Fast track to Picasso

Post by Ella

Expedition day. We took the bullet train to Antibes. 13 minutes. We barely sat down on our plush 2nd class upper level seats when it was time to stand up and get off the train. One way fare per person 5€.

Practical Note. I’d managed to buy train tickets online the night before and was glad because the train station was a bit crazy. I had tried the SNCF website  (France’s national railway company) but it frustratingly notified me that “payment services were not available at the moment so sorry”.  Then I remembered OMIO. An app I had used in Portugal and Sweden to buy train tickets. Yay, I still had the app on my phone. Smooth sailing from there. I used the app again later in Antibes to buy our return tickets when we’d had enough and were ready to head back to Nice. We lucked out and were in time to catch another bullet train back to Nice.

The ancient city of Antibes, southwest of Nice, was a Greek outpost back in the 5th century BC, and then a Roman town in the 2nd century BC. Some Roman ruins remain. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, there were centuries of unrest until the 1400’s when Antibes came under French rule. In the mid 1800s, Antibes was discovered by wealthy nobles who began building mansions and chateaus along the pristine sea. Today, the wealthy moor their luxury yachts in what must have once been a picturesque harbor. 

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Antibes was a regular destination for artists such as Picasso, Miro and Monet. Picasso returned many times, living and creating in Château Grimaldi which now houses the Musee Picasso.  

I know Grubb will say more about the museum. By the way, there also happened to be a temporary exhibition of Miro along with the permanent collection of Picasso.

After the visit we had to scout out cappuccinos. I noticed a tiny Italian shop / cafe where we treated ourselves to mini lemon ricotta cannolis.

Then a walk along the seaside promenade.

And then Grubb wanted to visit the fort. Grumble, grumble. Forts have a low level of interest for me in general.  Although they often come with great views. I could be gracious. Fort Carré, also known as the Fort Carré d’Antibes, was built in the 16th century by King Henry II of France to defend the border with the County of Nice. 

Let’s see if Grubb mentions our hour long walk just to get to the fort.  The fort is located at the northern edge of town, on a cliff, and just when you think you are there, you realize you have to walk all the way around a huge soccer complex just to get to the forest path which leads uphill around the back of the fort. Finally, the entrance which we almost missed because signage was lacking. But heck, we were there so we paid the 3 Euro entrance fee and … hey Grubb, I’ll leave the rest to you.