Conversation in the Old Town

You need a stronge pair of legs if you live in the Old Town and strong arms to carry your shopping. These children have the right idea...

Gate houses?

This rather strange looking little building, with its Moorish roof - its twin is on the right - frames the beautiful building featured yesterday. Perhaps they were once gate houses to what was once a palace.

Blue on blue

One of the many beautiful buildings in Menton.

Sweeties!

This sweet shop is in the walking street of Menton. You choose as you wish - just take anything you like, fill one of the small baskets - and keep going until you think you've overdone it and might be sick if you ate them all!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Menton!

I nearly fell over when my eyes landed on this sculpture of Henry W. Longfellow in Menton. He wrote the first poem I ever memorised and I still remember parts of it. I treasure my little green book: The Song of Hiawatha. But what was he doing in Menton? And why a statue to commemorate him? I did a bit of research and it seems this most loved of American poets travelled to Europe on several occasions. I found one reference to four towns, including Menton but no more. Maybe one of you can throw light on this. He wrote:

A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.

Long shot

This is a longshot of yesterday's 'Passage way to the sea.' You can just see the little alley way at the end of this street.

Passage way to the sea

This narrow walkway goes from the main walking street to the sea, where someone is sitting on a bench enjoying the view.

Don't park here!

This is how the local authorities stop cars parking where they shouldn't.

Grey days

Not sure what happened to the blue sky. I'd say blame the photographer. Guess we must have grey days here sometimes...but shhhhh, don't tell anyone. Anyway, she liked the end of this pretty building and she hopes you do too.

Number Eleven again - for Kate

This door was shown open and...well take a look here. Kate, from Mazatlan, Mexico requested a photograph of this door closed - no ladder. Kate - this is for you!

Hôtel de Ville - plus today's special offer...

This is Menton's Town Hall - entrance framed by what I think are ornamental bananas. Strangely the ornamentation at the top of the building (detail below) is covered in a protective cloth and I'm not sure why. It looks newly painted but why would it need covering? Can anyone answer this?

The Reform Church in Menton

It still amazes me to see a church surrounded by palms. This one is just along from the Mairie (Town Hall) in the centre of Menton.

Hey, there's a man growing out of my orange tree...

Here are two guys trimming the orange trees (Menton is famous for its citrus). This is actually in Carnoles, a small suburb. And for the guys - don't say I don't think of you - here's the young lady whose job it is to sweep up the fallen fruit and cuttings.

Pine

This terrace of this restaurant has its feet in the sea and diners sit looking over the bay to Roquebrune and Menton. The tree, I believe, is an Umbrella Pine (Pinus pinea) sometimes called the Stone Pine - but the experts amongst you might tell me it's an Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis). Both are common along the Mediterranean. Whatever tree it is, I love it.

Number Eleven

Man at work... but no man. A doorway in a small street - rue Trenca - just off the main walking street.

Border town

Looking across the bay to Italy.

Archway

Walk up this short road and you'll see the arch which leads to the magical vieille ville (old town) of Menton - the old Arab quarters. Very dark at first and with little alleyways and mysterious flights of steps leading to unknown accommodations. Later, as you climb, you see the sun and a mass of apartments and little houses, geraniums tumbling. The local council now gives retoration grants to owners of houses and apartments in the old town.

Looking down on the living -1

Way above the town, as in most French towns and villages, you see the cemetery.

Terraced garden

This terraced, walled garden at Cap Martin faces the sea and looks towards Menton.

Pastels

This lovely building faces the sea and adjoins the main market place.

More fer forgé

This scene is so typical. Tall French windows to let in the light, shutters to protect from the hot Mediterranean sun and wrought iron railings. And of course oranges on the trees outside. Menton isn't famous for its citrus festival for nothing. Oranges flourish in many Menton streets with the fruit littering the pavements as the fruit falls.

Stam Café

This is a bread and cake shop as well as being a café. It's in the rue de la Republique, near to the Nouvelles Galeries store. Don't you love the cactus in the pot? Very good bread in this shop and the patisserie isn't bad either. Yum-yum. Maybe I should do a survey of cake shops - there are better ones actually - leave it to me!

Palais de l'Europe

This building is alongside the Jardins Bioves and houses the Menton Tourist Office. Exhibitions take place here - many of them. There's been an orchid festival on - closed yesterday. Yes, I know I should have got there and haven't had time! Next year, I promise.

Antique shop or wine bar?

The truth is I'm not sure if this is an antique shop or a wine bar or both! It used to be the former and now, well they sell wine, but I see antique furniture inside. I guess there's only one thing for it, I'll have to find out! This place is Place aux Herbes.

Chansons

This woman took advantage of a fenced off shop front - closed for renovations - to set up shop with her guitar and entertain the public with her chansons. This was just along from the main market place in Menton. Isn't that Che on her guitar?

Granny's Day

Sunday was the Fête de Grandmère and here you see people in Carnoles, waiting to buy flowers for their Mamie (granny). The queue at the back is to get into the bread shop. Do you have a Granny's Day in your country? I'd never heard of it before last Sunday.

Old town

All the streets in the vieille ville (old town) are interesting. This is Rue des Marins, just off the market place and on the same level as the sea. This is only the beginning of the old town. This street bends left and right, eventually meeting the walking street and from there you can walk up and up, through the ancient archway and into the old Arab quarters of the vieille ville itself. I'll post more photos of the old town in the weeks and months to come.

Elephant!

Today will be the last day of les chars (floats) parading through the town although the fixed displays in les Jardins Biovès will continue until the 7th March. This will be my last posting on the Fête du Citron and here's my favourite statue from this year's Indian theme - the elephant.

Winter wonders

A winter scene in Menton with bare plane trees in the square by the market and with the steeples of the vieille ville (old town) rising above. The colour of the volets (shutters) is typical in this part of France. Most regions of France have a type of shutter and a colour typical of that region. Of course we have shutters of many different colours on the French Riviera but this pale eau de nil is probably the most usual in this part of the Côte d'Azur.

On a roll with a lemon...

Well, I'm on a roll with the 'Men at Work' theme. Here you see a man whose job it is to walk around the massive displays at the Fête du Citron replacing any lemons or oranges that are showing signs of rotting. Along with several other workers, he checks the ground displays, the statues and the 'chars' - or floats. The Lemon Festival has drawn 27,000 spectators so far this year.

Daily Photo Theme - Men at Work - whoops...

This rather spectacular crash happened one morning a couple of weeks ago just below the autoroute that runs from France to Italy. It happened near to my village, Gorbio. The lorry, with a crane attached, crashed 20 metres over the side of the autoroute's service road. Here you see the truck about 20 mins after it fell. The construction workers have clambered down the hillside to try and prevent the truck falling further down the valley to the river below. Fortunately no one was in the crane when this happened. About a week later an enormous crane was brought to the site to get the fallen vehicle up again.

Today is Daily Photo's Theme day which is Men at Work. Please visit the following DP websites to see Men at Work all around our wonderful world.

1 (Porto (Portugal) ) -2 (Greenville SC (USA) ) -3 (Hyde (UK) ) -4 (Tenerife (Spain) ) -5 (Albuquerque, NM (USA) ) -6 (Stayton, OR (USA) ) -7 (Rotterdam (NL) ) -8 (Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) ) -9 (London (England) ) -10 (Richmond, VA (USA) ) -11 (Sydney -Sally (Australia) ) -12 (Newcastle upon Tyne (England) ) -13 (Constanta (Romania) ) -14 (Evry (France) ) -15 (Lubbock, TX (USA) ) -16 (Szentes (Hungary) ) -17 (Villigen (Switzerland) ) -18 (Mumbai (India) ) -19 (Tel Aviv (Israel) ) -20 (Twin Cities, MN [USA] ) -21 (Jakarta (Indonesia) ) -22 (Houston -Candice & Megan, TX (USA) ) -23 (Budapest (Hungary) ) -24 (Singapore - Zannnie (Singapore) ) -25 (Dubai (UAE) ) -26 (Singapore -Keropokman (Singapore) ) -27 (Madrid -Dsole (Spain) ) -28 (Mazatlan -Kate (Mexico) ) -29 (Nelson (New Zealand) ) -30 (Vantaa (Finland) ) -31 (Kyoto (Japan) ) -32 (Tokyo (Japan) ) -33 (Joplin, MO (USA) ) -34 (Auckland (New Zealand) ) -35 (Sequim, WA (USA) ) -36 (Menton (France) ) -37 (Minneapolis, MN (USA) ) -38 (Istanbul (Turkey) ) -39 (Sydney -Nathalie (Australia) ) -40 (Sharon, CT (USA) ) -41 (Seattle, WA (USA) ) -42 (Anderson, SC (USA) ) -43 (Monte Carlo, (Monaco) ) -44 (Milano, (Italy) ) -45 (Grenoble (France) ) -46 (Wailea, HI (USA) ) -47 (Guelph, ON (Canada) ) -48 (Melbourne - John (Australia) ) -49 (New York City (USA) [Ming_the_Merciless] ) -50 (Cebu (Philippines) ) -51 (Bandung (Indonesia) ) -52 (Antigua Guatemala (Central America) ) -53 (Hamburg (Germany) ) -54 (London -Jonemo (UK) ) -55 (Hong Kong ) -56 (Stavanger (Norway) ) -57 (Paris (France) ) -58 (Naples, Florida (USA) ) -59 (Saarbrücken (Germany) ) -60 (Shanghai (China) ) -61 (Quito (Ecuador) ) -62 (Zurich (Switzerland) ) -63 (Joensuu ( Finland ) ) -64 (Aliso Viejo, CA (USA) ) -65 (Cheltenham (England)) -66 (Bastia (Corsica, France)) -67 (Brussels (Belgium))