The French Riviera and the amazing Juan Les Pins

---

So it’s out of Spain and back into France, the French Riviera to be exact.

So it’s the first day in the French Riviera and the whole Contiki crew are heading into Nice for the day. Unfortunately I had to get a shot for my future travels to South America and I figured if I had to lose a day this would be the best time to do it, so I stayed back and decided to head into the local town of Antibes. Turns out a couple of other lads slept in and they were keen to head in to town for the day as well. Not to mention that Nick had done a little homework on this little town and discovered that there was an absinthe bar here. Awesome! So armed with our map we headed in to Antibes. As soon as we were off the bus we were in awe, the city is this amazingly quaint little town with some really traditional, yet clearly quite wealthy, architecture and narrow cobblestone alleys, and the best part ..... no tourists! It really was like stepping back a couple of hundred years, but it’s not an attraction, people actually live here, it was so great.

So after a bit of wandering around, and actually I think the best pizza I’ve had in Europe (and yes, I wrote this after I had been through Italy) we found a massive marketplace filled with the freshest fruit, vegies and some beautiful home-made jams. I would have loved to hang around and do some more shopping but unfortunately we were on a mission. So it’s in this market that we find this shop with the sign “Absinthe Bar”. We went in and it appeared to be just a souvenir store, and a little bummed we were about to leave, but then we noticed, hidden in the back, a spiral staircase leading downstairs into an underground cellar. Wow! It was everything you’d expect a classy opium den to look like. And with just a couple of locals in there (and us 3) the owner, an older man with the telltale markings of a hard life lived, brings over the absinthe pouring machine, and ok, now I’m kinda scared. It’s a large, glass jug, with 4 little taps coming from it. So after handing us a menu with about 50 varieties of absinthe, I ask him for his recommendation and he brings over 3 glasses, along with the absinthe spoons and some sugar cubes. He sets the glasses up each tap, a sugar cube atop each, and he sets the machine dripping slowly, one drop at a time, slowly melting the sugar into the absinthe. After a brief instruction he says “Wait till half full then DRINK SLOWLY”. We all sat nervously watching the drinks develop, as we revelled in how secluded this little place was. So the glasses fill and we shut the taps off. After a quick santé (cheers) we tasted. Ok, so it didn’t taste spectacular, but if you liked good aniseed you’d probably love it. I would have had a second, but Brett wasn’t up for it. So we said mercy, and headed off.

We then made our way to the beach for a look. The beach in Antibes is actually a sand beach, unlike the one in Nice, and is beautiful. Walking past the multi-million dollar luxury yacht s, occasionally seeing a Ferrari of Mazeratti cruise the beach (a interesting sight with the bright reds and yellows against a sandstone backdrop), you could spend the day just walking up and down here. Then we spot a wake-boarding and well, it was this 3-seater inflatable thing called a “Fly-fish”. Brett being an avid wake-boarder made a b-line straight for it. I had no boardies on me so we did a bit of a shorts swap and in we dove. It was the first taste of salt water in ages and I loved it. “Fly fishing” was so much fun! Great time! Brett then went for a wakeboard afterwards while we watched him work his moves.

So the day was quickly disappearing and I still had to get to the doctors. We made it there just in time and I got my shot, but then we had to get back to the camp site as everyone was heading into Monaco for an evening at the Casino Monte Carlo.

Now we met some people the night before that came back from the casino, and they didn’t really give it raving reviews. Additionally, I’d had such a great day in Antibes, I had a feeling I should keep going with the local thing. And after all, it’s just a casino, albeit a really old one. So I talked to the other boys and well Brett was still keen to go in, but Nick had already been there and wasn’t planning to go anyway, so I said to Nick “let’s see what Antibes has to offer”.

We walked into a small club close to the campsite and asked the young girl at the bar where she goes for a good night out, she said but three words “Juan Les Pins”. “Where?”, I asked. She said, “Just ask the taxi driver for Juan Les Pins, he’ll know where to go”.

So off we went, a nervous excitement building just a little.

A 20 euro cab ride later and we hit the clubbing capital of the French Riviera. ‘Awesome’ cannot describe this place, 5 streets meet at one intersection, clubs, bars and restaurants lining each one of them, the atmosphere was electric (and this was a Tuesday night). There were small impromptu exhibitions in the middle of the intersection all night including one of the best and most amazingly choreographed break dance routines I have ever seen. They played out different scenarios with a mix of great comedy and incredible dance skills. For those who know ‘Diversity’ from ‘Britain’s got Talent’, it puts them to shame. This place is incredible. Welcome to Juan Les Pins.

After pub crawling a little we settled into an al fresco bar that I cannot remember the name of. The bartender was doing some of the best flaring I have ever seen, although he must have been on something because he moved as if he was in fast-forward, it was really strange to watch. We met these two French girls at the bar, Eva and another girl (I’m so sorry I’ve lost your name) and sat with them for ages. Their English was limited but it was a lot better than our French, but we had some awesome conversation, learnt a lot about the area and learnt a little French as well. Unfortunately they had to head off around midnight as they were working the next day, but thank you girls for the awesome conversation, and a great time, you are amazing. After they left we decided to hit the club next door called Le Village. The line up was a bit of a wait but we got talking to some American’s which past the time, and then as we passed through the massive doors, I was confronted with the greatest, and most pumping nightclub I have ever seen. We had a blast, mingling with people from all over the world; it was one of the best nights of my life. To Lola, thanks for the dance, to the Dutch girls, thanks for the great night, to the lovely girl that found me a taxi when I had no idea where to look or how to call one, thank you so much, to everyone out that night you all rock, and to Nick, how amazing was that dude!! Really!!

For anyone heading to this area, I highly recommend Antibes and Juan Le Pins, I am writing this having since left Europe and I can say honestly that that was the best day/night of my entire trip.

Keywords for the French Riviera:

Bashed with breadsticks
Fuck Nice!!
“How hard is it to find cigarettes?”
“Why don’t we catch the train?”
“Where are we? ..... oh hang on ...”
“My card won’t work”
“Umm .... can you give me something for this flu?”
New York = Jail Bait

---