The French Riviera Beauty

The French Riviera (La Côte d'Azur) has been inhabited since prehistoric times and drawings dating between 27,000 and 19,000 B.C have been found there. The oldest man-made art in the region as been found there.



In the 13th century, another powerful political force appeared with the House of Grimaldi. A branch of the Grimaldis took power in Monaco, Antibes and Nice, and built castles at Grimaud, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes. The present Prince of Monaco is a direct descendant of the Grimaldis.

After world war I Americans had begun coming to the south of France. Henry James set part of his novel, The Ambassadors, on the Riviera. James Gordon Bennett, the son and heir of the founder of the New York Herald, had a villa in Beaulieu. Industrialist John Pierpont Morgan gambled at Monte Carlo, and bought 18th century paintings by Fragonard in Grasse and shipped them to the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

In the 1960's the Mayor of Nice, Jacques Médecin, decided to reduce the dependence of the Riviera on ordinary tourism, and to make it a destination for international congresses and conventions. He built the Palais des Congrès at Acropolis, and founded a Chagall Museum and a Matisse Museum at Cimiez. High-rise apartment buildings and real estate developments began to spread.

Today the French Riviera is not just an important tourist destination, but a centrer for education, high technology, and scientific research. The largest city of the French Riviera is the 5th city of France.

Nice, is the largest city and capital of the French Riviera and the 5th city of France by its number of inhabitants... some 350 000. Nice is one of the most frequented spot by tourist and is most famous for its "croisette", avenue boarded by palm trees and beached on one side and luxurious hotels and restaurants on the other.

Nice is also a cultural center with it's 18 museums and painting galleries.

Nice seats in the heart of the French Riviera and is surrounded by wooded hills and cliffs.

The long and richly complex history of Nice has produced a special identity that is very different from the opulent image of this city. The image of the Riviera as the site of the rich and famous belies the fact that there are many treasures to be discovered beyond this superficial postcard image.

The Cannes festival was created in the the late 1930's by French minister of National Education Jean Zay. Louis Lumiere was the first president of the Cannes festival on September 1939. It was help in the fall for some times and changed to spring. The Cannes festival is now help in May.

However, because of world war 2, the festival disappeared until it was relaunch in 1946 to be interrupted again in 1948 and 1950 because of budgetary problems.

In 1955 the Golden Palm (La Palme d'Or) emblem of the Cannes festival was created, and it is up to this day the reward trophy of the winners.

In 1968 the festival was halted again, this time due to the student and labor strike throughout France. Some film directors themselves stopped shooting and refused to go to the festival for that year by respect for the students and workers.

In 1983 the new "Palais des Festivals" was built and has held the Cannes festival ever since.

The Cannes festival is know to reward a certain type of movies that are classified by the public as intellect movies. In other words, if you are looking for a fun movie you might not look into the Cannes festival for an answer.

This is a small hotel in Cannes. It's just a very cute and comfortable hotel where me and my family like to stay when we go to Cannes. It's under a 10 minute walk to the beach and to downtown. The hotel stands in a quite street. name rue Guy de Maupassant.

The breakfasts are great there! If you go to Cannes check that nice hotel. Hope you'll like it as much as I do.

Who hasn't heard of Monaco, also nicknamed "Le Rocher" (the rock).

The Principality of Monaco is like the rest of the country surrounding it very very old. Princes of Monaco have reigned there since 1297 with the reign of Francois Grimaldi, ancestor of Prince Rainier III.
In 1918 a treaty was signed though and stipulated that Monaco would benefit of a limited French protection.

Monaco is the second smallest principality of Europe after Andorra, Spain. Their is no distinction between the state of Monaco and the city. Monaco is really a country and a city.

Prince Rainier III ruled in Monaco from 1949 to 2005 shortly before his death.
Prince Rainier married the American actress Grace Kelly in 1956 and had three children; Caroline, Albert and Stephanie.

Prince Albert took became the successor of his father as the prince of Monaco in 2005.

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) Native of Aix-en-Provence

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) Settled in Nice in 1917.

Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) lived in different towns between Nice and Marseille.

Claude Monet (1840-1953) Painted in many French Riviera towns from Cannes to Menton.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spent all his summers in the French Riviera, until he moved there permanently in 1946 at Vallauris and later Mougins.

August Renoir (1841-1919) settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1907