times of Louis XV and XVI… In the summer evenings there are often held theatrical opera performances and concerts.Pine groves and rocks at the most picturesque part of the sea, silence and peace, occasionally broken by the cry of seagulls, famous villas – all this is the unique charm of Cape St. John Ferrat.
EZ.
Following a centuries-old tradition, on one of the peaks and rocky ledges of the seaside Alps is the ancient town of Eze. It is like an eagle’s nest, located at an altitude of 500 meters above sea level.The medieval village has changed masters many times. First it was conquered by Celtic tribes, then by the Phoenicians. In the 1st century B.C. the Romans came here. In the X century it was sacked by the Saracens.The chapel of the “White Penitent Monks”, built in 1300, is the oldest building in the town.The walls of Eze remember Nostradamus. In 1562, war broke out between Catholics and Huguenots. A terrible, troubled time… One day, an angry mob gathered outside the great prophet’s home in Salon de Croix, forcing Nostradamus to secretly flee with his family. Here, in Eze he briefly found his refuge.The fame of the prophet began after the publication of the almanac of 1555. He was ordered to appear at court. The reason for this event was a quatrain:
“For 40 years the rainbow will not appear. For the next 40, it will be seen every day.
Catherine de Medici, whose coat of arms was a rainbow, saw in these lines a long-awaited change in her fate. In 1559, she was just about to turn 40 years old. She felt that she could get rid of her hated husband, exile his favorite and become, finally, a real queen of France. So Catherine was nice to the soothsayer and brought him closer to the court. Two years later there was a new prediction of Nostradamus about a terrible fight between two lions and a wounded eye. And two more years later, it happened just like that. A young captain Montgomery at a jousting tournament severely wounded Henry II in the eye and soon the king died. Catherine de Medici had gotten everything she had dreamed of.
SAN PAUL.
St. Paul is a paradise for artists and entertainers. In the Middle Ages, on the border of Provence and Piedmont, this city was born. The fortress walls built in the time of Francis I have survived to this day. The square tower of the XVIII century St. Paul’s Church rises above the town.Among the thickets of orange and lemon trees, with a subtle jasmine fragrance, the streets of Saint-Paul have become a place that connects the hearts of lovers. An inexplicably huge number of love stories and weddings are connected with the city. But remember, as a rule, about two of them.Young Prince Rainier III, in 1949, who came to power in Monaco, at a gala dinner at the restaurant “Golden Dove” met with a popular American actress Grace Kelly. This meeting led to a lavish high society wedding.In the same “Golden Dove” took place another ROCKY meeting … Yves Montand and Simone Signoret … On December 22, 1951, at the City Hall of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, they were married. On his side of the witness was Paul Roux, owner of the “Golden Dove”, with her – Jacques Prévert. As a wedding present, Pablo Picasso sent a drawing made with a felt-tip pen (which was unusual in those days).
