In September '02 we flew to Nice in the south of France, & then took a coach to Menton for a ten day stay. Menton is on the Med., & Italian border. I.E. bottom right corner of France when looking at a map. We went to Nice in '99, & liked it so thought we would give Menton a go, & very happy we are with our choice. When I was researching Menton it struck me as a mini Nice, & so it turned out. There is a casino if that's your thing? There are two ports, & several small beaches. Plus several small galleries, museums, & gardens. It has a main SNCF station with links to most of the towns along the south coasts of France, & Italy such as San Remo, Monaco, Nice, Cannes, & further to Rome, Milan, & Marseilles... It also has a bus station for local trips, but mostly we walked. The town is not that big especially the old town where most of the cafes are, & the covered market. It has a promenade along the entire sea front, plus the adjoining resort of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.
You can walk from Menton all the
way to Monaco if you wish, & we did. It's only 5 miles, or 8
kilometers with several resorts along the way to break your
journey.
You can also take a train as we did, (or coach) to Monaco. In
Monaco we
arrived at the all new station. We went to see the sculptures in
the
Casino gardens like this huge giraffe, & generally window
shopped
in the designer stores. We also explored the exotic garden,
which is up
the hill overlooking the Monaco stadium. We realized that Monaco
football team had a home game whilst we where visiting, but were
not
sure about getting tickets so didn't go. Even later we found
that the
San Remo Rally started the day after we came home. So much for
advanced
planning, & we missed the final of the French Supercross
season at
Nice too. Maybe next time?
This
picture was taken at
the Jardin Exotique (exotic garden) Val Rahmeh in Menton. It's
close to
the Garavan port, & well worth a visit when open. These are
the
same water lilies that they grow indoors at Kew gardens in
London. We
got caught out a lot on opening times on this trip. You should
expect
things to be shut between noon, & 2pm in France, but this
garden
shut later, & didn't reopen until 3pm. We also visited Le
Jardin
Serre de la Madone, at which you currently have to go on an
organized
tour. Next summer they plan to have general admission. Only 6
were on
our tour, which was mainly in French, but our guide, who was the
landscape gardener for the project spoke good English, & we
muddled
through. This garden is a bit like the Lost Garden of Heligan in
Cornwall. The Heligan garden declined after most of the young
gardiners
went off to war, & many did not return. The French garden
was
established in 1924 by Lawrence Johnson who was a rich American
anglophile. He established Hidcot Manor in England as well.
Hidcot is
owned by the National Trust, & is the second most visited UK
garden. He volunteered for the Boer, & first world wars,
& got
gassed. Eventually he was advised that his lungs would never
recover,
& he should spend the UK winters in a better climate. He
then
bought the French property, & set about getting a garden
built.
Eventually he died in 1958, & after a couple of changes of
ownership, the garden became more, & more neglected during
the
80's, & 90's, which led to it being purchased by the
Conservatoire
du Littoral (French National Trust) in '99. They have been
restoring it
ever since. Many of the original plants were the first examples
in
France, or sometimes in Europe. Hidcot has been supplying some
of the
replacement plants.
Menton has
a micro climate as it is sheltered between the hills at the back
of
town, & the sea. They claim 300 plus days of sunshine per
year, & certainly we had ten sunny days without rain. They
almost
never have frost, or snow.This is the
casino garden, & you can see the hills in the background.
The main
tourist office is on the right. We also went to the Cottavoz
temporary
exhibition at the fine arts museum, which was close to our
hotel. We
liked his work, which is impressionist I guess? It's built up
with
thick layers of paint, which gives a kind of 3d effect when
close up.
He uses loads of bright colours to, which we liked. In the
garden
sculptures are set amongst fruit trees, which appeared an odd
combination, but why not? In the port area is a small gallery
displaying the works of Jean Cocteau, which is worth a quick
look so we
did.
We had several trips out of town mostly by train. We went to Villefranche-sur-mer on a Sunday for the "antiques" market. We wondered around, & walked through the old part of town, which was very Terry Pratchett Discworld. We thought the town OK, but were more impressed by the next resort of Beaulieu-sur-mer, which had some fine old buildings, & a little sandy beach with watersports... Also, we went to Vintimille in Italy, which I thought OK, & J. didn't think much of at all. Atleast they now both use the Euro, & there's no passport control so it's nice, & easy. Maybe another time we will make it to San Remo? I think there will be another time.
I think all details are correct at September '02?
Most of the gardens, galleries, & museums mentioned are shut between 12:00, & 14:00, but it does vary from place to place. Most of them shut one day a week usually Monday, or Tuesday, but again it varies. Most charge an entry fee of between 3, & 8 Euros. I.E. 2 to 5 pounds, or ask for a donation. Generally they open for less hours/days in the winter.
We flew with easyJet, had our holiday insurance with Norwich Union Direct, then got a coach, which we booked tickets for in advance. We went to the coach station office at Nice airport, & showed our confirmation e-mail to the chap who then issued the actual tickets. There was a coach on the hour during the day from Nice airport/aeroport to Menton via Monaco, which took about 90 min.'s, & it's air conditioned. You can ask the driver to stop at your destination if it's on his route, which ours was. On the return journey you have to wait at a proper stop, & make certain it has the little plane symbol. I think the coach is numbered 110, & usually has a plane painted on the side so it's easy to spot. It cost 25 euros (about £17) each return, & the tickets are only valid for 30 days. The website asks for your arrival date, & if you put in a date more than 30 days in advance warns you not to proceed.
There are 7 bus lines around Menton, & the buses are usually white. You need line 7 to go to Serre de la Madone garden. Each bus stop has a sign up telling you where you are, which lines stop, & if there's a shelter that normally has a map with a "vous et ici" red arrow. I.E."you are here". This can be useful if you are just trying to navigate around town on foot. We only went on the local bus once, but you could just pay the driver. I guess that if you want to use the bus a lot you can get a carnet I.E. 10 single trip tickets? The bus station is the Gare Routiere, & it's near the main train station I.E. the Gare SNCF.
There are three SNCF stations, but some trains only stop at the main SNCF station, which is sign posted from the casino garden. On week days there appeared to be a "tout gare" I.E. all stations train about every half hour, but on the weekend they were much less frequent. Menton to Villefranche-sur-mer was about six euros, or about four quid return each. If you want a return ticket ask for "allez et retour" at the ticket office. There are ticket machines at the stations, but they only take coins, & French credit cards. During summer you can get a "Carte Isabelle", which gives allday travel on the local area's trains for ten euros, or about £6.50.
It costs 46 cents (30p) to send a postcard, & you can get stamps from "La Poste". You get them from the machine, or queue up at the counter. The main post office is signed posted from the casino garden, & there's another at the Garavan port, but they will be shut at lunchtime, & on Sundays. I think Tabacs also sell stamps?
The main tourist office is on the right side of the casino garden if you are looking up the hill. There's another in the port close to the "bastion", which is a little fort with coloured tiles on the roof, & contains the Jean Cocteau collection. He also painted murals at the town hall, or "Hotel de Ville" in the marriage suite, but we never got to see them. There are loads of bank machines, & a few Bureau de change around town.
We stayed at the Dolphin Hotel, which cost 92 euros per night including continental breakfast. That's just over £60/night. The room had air conditioning, balcony facing the sea, & French cable TV. It is on the Promenade du Soleil, & there was some traffic noise, which we soon tuned out. If you want a very quiet hotel this may not be the one for you, but I would recommend it. It is about a ten minute stroll to the old town/port area, & five from the casino. There's an open air cinema about 5 min.'s in the other direction towards Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, but we gave that a miss.
Links
I can't be responsible for the content of these sites, but you may find them useful?
Official Menton website.
Unofficial Menton website.
Provence Beyond gives details of Provence outings. The coast is the Cote D'Azur, & the land behind is Provence.
Cote D'Azur galleries, & museums.
Serra de la Madone garden website currently in French, but supposed to be translated over the "winter" the chap informed us.
Hotel "Le Dauphin" (The Dolphin) our hotel.
Nice airport/aeroport site where we purchased our coach tickets.
easyJet who we flew with.
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