Scent-ual Côte d’Azur
Create your own perfume, take a cooking lesson or explore a medieval village in French Riviera
I never dreamt that one day I’d be playing an organ in a perfume factory.
Yet there I was, in Grasse, the perfume capital of France, “playing the organ” of some 200 perfumes, composing my own unique fragrance with the help of “nose assistant” Nathalie Nestler. This was just one highlight of a 10-day visit to experience fascinating, but relatively unknown, places and attractions on the Côte d’Azur/French Riviera.
After a tour of the International Perfume Museum and then the Galimard Perfumery factory, I arrived at Galimard’s Studio des Fragrances.
“First you must choose your base notes, the strongest part of the perfume, which could last even overnight,” Nestler said as she picked out about two dozen varied male and female scents for me to sample.
I narrowed these down to wood moss, wood mix, sandalwood and vanilla, then filled half of a 100-millilitre vial in the proportions Nestler had chosen.
“Now come the heart notes, which last several hours,” she said. “You must try these scents combined with the base note combination. You want to find harmony.”
I settled on rose petals, ocean, marine notes, pomegranate and bamboo.
“Finally, you must decide on your peak notes — the first impression of the perfume, which lasts perhaps only 20 minutes,” Nestler said as she chose another selection for me.
This time I picked lychee, bitter lemon and grapefruit — to help balance the ocean and woodsy fragrance blend I’d created up to that point.
Et voilà, I had created my own perfume (Galimard keeps a record for re-ordering) and earned my diploma as an Honorary Master Parfumeur. The two-hour workshop experience costs about $60.
And if this isn’t enough perfume for you, stay like I did at Hôtel du Clos in nearby Le Rouret — with its own fragrant garden and Michelin-starred restaurant, Clos Saint Pierre.
OK, now if you have only a limited time, here are other highlights, some lesser-known but not-to-be missed, along the Côte d’Azur:
CANNES
It’s fun to try to identify the famous movies and actors painted on the walls around town, reflecting the world-renowned Cannes Film Festival.
But you can also have a cooking lesson at Les Apprentis Gourmets (I learned not to stir the meat while it’s browning), eat socca (seasoned chickpea flour crepe cooked in a fired oven), taste the award-winning pastries at Intuitions and take a short boat trip to car-less St. Honorat Island and l’Abbaye de Lérins, where Cistercian monks have produced their wine for centuries.
Check out the brand name shops and galleries along the waterfront La Croisette boulevard — but then also go back a few blocks to where the locals shop. Stay at the historical Hôtel Splendid, with — indeed — a splendid view of the city and ocean.
ANTIBES JUAN-LES-PINS
Of course you’ll visit the Picasso Museum, but also stop by the Peynet and Cartoon Museum; even if you don’t know much French you’ll appreciate the humour. Visit the market, wander into pastry and chocolate shops, taste absinthe at Balade en Provence (drip water through a sugar lump into the absinthe, wear a hat to restrain the green fairies reputed to appear), dine at Restaurant La Closerie/Patisserie Cottard whose Christian Cottard has won a “best craftsman of France” award, stay at the Royal Antibes Hotel on the waterfront.
MENTON
Whiz east along the autoroute to Menton, just short of the Italian border (take cash — credit cards don’t always work to pay the tolls), or go by train or bus. Meet friendly staff at the Napoleon, another beachfront hotel; realize that “small portions” are two words not in Aldo Campani’s vocabulary asking for a tasting menu at Les Sablettes Beach.
Check out manageable-size museums (Palais Carnolès, Musée Jean Cocteau — plus the city hall marriage room decorated by Cocteau), lush gardens (Maria Serena) and the view from the Old Cemetery of Menton, where William Webb Ellis, credited with inventing the game of rugby, is buried.
CAP D’AIL
Local hotels have character, but for a change it’s also good to stay at, for example, the waterfront Marriott here, with a view of all the harbour action.
Then visit the little-known Villa les Camélias with its mementoes of bygone days and people including famous visitors such as Winston Churchill.
LA TURBIE
History comes to life (and provides a wonderful view) at the 2,000-year-old Roman Trophy of Augustus monument; the outdoor market has the sweet, juicy, heartshaped coeur de pigeon cherries; La Cave Turbiasque takes the food and adds those famous French sauces and flavours.
ÉZE
You definitely want to explore this medieval village of art and gastronomy built on three levels: No. 1: the beach. No. 2, some 400 metres up on a steep hillside: purple bougainvillea, jasmine, funky galleries, exotic garden, the very fancy Château de la Chèvre d’Or. No. 3: at 700 metres, where I stayed in the peaceful (and very reasonable, at about $100 a night) Hôtel Hermitage, adjacent to a national park.
BEAULIEU-SUR-MER
Why go to Greece when you can visit the Greek Villa Kérylos reconstruction to see how the Greeks lived in the second century BC — and where archaeologist Théodore Reinach and family often spent their holidays?
SAINT-JEAN-CAP-FERRAT
Feast on super-fresh seafood at the harbourfront La Cabane de l’écailler, then learn about preservation of marine mammals in the area with a cruise on the Santo Sospir sailboat.
VILLEFRANCHE-SUR-MER
Work up an appetite walking around the 16th-century citadel and the old town, sip organic wine with a meal of cold cuts at La Cave Nature, then retire to the Hôtel Brise Marine, with its view of the harbour and hills, framed by palm trees and massive purple bougainvillea — and with perfect attention to detail at breakfast, from the table setting and variety and quality of food to the multicoloured egg cups and egg timers.
NICE
I loved the “nice” view from my room at the Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Méditerranée on to the U-shaped open-air pool and dining atrium with the sea beyond. You can eat your way around the market, walk along the fabled beachfront Promenade des Anglais, take the little train or topless bus around the town, see the sweeping view from Castle Hill, dine at restaurants like beachfront Castel Plage, Italian Luna Rossa and creative Luc Salsedo.
And so my 10-day tour ended. I felt I had experienced almost everything the Côte d’Azur/French Riviera is famous for — plus so many of those extras only local knowledge can provide, from perfume to Picasso to pigeon-heart cherries.