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Villefranche-Saute and Nice France

Our next port of call was supposed to be Monte Carlo, Monaco.  However, the rolling waves so close to shore at the port prevented us from docking there.  So, we cruised down the French Riviera a bit, and ended up at Villefranche-Saute, France.  It was a lovely small port town and on our way to and on our way back from our tour destination, we got to see some very nice sights……

Winding Streets

This was our first glimpse of Villefranche-Saute.  The town is right up against the water on one side and mountains on the other.  So, the streets sometimes tend to be a bit winding.  You can see the winding street in this image.  It reminded me of the street in San Francisco that’s called the most crooked street in the city, I think!

Dockside Restaurants

We didn’t really wander thru much of the downtown area of Villefranche-Saute, but I did get to capture a nice image of the open-air restaurants along the shore.  After our tour, we did a bit of wandering thru a sort of flea-market that was set up in among the various restaurants.  It was really charming!

Promenade at Nice, France

Our tour took us along the drive that was next to the promenade in Nice, France.  This image was really a nice overview of the entire area and Nice.

Balconies in Nice

Ah, yes, more of those balconies on the buildings throughout Europe that I was so enchanted with!  I processed this as a painting because it seemed to capture its charm best.

What’s Real?

There was one square in Nice that had some incredible trompe-l’ceil , French for “deceive the eye”.  This is a style of painting (my term) that captures reality so well, you think the painting is actually the thing that is painted, instead of just a painting.  In this image, the window and shutters are real.  However, the stonework above and below the window are not – they are the trompe-l’ceil painting.  And, this was done to many of the windows on one square of the city – amazing!

Funky Art

This isn’t a very good image, but it was the best one that captured this piece of funky art along the streets of Nice.  I have no idea what the purpose or message of this art is, but it did sort of made me smile.  The detail in the face of the person was really cool!

On the French Riviera

On our way back from our tour, we were closer to the shore and I was able to capture some nice images of life along the French Riviera on a lazy Sunday afternoon in November.  Can’t you just feel the warm sun relaxing every bone in your body?

Touch of Yellow

As we were leaving the port of Villefranche-Saute, I noticed the coordination between a ship out on the Mediterranean and the buoy in the port waters.  The lighthouse set both of wonderfully.

Enjoy!