The French Mediterranean Cerbere to Menton

The south coastline of France runs from Spain to Italy, with Monaco interrupting this near the Italian border.

Today I was in Cerbere, right on the Spanish border and I thought I would write an occasional article about each coastal town as I visit them – Cerbere to Collouire, like the other end of France, Nice to Menton, is an area where the mountains scrabble down into the Mediterranean with dramatic bays, peninsulars and super scenery – real postcard stuff.

Today the sea was azur blue and the sky like a pigeons egg – then it rained (it is January)

Cerbere was closed – one dingy cafe was open, the streets were empty and the parking meters covered over – it would be a great place to retire to, like if you really plan to do nothing, ever, in winter.

There were no boats, this is because there is a submarine pen or something military underwater around the bay, so boats bigger than a matchbox are banned it seems.

Houses cling to the rocks like seagulls nests and construction of many more apartments and terraced houses seems to be the only activity – I can see why, it is a spectacular setting, great position, good communications, close to Spain for cheap ciggys, booze and fuel – as well as tapas and headache wine.

Property prices are the lowest on this corniche which makes them the lowest in France for this sort of location – but the new cote d’Azure it ain’t – not yet – so if you like a quiet life with great stuff only twenty minutes away, Cerbere is the best buy, with fantastic views – but until the submarines go, it will lack the same energy all the other ports have along the coast.

, , , , , , ,

Share This

This entry was posted in twiku. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>