This is the ending of a piece of theatre about the Mediterranean and about the sailors and fishermen who have died in it. It was in Italian which I don't speak, but we had sea and sirens and death. I think this young girl represents the death of the Mediterranean but then again, I could be completely wrong...
Each year in May around 1000 children and young people descend on Menton to entertain - and make us think - with street theatre - song, dance, mime and drama. They are part of a Franco-Italian organisation from Liguria and the Piedmont in Italy and from the Var and of course from the Alpes-Maritimes - our area. So come with me and enjoy a few days seeing what they got up to.
This young man is Italian and he and his group were really good actors. The first shot was taken whilst he was hanging out with his friends - most were preparing their make-up. The shot below shows him in performance with his group - at this moment they are in a psychiatric hospital.
Take a Provence bowl with a raised pattern in the base. Place within several Menton clementines. Wait a few days - perhaps a week or so - and when just one is left in the bowl - but be sure to choose the day when you really fancy eating it, when you've no more fruit in the house, then - pick it up and find the lower half has rotted. Voila!
Have you seen white wine in a blue bottle before? This is called Out of the Blue - unusual to see a French wine with an English name. This is a Côte de Provence - shared at La Pergola some weeks ago with the lovely Nathalie from Avignon in Photos.
One of the best bric-a-brac markets takes place from time to time near to the Stade at the end of the Sablettes beach. This stall had a display of old dolls - poupées in French.
This is part of the regular Sunday market that sells antiques and bric-a-brac in the Place aux Herbes and in square below.
Perhaps this man should have bought a bigger bike!
The story starts in the photo below, where all the children are in one group on the Sablettes beach. Then this gorgeous little boy takes off by himself. An individual in the making, wouldn't you say?
He may need a sanding machine to deal with those heels but at least summer is here - well it was on the day I took this - and yes, looking out over the sea, it looks as if today will be a good one too. Hope yours is.
On the back of the bike is a Colomba. La Colomba is a panettone (a light Italian cake-like bread) in the shape of a dove, sold in Italy and of course in Menton at Easter. Easter has gone and so they are being sold off cheaply and before they are past their sell-by date.
You can buy them filled with candied citrus, topped with almonds or there's a version with chocolate - all delicious and particularly good with a sweet liqueur. And if your panettone gets stale, why you toast it!
There's beauty everywhere in Menton and the surrounding villages. Here's a little niche above a door lintel in the medieval village of Gorbio - a spider's web joins the faces of the monk and the child he holds in his arms. Note the date on the lintel - 1659 or is it 1689 (hard to read)
We're in the gardens of the Palais Carnoles, one of Menton's museums. The gardens contain the largest collection of citrus in Menton and that's saying something in the city of citrus. Many sculptures are displayed in the garden - here is The Birth of Venus by Oreste Conti.
Yesterday Barbie dolls, today the boys. Maybe they should meet?
Rejected Barbie dolls at the Brocante in Menton last Sunday. Perhaps I should have bought them for Richard who has a fun blog 'Barbie of the Day.' Dressed by Richard who is a real Fashionista, witty words by Richard (often reflecting the politics of the day), his Barbie lives in Villefranche-sur-Mer, which is just along the coast from Menton and believe me Richard's Barbie lives the high life of the French Riviera and Monte Carlo. Do click on the link to take a look.
Clean-up time on the beaches. The digger is scooping sand back from the sea and replacing it on the beach.
Compare the last photo to that of yesterday. You don't really expect to see a digger as you look through a restaurant to the sea.
The damage to Menton was minimal though even tho the papers said otherwise. Nice and Cannes suffered far more. One Menton restaurateur I spoke to said he'd lost 30 beach chairs and had a few more damaged. Many restaurants were already open, others will open today. Life is almost back to normal on the Sablettes. Click HERE to see how high the waves were Nice!
A man suns himself on a beach chair. This was taken in mid-April and is as it should be in Menton - a normal, glorious day. Sunny, as it will be today and should be tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow - but two days ago the Côte d'Azur was battered by incredible freak waves from Menton way down the coast, the worst between Nice and Cannes. Strangely, there was little wind, these were simply freak waves, referred to in one of the newspapers as a 'mini tzunami,' which is perhaps an exaggeration but all the same, scary.
Waves as high as 10 metres (33 feet) battered Nice and Cannes. This is unheard of in the Mediterranean and especially in May. In Cannes, where the Film Festival is due to open shortly, some 20 restaurants were damaged and several cars overturned. In Nice, not only the beaches were closed but also part of its famous Promenade des Anglais. Happily no one was swept away although one women sustained a fractured leg. In Monaco, Larvotto Beach was battered with the sea coming right up the beach and into the restaurants, dragging the tables and chairs out to sea. In Menton too, damage to restaurants along the Sablettes.
All bad news at the beginning of the season.
Click HERE to see Larvotto Beach and damage in Monaco.
Menton market. I've photographed this stall and the pig before but not with carrots. Don't you love the way the stallholder displays his veggies.
Baguettes - French babies learn early. We are at La Pergola, an Italian restaurant on the beach in Garavan, Menton.
