Tag: chateau

I hadn´t been to France for many, many years. I had been to Nice once for a few days, during which I did a day trip to Monaco by TGV. However, on that trip, I did not get a chance to see other smaller places along the coast. Therefore, I was very curious to see what Mandelieu was like. Leaving the train station, I found myself with two options, one to go up some stairs that led to some shops and cafes or two, to go up a small street right next to the stairs that led to…well, I had no idea where. I took the street ofcourse, given the big suitcase. I walked down past a few quaint houses. The road veered to the left and I found myself in an idyllic little square with a fountain. Indeed, it turned out that the name of the square was Place de la Fontaine, and it had a lovely sculpture of two boys sailing toy sailboats in the fountain.

image credit: https://www.atelierjoelvergne.fr/

The owner of the apartment I had booked had kindly offered to drive me to the apartment. This turned out to be a very good thing because as I discovered later, it´s not very easy getting taxis in the south of France AND they are very expensive! Taxis are basically considered to be a luxury round these parts. I´ll tell you more about the whole taxi situation later…Anyway, the thing is that the owner was in Cannes and needed a bit of time to get to Mandelieu, so as it was around 2pm and I hadn´t eaten, I thought I would have lunch at one of the pizza restaurants in the square. The waitress ignored me while serving already seated customers and then finally told me that they were closing. It transpired that in fact all of the restaurants were closing and would not be opening again until 7pm! I decided to investigate the street leading out of the square and towards the port and after a few minutes, found myself at a little boulangerie called Au Pain Gourmand, which thankfully, was open! I had a tasty, pre-prepared, mild chicken korma with rice from the fridge, which the friendly lady working there heated up for me, along with a Pago pineapple juice. I took a seat at a table outside, but an elderly, deeply tanned, blonde lady sitting at the table next to me was chain-smoking and unfortunately, all the smoke was drifting towards me. Luckily, I was able to find another table that had plugpoint near it, so I was able to charge my phone. Oh why do iphone batteries drain so quickly!

View from the apartment in Mandelieu

The owner of the apartment was a young man who drove a minivan. That was convenient as there was plenty of space for my suitcase. As he drove along further and further away from the port, I started to get a bit concerned about just how far away the apartment might be from the train station, as I had originally planned to go to different places along the coast by train from Mandelieu (an idea that I soon scrapped).

When we arrived at the apartment complex, I got a bit stressed, realizing that it was a bit far from well….everything! At least by walking that is. After checking in, the owner kindly dropped me off at the shopping center, Centre Commercial Minelle, so that I could go to the Auchan supermarket there to stock up. I later discovered that it was about a 20-25 min walk back from the supermarket to the apartment and about 25-30 minutes to walk to Chateau Napoule and the port, which are both close to the train station. Surprisingly, what I liked most about the shopping center, was that a short walk across the carpark from it, there is a spacious and very clean and new-looking McDonald´s, where they have a children´s play area outside and even offer table service!

The next few days, I was absolutely exhausted and did not go out at all. After about four days in the apartment, which had a lovely view of mountains and little houses (see above) and of jets taking off from the private airport in Cannes, I ventured out into the warm sunshine. After getting directions from some friendly residents outside the apartment complex, I walked down some backstreets lined with cute houses and then continued along the picturesque river Siagne. There is a very pretty path you can take to walk along the river or you can carry on along the road. You will even find places along the river from which you can hire an electric boat without a license!

Cute house in a street behind the apartment complex in Mandelieu

Along the river Siagne

Boating on the serene river Siagne

I kept walking and found myself at a very green and clean park called Parc Familial de Robinson where there was a family event going on with lots of food and music. There, a teenage girl having a picnic with her family, kindly gave me directions to Plage Robinson, where I had lunch at a restaurant on the beach. Plage Robinson is a bit windy, but then that is ideal for the paragliders who were making the most of the perfect weather conditions.

Parc Familiale de Robinson

Elegant peacock sculptures on the way to Plage Robinson

At Plage Robinson

My linguine vongole at Cala Mia, Plage Robinson

The slightly windy, but very pretty and peaceful Plage Robinson

The beautiful Chateau de la Napoule

On my last day in Mandelieu-la-Napoule, my friend from Grasse came to pick me up and we went for lunch at the port and then a walk along the path that winds around the beautiful Chateau de la Napoule and small, but smooth and sandy beach in front of it called, Plage du Chateau. It really was perfect weather. Unfortunately, my iphone would not let me take a single photo due to its constant ´storage is full´issue, but my friend took some really great photos on her phone, which she shared with me, so I will share some of them with you here:) You can actually go inside the Chateau, which is a museum, by buying a ticket, though I did not as we didn´t have much time and also preferred to be outside.

Path going round Chateau de la Napoule looking out onto the sea

Plage du Chateau

I´m sure that you will agree that Mandelieu is absolutely beautiful. It´s also very clean and peaceful, so I highly recommend going there if you are looking for a calm place to chill, though you might want to rent an apartment and cook at home or try some boulangeries and smaller cafes. The cost of dining at a restaurant anywhere along the Cote d´Azur is simply extortionate.

We next drove to Cannes, where my friend dropped me off at an apartment I had booked there. I´ll tell you all about my 48 hours in Cannes in my next post!