Villefranche

About Villefranche•September 19, 2008 •
A fantastic living environment on the French Riviera.

Villefranche sur Mer is one of the most charming — if not the most charming — authentic French and Niçoise fishing village on the French Riviera, in the heart of the Cote d’Azur. With Monaco on one side and Nice on the other, it is hard to believe that it can retain its charm and authenticity of a little village where people still know each other.
The Old Town rises steeply up from the sea to the hillsides that ring the bay of Villefranche. The whole village is pedestrian and has lovely Italian style architecture with medieval accents throughout. The old town is very beautiful, both well preserved and also very much a real living village with mostly local residents. It is always fun to explore its nooks and crannies, like the beautiful church of St. Michel, with its quiet tree-lined squares, or the rue Obscure (a famous medieval covered passage), or the Chapel St. Pierre (its interior painted by Jean Cocteau). Take a break for lunch at Place Pollonnais at one of the several Brasseries with outdoor seating (so you can soak up the sunshine and people watch!). On Sundays there is a wonderful Brocante market set up on the Place around its charming fountain (and on Saturdays there’s a farmer’s market at the top of the Old Town). And of course there’s the waterfront quai (with many fine restaurants serving great dinner fare), and sandy beach of Villefranche, with a kilometer long wall of bougainvillea.
The Citadel is a huge stone fort built 600 years ago at the edge of the Old Town along the water, where there are now 3 museums, the City Hall, beautiful gardens, and the Cinema Plien Aire (outdoor theater). It is quite a magnificent structure and a great place to explore. There is a moat that connects the Old Village to the Port de la Darse, with walls nearly 100 feet high. Don’t miss the Volti museum in the Citadel and the gardens. Nearly every night during the summer there are movies shown in the outdoor theater. You can also walk up along the citadel walls that overlook the moat and, of course, the beautiful bay.
Walk around the Citadel water side path to the Port de la Darse. This is our working port, now mostly for pleasure yachts, with a colorful history going back over 500 years! Check out the beautiful vaulted workshops, the dry dock which can’t be mechanized (since it’s an historical monument) so is still used daily — the old-fashioned way. Great yachts come from around the world to be restored in this little Port. The Darse is a great sub-culture of the village.Although it’s such an authentic village, Villefranche is also surrounded by an fascinating, international scene. It attracts a very interesting cosmopolitan group of visitors and residents, including students who attend the renowned French language school called the Institut Français.


Source: http://villefranche.wordpress.com/