St Jeannet – The French Riviera (well, almost) – Food and Adventures Along the Way

Our next stop – St Jeannet.

St Jeannet is about 10km from the French Riviera coast located between the town of Vence and Nice, high up in the hills where we had fabulous views of Nice, Cannes and Saint Tropez.

Nestled at the foot of an immense “baou” (a big stony cliff that overlooks the town) Saint Jeannet is quite charming and was a busier destination than previous rural villages.

It was a stronghold of the surrounding area from the 13th century to the Revolution, but today it is a beautiful residential village in the Nice hinterland with a panoramic view of the coast.

Built in the Middle Ages (as was all villages and towns in France), the houses on the hilltop are constructed from local stone, all huddled together to form a rampart surrounding the church.

It’s a high climb up the hill from the village centre to our villa, even in the car but we did the walk down to the local shopping centre every day and back again, sometimes twice a day.

Straight up this small road – you can see our villa in the centre of the photo half way up the mountain just above the gray stone wall

And this is the view from the terrace. The roundabout is where the village shops are located.

A case of “six of one” between walking down the hill to the village shops or up the hill to the old town shops, but the restaurants at the top of the hill were far more appealing, even on rainy days.

The view from the top of the mountain in the old town was truly spectacular.

A perfect spot for an afternoon aperitif

Our favourite woodfired pizza restaurant 🙂

It was a very charming and authentic restaurant and the chef was so interesting. Jeff was welcome to lurk in the kitchen to watch.

Saint Paul de Vence

An afternoon exploring a nearby town – it was very touristy and crowded! This was a town which had been fortified with a high wall surrounding the village. You could walk along the wall for some of the way – quite high and our legs were a little wobbly in places as we hugged the wall and hoped we didn’t have to pass someone coming the other way. No safety rails in those days!