Roquebrune village - 5

On the road that leads from the village to the donkey track down to Menton is one of the most remarkable trees in France. This is a must for all visitors to the village, although for me, there isn't a corner of this beautiful village that isn't worth visiting. Known as the Olivier Millénaire - the 1000 year old olive tree - it is thought to be nearer to 2000 years old according to the tourist office of Roquebrune-cap-Martin, who write:

'The roots, like those of the Mathusalem de Provence, extend 20 meters in diameter. Olive trees were probably introduced to France by the Phœnicians 3000 years ago, but this tree was more likely planted by the Romans in the year 400.'

I also took the following information from a website called Venerable Trees of the Earth.

'The tree was, in the 19th century, the property of the Vial brothers, called 'the dragons, the loggers, bonesetters and poachers.' They were determined to cut it down but Gabriel Hanotaux, the French politician and historian (1853 - 1944) intervened. He happened to be passing and was entranced by the beauty of the tree and bought it from the Vial brothers. It still belongs to his descendants but it is the municipality who care for it.' There is a street in the village called avenue Gabriel Hanotaux - seemingly, he invited Clémenceau, Poincaré and Briand to admire the beauty of this olive tree.

The hanging cage, by the way, contains a crèche - Roquebrune village is famous for its beautiful and varied cribs at Christmas.

Roquebrune village - 4

This is part of rue du Château which leads to the Xth century Château - built in 970 by Conrad 1st, Count of Ventimiglia. The castle is the oldest Carolingian fortress in France. I'll write much more about the Château when we visit it. But for tomorrow, I've another surprise - do come back.

Roquebrune village - 3

It's hard to know where to begin in showing you this beautiful village. Everywhere you look there is beauty and most of all age - you can feel the history in the very stones of this village. Here you see Rue Moncollet - yes, it really is a street that cuts through the rock.

Rue Moncollet is the oldest street in the village and dates back to the 10th century. It's a long narrow street with stepped passageways and is filled with houses from the Middle Ages, many with barred windows.

We have walked just a few metres from the square we were in yesterday.

Roquebrune village - 2

We've parked below the village and entered the village by the rue Grimaldi and walked between the two pudding stone rocks, the two 'brothers' after whom the square is named - the Place des Deux Frères. Cars can drive up to this Place during certain hours of the day to make deliveries - otherwise you walk. If you've ever wondered why the old folk who live in these hill villages live so long - now you know. They walk. In the old days, of course, they would have had donkeys.

You can see the Xth century château (we'll be visiting the château) built into the rock and below it, a restaurant called La Grotte. In shade and closed at the moment, the restaurant is totally carved out of the 'pudding' I spoke of yesterday, hence the name. Even the loo is carved into the rock! They make truly great pizzas at La Grotte and it's a really buzzing little restaurant/bar - and it's great fun, sitting outside under the awnings, eating and drinking with friends.

Behind us, and way below is the sea, with stunning panoramic views of Monaco, the Cabbé and Cap Martin. To our left is the hotel/restaurant, Les Deux Frères, which serves excellent food and is a great place to stay. Do come back tomorrow for more.

Roquebrune village - 1

Menton is surrounded by beautiful Medieval villages, and one of the most beautiful is Roquebrune. You can see an alternative view below. Over the next days let me show you around this village which is perched, 300 metres above the sea and which looks down on the cape or headland called Cap Martin - the area you've seen in many previous postings. Roquebrune-cap-Martin is between Menton and Monte Carlo.

Roquebrune village is built on a sand and pebble conglomerate from the Tertiary period. It's called the pudding and it appears very fragile and soft. However, it is amazingly strong. The whole village stands on this rock with no foundations, the tangled jigsaw of the buildings has held it all together for centuries.

There is a legend that the village of Roquebrune, clinging to the hillside, owes its survival to the fragile broom shrub which, in the 7th century, during a terrible earthquake, stopped its deadly pull towards the sea.

Do come back tomorrow when we'll be in the village itself.

Little Red Riding Hood

The Jardin de Bioves has been transformed, for Christmas and New Year, into Le Jardin des Délices - (The Garden of Delights). It's a wonderland for children with a little train running through the gardens. There's also a corner for animals. Little Red Riding Hood (such a beautiful child) isn't too sure about the sheep - see second photograph. In fact many people brought bread to feed them. Goodness knows if bread is good for sheep? Certainly they wolfed it down. (excuse the pun!)

Joyeux Noel!

'In the meadow we can build a snowman,
And pretend that he's a circus clown,
We'll have lots of fun with Mister Snowman,
Until the other kids knock him down.'

Happy Christmas everyone! - and thank you so much - my esteemed fellow Daily City Photo bloggers - for visiting Menton DP and Monte Carlo DP - for your comments, your encouragement and help and most of all your friendship.

(Photo taken in the Jardin Bioves, Menton - where the whole area has been made into a Christmas Wonderland for children. )

Christmas Fair - rain!

This was yesterday - the Christmas market in the rain. You can just see one of the steeples of the Old Town in the misty background. Today, happily, the rain has gone away, the sea is dark blue, the sky clear and bright - and the market traders will hopefully have a better time of it. It's unusual to have rain here at Christmas. Normally, you can eat Christmas lunch on the terrace but this year it's rather chilly for the south of France.

Tai Chi

This gentleman isn't worried about last minute shopping for Christmas. He's not worried about the rain either. He was totally concentrated - oblivious to passers-by as he did his Tai Chi this morning. You can see Cap Martin in the background.

Give a dog a bone...

This Brittany spaniel is waiting outside the kitchen entrance to a restaurant at the base of the Old Town. I can only imagine his owner works there or is delivering something. Give the dog a bone!

You can see what a beautiful face this dog has by clicking on the link.

Christmas Fair - Santons

Santons are small figurines made of terracotta and can be purchased painted or unpainted. They are used to build nativity scenes and are a traditional product of the Provence area of France. Menton has its own santonnier with an atelier in the Old Town.

The santon comes from the Provençal santoun or 'little saint' and the figures became popular during the French Revolution when the churches were closed and the larger traditional nativity scenes in churches prohibited. Smaller figures began appearing in homes and quickly gained popularity.

Apart from the standard figures and animals associated with the nativity (including elephants and camels), there are countless other santons depicting traditional characters from Provençal village life, including the motley fool, the miller and the blind man.

You saw a different style of santon in yesterday's post.

Christmas Fair - La Cave de Gorbio

This is Frederique - and below you can see her shop in the Christmas Fair of Menton, which is set up between the sea and the market. I have a particularly soft spot for Frederique because she lives in Gorbio, where I live. She has the only shop in the village apart from the grocer's shop and she's worked incredibly hard over the years to make her business a success. She's always smiling - just like this. Christmas is her big time, when she always hopes to make the majority of her money - obviously she has far more visitors to this shop than come to the village. The small figures you see in front of her are santons. Tomorrow I'll show you santons from another stall in the Christmas Fair and will write about them then.

The mystery of the finger nails

Do blow up this photograph and take a look at what the lady has in her hand. She's is in the middle of cutting the man's fingernails. Now I find this rather strange. Here they are sitting on a nice bench by the sea - by Le Bastion, in fact, not far from the main market area. Is this the place to cut fingernails? I have tried to think this through. I don't imagine they live together else surely, if he needs someone to cut his finger nails, then they'd do it at home. And why can't he cut his own fingernails?

Anyone got the answer to this?

Plage du Golfe Bleu - 5

These guys swoop about and land relatively quickly. I had to rather rush up the beach not to be in the way - so apologies for chopping off the top of the parachute in this photograph. Once he had landed, he immediately turned to face the opposite direction (see second photograph) - so the wind would allow his parachute to collapse onto the beach in a way that made it easy for him to roll up.

If you missed the earlier postings, you can read more on these paragliders who take off from Mont Agel HERE.

If you'd like to see a beautiful golden retriever walking the beach - and later being calmed by his gentle owner whilst one of the paragliders landed, please click on the link.

Plage du Golfe Bleu - 4

Almost there!

Waves

Another photograph from yesterday. Today's Nice-Matin talks about a 'spectaculaire coup de mer' - with the wind reaching 125 kilometres per hour. That's unusual for us, hence front page news in Nice-Matin today!

In fact, today's weather, whilst still cold, is wonderful. Bluest sky again, hardly any wind, so tomorrow - back to the beach in Roquebrune and those paragliders.

Brrrrrr...

You were promised a paraglider landing on the Plage du Golfe Bleu but as you can see there's been a hiccup in the weather. (I'll show that photograph another day). This is for anyone who thinks Menton always has perfect weather. Today it is very cold with a bitter wind. There's snow on the mountains above Gorbio and as you can see the road along the sea has been closed to traffic.

Plage du Golfe Bleu - 3

The reason I came down to this particular beach was to photograph the paragliders landing. You may recall I posted some photographs a while back, under the heading Come Fly with Me - those were taken from one of the roads above. Do come back tomorrow and the next day to see a close-up of a landing.

In this photograph you can see some guys packing up their parachutes ready for the long hike back to the van that will take them way, way up to Mont Agel for another flight. Getting to the beach is a hike. You park near to the railway station of Roquebrune-cap-Martin, you walk down a long flight of steps and then under the railway lines and alongside what looks like it was once a river until you get to the beach. And those parachutes, once packed up into rucksacks, look very heavy to me.

Plage du Golfe Bleu - 2

Messing about in boats...

Plage du Golfe Bleu - 1

Forget the Christmas shopping! Come and spend a few days on the beach. This is the Plage du Golfe Bleu at Roquebrune-cap-Martin - that's the Pointe of Cap Martin in the distance. Menton is the other side of Cap Martin. Monte Carlo is behind us.

I drove down to the beach this morning because I wanted to photograph some of the paragliders landing - and whilst waiting, just enjoyed the beach. Come back for more tomorrow, won't you?