Planning the French Riviera portion of my time in Europe was the most challenging part of planning my itinerary. Only two things were certain, Nice was going to be my base city and I wanted a day (or two) in Monaco.  Besides that, my planning board was in disarray. With each French Riviera blog post or pintrest board I stumbled on - my itinerary changed. Finally, on the Monday before I left for Europe I raised the white flag and reached out to the only blogger I consistently follow - Margo from the Overseas Escape.

My initial itinerary included Antibes, Eze, Monaco, Cassis, Cannes, St Paul and Nice. After our email conversation, I decided to save Cassis for a summer trip and Cannes for when I had a larger travel budget. She suggested heading to Villafrance Sur Mer and Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat . I took most of her advice, but I could not let Antibes go - It was one of the first towns to make the cut when I started planning the French Riviera portion of the trip. I just had to see it for myself (it's like an itch you gotta scratch).  The trip from Nice was less than seven euros. I felt it was worth the gamble.  

My alarm went off at 5:45 a.m and I hurriedly got dressed to catch the 7:20 a.m train headed to Cannes (with a stop in Antibes). I arrived in Antibes just after 8 a.m. with no plan of what I wanted to see or do. I saw the Port Vauban as we pulled into the train station and decided that was a good starting point. The streets were quiet, except for parents walking their kids to school and vendors setting up at the Provencal market. I walked through the quiet town to Port Vauban where I spent most of my time in Antibes admiring the rows of boats and yatchs at Port Vauban. 

After spending time in Port Vauban, I made my way to Le senator du Littoral with its incredible views of Cape Antibes and Nice. I walked past the Picasso museum and then back to the provencal market stopping every few minutes to admire beautiful curved alley roads and pretty doors. Most of the doors in Antibes had this beautiful clinched fist knockers - I managed to capture one or two snapshots before I crossed that thin line between blogger obesessed with pretty doors and weirdo. Eventually, I arrived at city center and it was a bit more alive than when I arrived. I settled at a table outside a cafe for a cup of tea before calling it a day in Antibes. 

Here are snapshots from my morning wander around Antibes.