Cap Ferrat

Trip Start May 14, 2008
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Trip End May 28, 2008


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Sunday, May 18, 2008

We spent the day on Cap Ferrat.  Crawling through traffic from Nice, we had ample opportunities to view the fabulous harbor just one point East of the Nice harbor, with the town of Villefranche sur Mer. Across this harbor we turned into Cap Ferrat, home of many celbreties and assorted rich folk.  We at lunch at the small zoo that has evolved from the exotic animal collection of King Leopold of Belgium (to get a parking place as much as anything) and were really charmed by it.  The lemurs were particularly cool, but it was fun to see a lot of children running around and having a good time.  There was a lemur "interaction" area where you could go inside their cage and pet them, and some had obviously escaped and were just hanging around the paths nearby watching the people walk by.  We also saw a couple leopards, a bear and flamingos.

We walked down the road to St Promenade L'Englaise in Nice
Promenade L'Englaise in Nice
 . Jean, the tiny village on the harbor at Cap Ferrat.  We had  our first gelato (or glace in France) of the trip and then wandered over to take a walk around the point. Cap Ferrat has a trail that completely circles the cape that was a bit more than we wanted to take on, but the cape is shaped like a mitten and we decided to circle the "thumb" only and that turned out to be just  right.  We saw an ever-changing vista of waves and rocks and luxury yachts and the surrounding hills and towns.  Locked gates and fences separated us from what looked like fantasy villas along the shore, some even having their own private "harbor" with a stone path up to  the house.  We finished our walk on the shore with the requisite cappuccinos by the harbor.

Before leaving Cap Ferrat, we had about an hour to tour the villa and gardens of Beatrice Rothschild who built it during the "grand epoch" of the pre-WWI years of the last century.  Built on the narrowest neck of the cape, the grounds are laid out roughly like a ship and multiple gardens surround it.  It is hard to imagine the lifestyle that went on in this mansion and the wealth that was required to maintain it (it took about 35 full-time gardeners just for the grounds!)  It was really worthwhile to tour the various gardens with themes like Japanese, Provencal, "Exotic (cacti and desert plants) and the magnificent rose garden at the "prow".

The day ended with dinner at Cafe Saleya in the main square of old Nice.  We had traditional Nicoise specialities like stuffed vegetables, rattatuie and fish soup--all accompanied by great people-watching while the square filled up with a fine cast of characters.
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