Getting between cities and towns along the Côte d’Azur couldn’t be easier. For only €1, you can hop onto a bus in Nice and hop off anywhere between the city and Menton. On our day off, we chose to visit just the next town along the coast – Villefranche-sur-Mer. It’s utterly beautiful with a beach surrounding a deep natural harbour and we spent the morning exploring its citadel and the old town.
We happened upon the restaurant La Grignotiere in the old part of town and I got a good feeling when I realised that most of the people lunching outside were locals. A sign announced that the restaurant offered a set lunch menu for €16 for three courses for lunch so here we stayed. We were unable to get a table outside but inside was just as comfortable if a little bit dark.
On the lunch set menu, there were about five choices available for both the starter and main course. I started with a giant salade Niçoise. I do love these and never encountered a bad one while in Nice. Boiled egg, canned tuna, anchovies were all encountered but never a boiled potato!
My main course was one of the specials of the day – une Petite Bouillabaisse (I think a simpler version of the classic bouillabaisse from nearby Marseille). Two large fillets of fish (different types), a pile of mussels, a large prawn and a large potato were nestled together in a very large bowl full of a delicious thick fish soup. This really hit the spot – it was fantastic and quite a big portion too.
A list of desserts was recited to us – we did notice that some that were available earlier were no longer on the list. Ah well, that’s our own fault for having lunch so late! Luckily, what took my fancy was the profiterole. I did think there would be a few profiteroles but what arrived at our table was a single huge profiterole filled with vanilla ice cream, surrounded by whipped cream and topped with lots of chocolate sauce. Excellent.
After lunch, we proceeded to burn it all off by…um…. lazing around on the beach. It was clearly a very productive afternoon!
What a beautiful town. The only downside? Well, its bay is naturally very deep and so is the perfect stop for cruise ships, with one blighting our view that day. Luckily they don’t stay for long and the one that day was off again after lunch.
La Grignotiere
3 rue Poilu
Villefranche-sur-Mer
06230 France
That’s the end of my short series of posts of my trip to Nice and the Côte d’Azur. All my photos (including a night trip to Monaco) can be found in this Flickr photoset.
Wed, 31 Oct, 2012 at 22:54
Mmm lovely. We often visit Beaulieu, the next town along, rather than villefranche as there’s always a ridiculously large cruise ship in villefranche! but I do love it there, nonetheless. Will try the restaurant next time. x
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 12:58
We passed Beaulieu a previous day and it was also gorgeous though that day, it was utterly packed with families. Next time!
Thu, 1 Nov, 2012 at 00:29
amazing and so beautiful.
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 12:59
It’s gorgeous on the Côte d’Azur!
Thu, 1 Nov, 2012 at 06:08
I love your lunch choices! I think I would have had the same.
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 13:02
There was some seafood spaghetti on the menu as well as steak. My friend had the steak and it was excellent with a red wine reduction.
Thu, 1 Nov, 2012 at 07:44
It’s a long time since I’ve been to Villefranche when I used to work on cruise ships (small dainty one though not those monstrosities that now rule the waves). Your post has brought back happy memories. That looks a fantastic set menu too.
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 13:11
Lovely! Did you get a chance to hop off in Villefranche? We chatted to a couple of Canadians who were travelling on the big cruise ship that day – they got off at 9am and only had until 3pm to get back on their ship and then it was off to Barcelona!
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 20:21
I got to get off regularly, the benefit of being a crew member instead of a passenger, you get to go back to some places again and again. And travel the world on their money also instead of your own. Beautiful part of the world the Cote d’Azur.
Thu, 1 Nov, 2012 at 18:09
Wow! A good treat !
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 13:15
It was!
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 13:16
Lucky you
Between,if you can, comment for my short story, I just want to know what others think about it , thanks
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 00:43
I really enjoyed your posts on Nice! It captured what we see and brought back some lovely memories!:)
Fri, 2 Nov, 2012 at 13:31
Thank you so much!
Sat, 3 Nov, 2012 at 22:38
Love those shots of the harbor, so beautiful and the food looks very fine too
Wed, 13 Feb, 2013 at 22:53
Thank you! It’s a beautiful part of the country.