…then you are probably in an amazingly beautiful place called Menton!
When I visited Menton for the first time in 2020 (when Covid19 gave us a short, deceivingly hopeful-looking break), I was positively mesmerised. The place is simply beautiful! The pastel colours everywhere, the palm trees, the happy people, the sunny blue sky and landscape…I fell in love immediately.
It reminded me a bit of the first time I ever visited a “proper” beach. As I grew up in Hamburg, most of my childhood I would visit the Northern beaches in Germany, and for the longest time I thought, beaches are quite cold and windy places, with funny chairs everywhere, where spiders or other bugs could safely hide. Once I went on a pre-school trip to the German Island Föhr, where it was raining the whole trip, so we had to bundle up with raincoats and rain boots and play in the cold, wet sand. I delegated the task of making sand castles to my classmates, which apparently displeased the teacher (though I don’t remember her touching the sand, either!).
To be fair, I have of course had many fun times as a child, no matter how cold the water, because even German sand can be turned into cool shapes. Also, my parents would usually treat me for lemony ice-cream, which made my day.
But I distinctly remember the time, around age 9 or 10, when I went on my first vacation to the Côte d’Azure, with my aunt, uncle and cousins. I remember arriving in Saint Tropez, sunny blue sky, palm trees everywhere, putting my feet in the water, and thinking: Arnaque! (French for “I have been scammed with a fake beach all these years!”)
I believe around that time I also developed a strong sensation of clearly having been born in the wrong place. Or of thinking, humanity in general had made a mistake, because why would anybody live in the North, when one can live in such a beautiful, colourful, sunny place?
Although I have not set foot on a German beach in over a decade, arriving 20 years later in Menton made me remember, why I thought this.
Road Trip
Since the Covid situation was looking reasonable, but unstable at the time, my boyfriend and I decided to take the car and drive from Switzerland to the South of France. The trip itself was extremely beautiful, as we passed through the Swiss mountains, and through parts of Italy, where we got gorgeous views of Lake Como in Lombardia, Tuscan-looking landscapes in Southern Lombardia, and the Coast of Liguria, home of the famous Cinque Terre (which is still on our bucket list!).
Arriving in Nice
We first arrived in Nice, where we stayed in a holiday apartment with an incredible view. Nice is a vibrant city in the French Côte d’Azur and seventh biggest city of France. What I love about Nice is the big-city feeling mixed with the laid-backness of the South. When you go for a walk around the streets, you often discover unexpected gems, little cafés or shops, filled with bright patterns and colours.
What I don’t love about Nice is anything on wheels. Driving in Nice is just a disaster. The worst is, YOU are the thing that is wrong in that traffic, because likely you are trying to follow rules, and that just doesn’t work there. People in Nice seem to have some internal agreement on how to collectively understand the chaos. Scooters slalom and zigzag through traffic, there is no sense of priority, all fend for themselves.
But well, I guess that’s a less charming side-effect of the otherwise charming city. Afterwards, you can just go to Hobo Café in Nice: extremely good coffee, extremely good Sangria, extremely handsome waiters, makes up for all the traffic in the world.
Menton
Only 30 minutes by car east along the coast, after passing through Monaco, at the border of Italy, there lies beautiful Menton, the city of lemons. Known for their yearly Fête du Citron (lemon festival) in February, this city is so bright and happy, I could not help but walk around the whole day smiling.
You can easily see the old town and harbour in one afternoon, which means you can take some time to enjoy the place and the sheer vibrance of the houses.
As Menton is in a perfect geographic location to cultivate lemons, they are extremely juicy and fragrant, and therefore the jewel of the Côte d’Azur. Lemons are everywhere in this city, in desserts, in oils and soaps, posters, even the Menton Flag has lemons in it.
Speaking of desserts – one of the best desserts to make with lemons is the Tarte Meringuée au Citron and that is just what I did, when I got home from this trip. If you would like to get a bit of Menton feel at home, check out my recipe. You will have a smile on your face once you eat it, like us the whole time we were visiting the Côte d’Azur!
Got any recommendations for things to see/eat/drink? Leave a comment below, I will make sure to try during my next visit (hopefully in 2021!)
