Menton

Although we've never spent any great time in Menton, it figures in quite a few of our blogposts: on so many of our trips it marks a departure from France and an entry into Italy; or vice versa. Both are favorite places. We took the #600 bus over to Menton on April 29th--the bus is on the lower corniche pretty much the whole way and the vistas are great--and spent the day walking the town and its seaside boardwalk...all the way into Italy (next post) and back.

Before getting to the beach we had to work our way through a market; almost
all of it Italian fare

Lamborghini Service...

Older downtown buildings

A food hall sort of market

Where Vicki bought some of the famous Menton lemons

Now by the beach looking up to the city center...you can see we're
very close to Italy (laundry on the balconies...)

Harbor at Menton...none of the super yachts; thousands of little boats

Menton is famous for its 300+ days of sun per year, and the (gravel, not
pebble) beach had a few early season visitors

Similar to if smaller than Paris' great Viaduc des Arts (why a duck?)

Lunch at a beach-side restaurant...the frites were the only
non-seafood offering; the oysters were from Cancale

Now walking past the harbor toward the frontier

See the white camper parked there...pretty much where we parked for
lunch in both 2013 and 2017

Sail in, tie up, and rent a bicycle, scooter, or small car...

There's a super yacht shipyard, but few super yachts

One smaller cruise ship out beyond the harbor

Looking up to where the Grand Corniche becomes the Auto Strada,
the frontier, miles and miles of tunnels and high bridges...

Thus

Below, sun-bleached driftwood and the clear Mediterranean

Old French villa and above an Italian villa and fortress
tower

Looking back to Menton

The frontier...a few gendarmes stopping occasional trucks and vans,
no Italian presence at all

Looking up to some high pinnacles after our brief excursion
into Italy (next post)

Welcome back to Menton