Cap Ferrat à Pied?| Article Index |
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| Cap Ferrat à Pied? |
| Baie des Fourmis |
| The Ephrussi Palace |
| Getting there |
| All Pages |
From Nice eastwards, the Riviera is best viewed from ground level. And pedestrians, smug in the knowledge that they are not contributing to the coastal smog, can get to parts that the motorist can't reach. Delights like the Cap Ferrat peninsula, for example. (The French call it a presqu'île - almost an island - which sounds much more romantic.) It dangles like an ear-ring into the Mediterranean between Nice and Monaco, its jewel the pink-and-white Ephrussi Palace, perched along its skyline.
The undemanding three-hour walk around the Cap offers a panorama stretching from the Italian Riviera in the east to the terracotta Esterel Mountains in the west, with the snow-capped Southern Alps as a backdrop.
It is worthwhile to pick up a map of the route from the Tourist Office before you start. There are maps posted along the route, but they forgot to put 'You Are Here' dots on them, which means that you know where you want to be, but not where you are, so it is easy - well, for me anyway - to get lost. I prefer the clockwise route, because, that way, the sun obligingly follows you around. Also, it is more congenial, especially in the narrower bits, to be walking in the same direction as other walkers.
