Friday, February 23, 2007

Looking for a Good Read

Antibes has almost everything. It has the sea, sandy beaches and a highly atmospheric old town which is buzzing with vitality. People actually do their daily shopping in the big, covered market and, while there are a fair number of souvenir and gift shops, the impression is that the town is alive with ordinary people going about their lives.....until you go look at the super yachts belonging to the super rich that is. But that's a story for another day.


Depending on traffic it takes me about 30 minutes to reach Antibes and, regardless of what I have to do, I always take a walk by the sea. I feel refreshed afterwards.


This particular day I went to stock up on books. We're quite spoilt round here because we have an English bookshop in Valbonne, 5 minutes from home, and Heidi's in Antibes and the good thing about Heidi's is that she has a big selection of second hand books so whenever I'm feeling lazy and am looking for an easy read ( crime usually. I'm a big fan of Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs et al) I head on down to Antibes..

The walk runs round the old town on the sea side and is lovely. The house above looks over the sea on two sides and I'd love to live in it...it's a stone's throw from the things I like most.

23 comments:

Jilly said...

Beautiful photographs, Angela. I love them all. Antibes is lovely, isn't it? Lucky you with the nearby bookshops. My nearest is Scruples in Monaco and when I go there I rummage through the cheaper boxes of books! I think many of us, if we miss anything in England, and I really don't - except bookshops and theatre.

Great posting. Jilly x

Jilly said...

Whoops - I wrote that in a hurry and the last sentence isn't good English - but hey, you know what I mean...

angela said...

Jilly:- like you I miss book shops and not having to pay 17% tax on books like we do here. Shocking, isn't it? To me books are as essential as the air we breathe.
Angela

Gigi said...

I really miss the south of France. In 1987 I left England to work in an English bookshop in Aix-en-Provence (Paradox). I was so happy there...it was a real wrench for me to have to come to Grenoble six years ago and I still pine for Provence.

I went to Marineland once. Isn't that near Antibes?

Anonymous said...

A walk by the sea certainly beats ordering off Amazon!

Anonymous said...

A walk by the sea certainly beats ordering off Amazon!

deedee said...

Those are some great photos of Antibes. I have walked the ramparts a few times.

Tinsie said...

Beautiful photos, Angela!

I think I'll add Antibes to my list of possible holiday destinations :-)

tut-tut said...

I'm envious! Love these evocative photographs. Aren't you lucky to have English language book shops to hand?

Louise said...

Everyone has beaten me to it, Angela - the photos on your blog are always lovely.

Hey, I don't have a bookshop here in my mountain retreat! After living in Toulouse, which has the most bookshops per head in France, it is a total wilderness here! I order off Amazon and the Fnac out of desperation, and have just placed my first order with alibris.com which Bill Taylor recommended to me - I suppose their English site is www.alibris.co.uk

Good choice, and large selection of secondhand books at great prices.

Pam said...

What a gorgeous place! AND with books...a definite must see on our places to go list!

Unknown said...

I like Kathy Reichs too. I used to like Cornwell a lot but I feel like she is burning out in her latest books. There is a TV series based on Reichs, called Bones, have you seen it?
I only saw the first episode which was disappointing. Kind of like James Bond meets forensics.

Loui (and his mum!) said...

Antibes is just so wonderful!
Thanks for your photos Angela!

J x

angela said...

I'm pleased you liked the photos. This place is so very photogenic..

Louise:-thanks for that link. I'll have a look at the site.

Amazon is a solution to the book problem and I have also ordered second hand books from them which worked well but with the postage it can still be a lot to pay for books that aren't keepers.
I miss, really, really miss big, well stocked librairies
Angela

Darlene said...

Perfect...that is the only word to describe where anyone who want to go book hunting. The warm tan of the stones against the blue sea and sky. I can almost smell the salty air...perfect!

XO Darlene

Astrid said...

I did a search for english bookshops a while back and found links to the ones you mentioned in your post. I've never had the oppotunity to go to either of them though but now with the spring coming I can combine it with tourist'ing Antibes as well :)

Dsole said...

wow, this is just great! Wouldn't it be great to wake up and see the sea from your bed?
It would be paradise!!
Beautiful photos!
And ups, don't know about Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs, the last book I read was by J. Safran Foer, a beautiful one called extremely loud and incredibly closer or something like this.. ;)

Open Grove Claudia said...

Thanks for the photos... it's snowing here again.

I love Kathy Reichs. Have you seen Bones yet? It's our favorite show - you can purchase it at Amazon if it's not on Frog TV. (Having seen French TV, there's not much on it....)

I think I'm moving in with you....

Unknown said...

Hey, everyone said it already but I just have to add my 2 centimes worth, what stunning photos! The wind is howling here, coming through every nook and cranny (cold too)and reading about Antibes was the perfect 'fix' for any cabin fever ;)

Anonymous said...

hah, the wind is howling here in Antibes too, and it's cloudy... the weather isn't perfect *all* of the time.

nice pics. the Hobie cat on the beach is at plage du ponteil... which just happens to be where I live... :) glad other people think it's as beautiful as I do.

as for the house on the corner of the ramparts... we love it too. in order to console ourselves, my bf and I always say, 'oh but think of the traffic, it must be hell in summer, poor people...'

Nathalie H.D. said...

Beautiful photos Angela, and you're right: walking instead of driving makes all the difference in the world.
I find myself in a situation opposite to yours, being a French girl living in Sydney. Interesting comparisons...

JP (mom) said...

The walks by the sea sound so wonderful! I can almost breathe in the salty air and feel the warmth of the sun in your beautiful photographs. xx, JP

Kala said...

sighhhh the beauty of this area - there are no words to describe - the building looks like acharming place to relax!