Every time we visit the south of France for our summer holiday we make a discovery....a new shop, new location, new bakery, even a new drink.
This year, we completely fell in love with Menton which is situated further along the coast from us, just in between Monaco & the Italian border.
We'd whizzed through by train it on our way to the weekly Italian market & I remember reading once that Menton gets more hours of sunshine than anywhere else in France, a fact which apparently has stuck in my mind forever!
Menton is the most gorgeous town, full of beautiful buildings & perfect for meandering around.The old town is stunning & it's full of houses painted in every shade of Mediterranean orange & yellow. The cathedral is a must-see & you should take the winding stone steps up through very narrow streets to see the panoramic view over the bay & a few steps up even further will lead you to the most beautiful cemetery, definitely worth a visit.
Travelling along the coast in this part of the world is always wonderful be it by train or bus - both services are excellent & both, for the most part, run literally alongside the sea so that the views are incredible.We took the local bus from Villefranche Sur Mer to Menton via Monte Carlo and by chance it dropped us off right in front of Eric Kayser's amazing bakery....so good that we had brunch there & then returned for afternoon tea! The most delicious sounding artisan breads that I think I've ever seen, pastries & tarts, pissaladieres, madeleines, macarons as well as great coffee & a beautiful store....it was clearly very popular & the staff were very friendly.
We also visited the Musee Jean Cocteau & walked along the sea front....it's a town full of rich colours & the sea seemed more bluer than anywhere else on the coast.
Definitely a place we will go back to, we wished we'd discovered it sooner :)
all photos taken by me via Instagram
