Enfin, le week-end libre!

For the free weekend, Aliyah and I decided to go to France! We stayed in Antibes and spent our four days traveling all across the Côte d’Azur (French Riveria), Monaco, and even Italy!

Day 1: Antibes

We landed in Nice Côte d’Azur Airport at noon after a chaotic connecting flight in the huge Charles De Gaulle Airport. We braved French public transportation and took the bus to our Airbnb.

We did make it to the Airbnb that was amazingly small, but nonetheless very cute. If I ever choose to sell a house, I would want our host to take the pictures. With the bed extended for two people, there is no walking room from the door to the bathroom. I have no complaints though as there was blasting A/C in a great location!

The first restaurant that we went to was right next to our Airbnb. Le Patio had gorgeous outdoor seating under a giant grape vine. Unfortunately, our first encounter with the French was not all that lovely, but I did have the best Caeser salad of my life, so it basically cancels out, right?

That night we went to the Plage de la Gravatte and enjoyed a nice slow day at the beach.

Day 2: Grasse and Cannes

We woke up early to take a train to Grasse to take a perfume making class. Grasse is the perfume capital of the world where luxury brands like Chanel, Dior, and Lancome farm its flowers for its perfumes.

The class was super fun! We smelled about 100 different scents and got to custom make our own unique perfume. With some guidance of the staff, we got specific measurements for each of the scents we liked for the top, middle, and base notes.

Top notes in my perfume were mango, fruity rose, litchi, and lotus.

Middle notes were rose, bamboo, pomegranate, lilac, and peony.

Base noted were santaline, tonka bean, vanilla, and more lilac.

Grasse was a beautiful little town where most of the buildings are a yellow-orange color.

After Grasse, Aliyah and I made our way to Cannes. Cannes felt very different from Grasse as it was more of a city and tourist centered. We passed the building where the Cannes film festival takes place and got to look at all the high-end shops lining the streets. As Cannes is right along the coast of France, there is a huge port with tons of yachts and sailboats. Even though I don’t like crepes, we had to stop by a famous crêperie. It was absolutely delicious with the super thin, almost crispy crepe and silky caramel on top. There wasn’t much to do besides walking and shopping, but I thought the city was great, nonetheless.

We came back to Antibes for dinner where Aliyah and I shared an appetizer of escargot, which had the best parsley butter, and I had moules frites.

Day 3:Monaco, Ventimiglia, and Nice

Day three was my favorite day of the trip!

Our plan was to first go to Èze then Monaco, then Ventimiglia, and end the day in Nice. Because we did not pay attention while on the train, we missed the stop in Èze and went to Monaco first. Monaco was exactly what I expected: a beautiful city with luxury stores and Ferraris and Rolls Royce’s everywhere. The Monte Carlo Casino was gorgeous and much bigger than I expected. We passed by the GoldenFoot plaques, hiked up to the Prince’s Palace, and got to see the F1 track.

Ventimiglia was a last-minute decision, but I could not be happier that we decided to go. The beach was bright teal and so clean. There were no waves at the beach in Antibes, so I loved the tall waves! The people were wonderful as well!

That night we finally went to Nice for the first time to enjoy dinner. We ate at La Langouste and had the best waiter/service of our entire vacation. French buses do not run twenty-four hours a day and the schedules are sooo unclear, so we did not have a cheap way back to Antibes. We did have to order an Uber, but I am proud that we braved public transportation for so long. This experience showed me that I owe an apology to Ireland’s public transportation. I used to speak quite poorly of the buses, but it is truly one of the best in the world.

It is still crazy to think that we were in 3 countries in one day, but I absolutely loved taking advantage of how close countries are in Europe!

Day 4: Èze, Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, and Nice

Yesterday may have been my favorite day, but I visited my favorite town on day 4!

We woke up at an ungodly hour in order to fit in a visit to Èze before having to catch a train back to Nice. Èze is a very small medieval town that is much quieter in comparison to the other towns we visited. There were no buses running from the train station in Èze to the main town (surprise, surprise), so we weren’t able to see it. However, we did find a lovely beach where we were able to sunbathe and listen to the ocean waves.

My favorite place by far was Saint Jean Cap Ferrat! It was the perfect mix of a quaint French town and a city. We went there to visit the Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild. The mansion gave us a great historical lesson while simultaneously showing us beautiful rooms and gardens. Luckily for us, we were there on the only month where all nine gardens are must see, so I am super grateful for that! There was unfortunately no A/C, and it was the hottest day we had so far, but it was so worth it.

We made our way back to Nice and enjoyed the last two hours of our trip on the beach. The water was the perfect picturesque “Gatorade blue” color that I saw all over social media. I came back extremely sunburnt, but I did get a tad tanner so it’s a win for me.

This trip was a great way to spend some of my last days in Europe before heading back home, but I am happy to end my trip the same way I started it, in Dublin. I am so grateful for the Bucknell in Dublin program, especially Dean Kepner and Professor Wilck, for giving me the best 8 weeks of my life!