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Aerial view, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
If you zoom-in, you can make out the tiny harbor and marina. Our apartment is across the street from the marina.Today we flew via easyJet from Naples to Nice for our 10-day visit to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, located in the heart of the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur), between Nice and Monaco. The town of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, located about 6 miles northeast of Nice, is a former fishing village nestled in an exceptional and scenic spot on a peninsula that juts out from the southeast coast of France into the Mediterranean Sea.
According to Wikipedia, Cap Ferrat was named in 2012 as the second most expensive residential location in the world after Monaco. Dee and I had enjoyed a very enjoyable stay in Nice back in 2017, when our granddaughter Ashley joined us for a few days before we took her to Paris. So we decided on an encore visit to this region of France during our odyssey this year.
Our grueling journey began today when Francesco's cousin, Giuseppe, drove us to the Naples airport for our 1:30PM flight to Nice. We arrived two hours ahead of our flight time, but the avalanche of people at the airport made for slow going and general chaos. Fortunately, we had pre-arranged special assistance for Dee with easyJet, and it made all the difference in the
world during the check-in process, unlike the fiascos with Delta in Atlanta and Rome during the flights from the states a month ago.
Two different assistants wheeled Dee to the departure gate and then to the aircraft on the tarmac, as in Naples there are no mobile loading ramps, so all passengers must either be bussed or walk to the aircraft. The flight to Nice was smooth, and another mobility assistant was waiting when we exited the aircraft, so Dee got another wheelchair ride to baggage claim. After retrieving our bags and heading for the exit, we soon realized that the pre-arranged taxi we had ordered was nowhere to be seen. After some frantic phone calls, we established that the driver was stuck in traffic, and he arrived about an hour late. A half-hour later, at around 4:30PM, we finally arrived at our rental apartment in St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
The concierge, Jean-Pierre, who turned out to be a very personable fellow, gave us a tour of the apartment. It's located directly across the street from the marina, Port du Saint Jean, which is chock full of yachts and pleasure boats of all sorts. The apartment itself is immaculate, well-equipped and
overall a very cozy place, with a private patio in the back that is surrounded by oleander, jasmine, honeysuckle and other greenery.
After unpacking some of our things, we decided to find a place to eat, since the local supermarket is closed on Sundays. Just a block away we discovered Le Bar du Port, a bar and restaurant with an outdoor terrace overlooking the marina, and ordered gins and tonic to relieve the stress of our day's trials and tribulations. We were also starving at this point, having eaten only a lousy ham and cheese sandwich on the flight from Naples to Nice, but had to nurse our drinks (2 each) until the kitchen opened at 7:00PM. Our friendly and gracious waiter and bartender (Anthony) turned out to be quite a gem, chatting and joking with us while we waited to go inside and order dinner.
When Anthony showed us the menu, written in French on a chalkboard that is placed in front of guests, we realized in short order that our palates would need to transition pretty quickly from Italian to French cuisine! We ultimately decided to share a steak and Caesar salad, which turned out to
be a lot of food (even when shared). The steak was served with delicious fries and the most unique preparation of fennel either of us had ever tasted, as was the dressing on the Caesar salad. Although stuffed by the time we had finished, we thoroughly enjoyed our first meal in France, after which we made it back to the apartment and soon thereafter hit the sack.
Dee's Comments: (just a few observations over the last few days, before leaving Sorrento)
After 36 days of our odyssey this year we are finally enjoying consecutive days of sunshine! It's funny how our bodies react to some sunshine after a pile of rainy, dreary ones. You get to wear some of your summer attire, and I think we even walk faster!
By now, readers of our blog should know we are acting like amateur food critics on this trip (I just told Mitch that a quesadilla would taste pretty good right now, though LOL!). If not critics, I do think we have become "foodie" observers.
I've been noticing a lot of babies being trundled around lately, and wondering whether there's been a post-COVID "baby boom"? Enjoyed watching some
BBC coverage of the coronation on my iPad (no TV in our apartment).
Cannot believe how much Coca Cola is sold and consumed by tourists (and locals) in Sorrento; noticed that shops selling "puffy" and leather coats have started to mark them down; made a stop at my favorite drug store for a few essentials to the tune of 80 euros, WOW!; packing for our trip to the French Riviera, where we are expecting some different food experiences and new adventures.
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Jeni
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Dee continues the streak of photos with hot men! You’re like a magnetic 😉. Happy you made it safely to Nice. The views are spectacular, can’t wait to see more. And those photos threw me off, I thought that was now and was like WTF. You guys are so cute, then and now. ❤️