Virtual visit of the French Riviera with fullscreen panoramas

Antibes

would have been based in the 5th or in 4th century BC by Phocaeans of Marseille. Antibes was then an episcopal see between the 4th and the 13th century. It is at this time that the episcopal see was transferred to Grasse.

The Grimaldi family, native of Genoa and ally of the Angevins, received the fief of Antibes of the Pope of Avignon in refund of a debt. They became established there towards the end of the 14th century. The Dédition of Nice in the 14th brought a border near Antibes. The efforts of fortifications became intensified during the rivalries between Francois Ier and Charles the Fifth and continued till the end of the administration of Henri IV. At the beginning of the 17th, Henri IV having bought the city to the Grimaldi of Antibes, those settled down in the castle of Cagnes-sur-Mer until the French Revolution.

The dismantling of the fortifications of Antibes began in 19th century to accompany an increasing urbanization. At the end of the 19th, the sea resort of Juan-les-Pins was created. Nowadays, we can visit number of monuments bound to this history. Let us quote, for example, the Fort Carré built in 16th century under Henri II and developed in the end of 17th century under Louis XIV by Vauban and the Castle of Grimaldi (15 and 16th centuries) which shelters nowadays the Picasso museum. The visit of the old town and the ramparts offers a beautiful sight on the cape of Antibes. We can flanner on the covered Provencal market or visit the Peynet museum.

The port Vauban, one of the biggest pleasure port of Europe, welcomes every spring during the "Sails of Antibes" an important Classic gathering of Yachts in the Mediterranean Sea. Every summer, the Festival of jazz of Juan-les-Pins takes place and fireworks are organized by the biggest artificiers. The World Festival of Underwater Pictures is held in autumn. The visit of the Marineland of Antibes allow, youngs as big, to admire unique entertainments with killer whales, dolphins and sea lions.

Mougins

is situated between Cannes and Grasse on the Napoleon road. The old village was strengthened in the Middle Age. In the 11th century, the count of Antibes gave Mougins to the abbey of Lérins, which kept it until the Revolution. During the war of succession of Austria (18th century), the village was destroyed by a fire and plundered by the austro-Sardinian armies.

The main economic activity of the 19th century was the floral production (rose and jasmine) for the perfumers of Grasse. From half of the 20th century, Mougins became a great tourist and artistic place of the Côte d'Azur. Nowadays, Mougins welcomes on its territory near 20% of the technopole of Sophia-Antipolis.

Eze

possesses as numerous villages situated near the seaside an animated history. In the 10th century, after the establishment of the village, Ezasques undergoes the occupation of the Moors. These last ones, established in Fraxinet behind Saint-Tropez, rob the populations of the Southeast during almost eighty years. They will be chased away from the region by Guillaume de Provence at the end of the 10th century.

The castle, built in the course of the 12th century, is seized by the count of Provence, Raymond Béranger V. It will be the property of the crown of Anjou-Provence from the 13th to the 14th century.

In the 14th century, Eze passes at Home of Savoy. Only maritime opening of the realm, the County of Nice presents a strategic interest. The counts of Savoy improve the fortifications of Eze and protect the town with a double strengthened door, the \"Poterne\". The castle undergoes numerous modifications to be adapted to the progress of the artillery.

In the 16th century, the Turkish fleet and it's French ally commanded by Barberousse seize the village. At the beginning of the 18th century, Louis XIV give a decisive blow to the town during the war of succession of Spain by ordering the destruction of the ramparts and castle to remove a possible point of resistance between Villefranche and Monaco.

Nowadays, the visit of the village shows the vestiges of this animated history. The visit of the exotic garden, at feet of the ruins of the castle, offers a very beautiful sight on the Cap Ferrat.

Saint-Paul de Vence

has preserved behind it's ramparts raised on order of François Ier, the aspect of a feudal city guard of the ancient border of the Var.

Numerous artists and writers frequented the village and the Auberge de la "Colombe d'or", among whom Matisse, Modigliani, Chagall, Jean Giono, Jacques Prévert, Yves Montand and Simone Signoret.

Saint-Paul de Vence is a very frequented place for it's very numerous art galleries and for the Foundation Maeght, museum dedicated to the modern and contemporary art. The Foundation is situated in a garden decorated with numerous outdoors sculptures and welcome every year more than 200 000 guests. It exhibits works of Joan Miro and Alberto Giacometti. The summer, the permanent collection leaves the place to temporary exhibitions.

Tourrettes-sur-Loup

is a village situated on a rocky spur easy to defend because situated on a plateau falling sheer. The village is strengthened by the outside houses which form a wall. Its alleys shelter the workshops of ceramists, painters, sculptors, leather workers and weavers.

Tourrettes-sur-Loup is the capital of the violet because it is the only village in France where this flower is cultivated as unique or main culture. In autumn and winters, flowers are picked to form bouquet of 25 surrounded with some leaves. In spring, when the bloom is plentiful, the flower is picked without the stalk for the confectionery. In summer, the leaf is mown to be transformed the same day in concrete then in absolute in the factories of Grasse. It enters in the composition of numerous perfume. The season is enclosed by the Holiday of Violets, which takes place according to the bloom, on 1st or 2nd Sunday of March.