Juan-les-Pins: Sea and stars

 Hello!

 After leaving beautiful Perpignan I set out on my next big adventure: a French language and culture course in Antibes. 

 I flew out in May to Nice Airport, Terminal 1, which has one of the most amazing landings I've experienced - the runway leads almost into the sea! Had the pilot misjudged it we would have been underwater. It was slightly scary but the views were stunning - everything was turquoise.

 I then got a bus to Juan-les-Pins, the town near Antibes where I would be staying. I had an adventure trying to find my accommodation as I had been given a photo of a different accommodation building! So I was searching for something that wasn't there!

 Eventually I found it, at the top of a high hill. It was a hard climb with my bags but it gave me a great view of Juan-les-Pins below me in the night. I had expected it to be a sea of lights but actually it was very dark with only the odd light, and the stars were very clear - Leo hung bright above me. It was lovely.

 Rather than describe my adventures on the Côte d'Azur day by day, I'm going to do them town by town (or city or village). I hope you enjoy this style of blogging. 

 Additionally, my camera was stolen so I only have phone photos, which aren't great quality. So, to jazz up these blog posts I have created a series of word-clouds which I hope capture the spirit of each place.

 So, Juan-les-Pins. During the day: lively - but not too lively -, warm and pleasant. However, for me the evening is the nicest time; cool and calm. 

 Food-wise it was wonderful: the seafront is covered in restaurants spilling onto the beach; some very expensive but some more affordable. I had a great lunch consisting of a Reine pizza - mushrooms and ham - and a brilliant ice-cream sundae. There are also various shops and stands selling ice-cream, crêpes and waffles.

 Another thing I liked was how easy it was to get to the train station compared to some French towns and cities. It was fairly central with trains going to all sorts of interesting places. Its proximity to my accommodation was especially useful at night as I could be back home in five minutes.

 So, that was Juan-les-Pins: a nice little refuge away from the extreme touristyness of a lot of the Côte d'Azur. Yes, there were tourists but not like Antibes or Cannes or Nice. It was a peaceful place to stay and the perfect base for exploring.

 In my next post I'll tell you all about Antibes!

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x