Photos

The photos are all supplied with metadata in RDF (mostly in Dutch) and are available in small format (max 640x480 pixels) and large format (various). Some touristic tips are available as well.

Abbaye du Thoronet
One of three famous Cistercian abbeys in the Provence. Built in the 12th century, austere (and therefore quite modern-looking) but beautiful.
Abbaye Notre Dame de Sénanque
Another one of the three famous Cistercian abbeys, but this one is still in use. The abbey lives, among other things, of the cultivation of lavender (and the visitors, of course).
Aigues-Mortes
Aigues-Mortes is a small town inside a square wall, in the south-western corner of the Camargues. These photos were taken from the air.
Aix-en-Provence
There is a lot to see in Aix-en-Provence (the colorful markets, for a start) and the terraces are ageeable. [tourism]
Allemagne-en-Provence
Don't ask me why it is called this, but Allemagne-en-Provence (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) is a small village with a castle, not far from the Lac de Sainte Croix.
Annot
Annot is a small village on the Train des Pignes train line from Nice to Digne. It is famous for its sandstone rocks and there is a nice walk to be made to those rocks and the Chambre du Roi.
Antibes
Antibes (Alpes Maritimes), partially referring to the book “Antibes au debut du siècle” (1995), that contains photos of Antibes around 1900. [tourism]
Antibes — bataille des fleurs
Every year in June, Antibes organizes a flower parade.
Antibes — street theatre
“Déantibulations” is a street theatre festival, the 2009 edition was from May 29 to June 1 (the pentecost weekend).
Antibes — gardens
The Jardin Thuret is a botanical garden of the INRA. The Villa Eilenroc is a villa with its park, now owned by the town.
Apt
At the lavender farm Les Agnels you can get a guided tour of the lavender distillery.
Aups
Between Aups and Tourtour, along the D77, lies the Musée de Faykod, the sculpture garden and artist's workshop of sculptress Marie de Faykod.
Avignon
Avignon, city of the bridge, the popal palace (both from the Middle Ages) and of the festival. [tourism]
Bagnols-en-Forêt
Bagnols-en-Forêt is a small, old village with a view. The Gorges du Blavet are located a little to the west.
Beaulieu-sur-Mer
At 1 km as the crow flies from that other neo-historical villa, the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, stands the Villa Kérylos. From the same period (around 1903), but based on classical Greek villas from Delos.
Biot
The old village of Biot (Alpes-Maritimes) is a Monument Historique. It has narrow streets on top of a hill and especially many artists and galleries. [tourism]
Bonson
Bonson is a small village on top of a cliff high above the Var. Every year (since 2003), it organizes an exhibition of contemporary art with installations throughout the village, the Festival du Peu (“festival of little”).
Bouches-du-Rhône
The Bouches-du-Rhône is a department with famous cities, such as Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Arles, but it is also known for its wines. Chateau la Coste in Le-Puy-Ste-Réparade is one of the bigger vineyards of the “Côteaux d'Aix-en-Provence.” The Calanques are steep, white cliffs along the coast between Marseille and La Ciotat. [tourism]
Cabris
Cabris is a small hilltop village offering a wide panorama towards both Antibes and the Lac de St. Cassien.
Cagnes-sur-Mer
The old town of Cagnes-sur-Mer isn't on the sea, but on a hilltop. It does have a medieval castle, however.
Camargue
The Camargue (Bouches-du-Rhône) is a swamp area in the delta of the Rhône. It is a nature reserve, partly used for making salt, rice fields and other agriculture. You can find there, among other things, flamingos and wild horses.
Cannes
Cannes is mostly known for its “Croisette,” the boulevard along the beach, the well-know hotels and the Palais des Festivals. But it is not shown in these photos. [tourism]
Cap-d'Ail
Cap d'Ail is on the coast, just before Monaco. There are expensive villas and a couple of rocks that can serve as beach.
Cap-Ferrat
A footpath goes round the Cap-Ferrat and offers beautiful views of the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps and Cap-Ferrat itself.
Carros
Carros has two parts, a new village with a vast industrial zone along the Var, and a medieval hilltop village. These photos depict the latter.
Cassis
Cassis (Bouches-du-Rhône) is a small, picturesque village with a harbour, not far from Marseille. A steep cliff of 360 m high rises from the sea right next to the village.
Castellane and the Clue de Chabrières
View of Castellane (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) and its rock. The Clue de Chabrières is a narrow passage in the rocks between Castellane and Digne, along the Route Napoléon.
Châteauneuf-Villevieille
From the 6th to the 18th century, the inhabitants of Châteauneuf lived on the hilltop, then they returned to the old village. The ruins lend themselves to a picnic or to ghost stories.
Coaraze
Coaraze is an old village on a hill top, famous for its sun dials. In the context of the manifestation “L'art contemporain et la Côte d'Azur 1951-2011,” it invited four artists to create temporary art works in the village.
Courmes
Courmes is a tiny little village on a dead-end road, but the plateau between Courmes and the Col de Vence is ideal for hikes, especially in autumn.
Durance
A few places along the river Durance: Chateaux-Arnoux, Ganagobie (the monastery), Lurs and Forcalquier.
Entrevaux
Entrevaux (Alpes-Maritimes), a little town on the Var, with the ruines of a citadel high above it, at one time made a stronghold by Vauban, architect to Louis XIV. [tourism]
Esterel
The Esterel is an area of low mountains made up of red rocks, along the coast between Fréjus and Cannes. Red rocks against blue sea equals wonderful panoramas. It's also an ideal area for walking, especially in winter, when further inland it can be quite cold.
Eze
Eze lies on top of a hill on the coast between Nice and Monaco. A lot of tourists, but outside the season it is not so bad.
Fontanalbe
The valley of Fontanalbe is part of the “Vallée des Merveilles,” an area at an altitude of 2000 m around the mount Bégo in the Mercantour nature reserve, on the French side of the French-Italian border to the north of Nice. Thousands of rock carvings date from 5000 years ago.
Fréjus
Fréjus is an old Roman town. Just outside the town one can see, apart from a Roman aquaduct, the remains of a dam, the Barrage de Malpasset, that collapsed shortly after it was put into operation in 1959 and killed more than 400 people in Fréjus.
Gattières
Another hill-top village, this one with a view over the Var river.
Gilette
Near Gilette, at the bottom of a 20 minute walk down to the Esteron river, is a bridge, the Pont de La Cerise, and below it a rocky “beach,” which is quite popular on warm days.
Golfe-Juan
When Napoleon landed here in 1815, after his banishment to Elba, Golfe-Juan was a hamlet with a handful of fishermen. It is different now, but Napoleon still lands here every year in March.
Gorges du Cians
The Gorges du Cians (Alpes-Maritimes) are one of the most surprising canyons of the Provence. When you follow the narrow ravine upstream from the Var valley to Beuil, you start between gray rocks, which suddenly turn into red rocks, and finally, when the ravine widens, you find yourself in an alpine environment. (Beuil is a ski resort.) The road is occasionally closed for repairs; the red rock (formed from iron-rich clay) is not too stable...
Gorges du Loup
Along the Loup, one finds the tiny village of Pont-du-Loup, with its back against the rock, a waterfall, and some nice views.
Gorges du Verdon
The Gorges du Verdon, or “Grand Canyon du Verdon,” is a deep ravine worn out by the river Verdon, with an artifical lake at the end, on the border between the departments of Var and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
Grasse
Grasse is a town on a mountain slope. It has an old centre (less visited than the towns closer to the coast) and a couple of nice museums.
Hyères
The Villa Noailles, on the castle hill overlooking the town, was the country house of Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles between 1925 and 1976. The villa, designed by Robert Mallet-Stevens, is now home to an association that supports contemporary art.
Juan-les-Pins
Juan-les-Pins (Alpes-Maritimes) is alive mostly in the summer. Then it is the capital of party-goers and sun worshippers (and jazz fans, mid-July.)
Lac de St. Cassien
The Lac de St. Cassien is an artifical lake on the border between the departments of Alpes-Maritimes and Var. In de summer a sought-after place to cool down.
La-Colle-sur-Loup
The last of the canyons of the river Loup is surprisingly close to the coast, between La-Colle-sur-Loup and Villeneuve-Loubet.
Lacs de Prals
The area between the Madone de Fenestre, the Lacs de Prals and the Baisse des Cinq Lacs [fr] is a popular place for walking. The circuit takes about 4 hours. In July and August, it is wise to start early: there are thunderstorms most afternoons.
La Penne
A beautifully set small village. Remains of a defense wall date from the Middle Ages.
Le-Bar-sur-Loup
The village celebrated the “Fête de l'oranger” of 2007 on April 9.
Lucéram
Luceram is a picturesque village at a height of about 600 m in the valley of the Paillon, 25 km from Nice. Since 1998 it shows every December and January a few hundred nativity scenes dispersed in the village. [tourism]
Malaussène
Malaussène is a small village at the end of a dead-end road. The high part, south of the church, is since 1930 only ruins.
Marie
A small village of less than 100 inhabitants on a steep mountain high above the Tinée river. Picturesque, well maintained, and a good place to start walks, but without any shop or restaurant.
Mazaugues
Mazaugues is a small village not far from the Saint-Baume mountain range. It possesses an ice museum.
Menton
Menton (Alpes Maritimes) is the town with the mildest climate in France, on the Mediterranean Sea at the border with Italy.
Metz
Metz (Moselle) is a town in northeast France with, since May 2010, an impressive museum for modern art, both with respect to its collection (from the the Centre Pompidou in Paris) and to its architecture.
Mini-France
The “Mini France” park just west of Brignoles (Var) showed the best-known and most typical buildings of France as miniatures. I've had reports that the park is closed since 2002.
Monaco
Monte-Carlo is a curiosity. The old town looks like a Provençal village, except that it is unnaturally clean and freshly painted. All around are skyscrapers that appear to be built on top of other skyscrapers. Price per square meter means that roads go underground and gardens on the roof. Worth a visit, though. See the exotic garden and especially the maritime museum.
Mouans-Sartoux
Mouans-Sartoux is a small village on the train line between Cannes and Grasse, which reopened in March 2005. It has a small castle (now museum for concrete art) and regularly organises festivities (book fairs, flower shows, etc.)
Mougins
The old village of Mougins sits on top of a round hill. It's full of restaurants and art shops.
Moustiers-Ste-Marie
At the end of the Gorges du Verdon, close to the Sainte Croix lake, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie (Var) is a village full of souvenir shops, half in a crack in the rocks and definitely worth photographing.
Nice
Nice has a pyramid. Few people know it, but it absolutely exists, near Falicon, to the north of Nice. Speleologues know it as the pyramid that marks the entrance of the Ratapignata cave. Mystics think it is mystic, but it is above all enigmatic.
Nîmes
Nîmes (Gard) has some well-reserved Roman buildings, among which the arena, still in use today.
Opio
The French comedian Coluche was killed in a motor accident on the road between Valbonne and Opio, in May 1986. A little monument has been erected a little further down the road.
Peille
Peille is another picturesque hilltop village. It has a station (from which it is 90 minutes walking uphill to the village), it was once an important town, but now most of the people who live there work somewhere else, and most of the rest only live there during weekends.
Plateau de Caussols
The Plateau de Caussols is a plateau (at about 1000 m) near Gourdon (Alpes-Maritimes) and ideal for walks.
Pont-du-Gard
The Roman aquaduct and bridge over the river Gard is still almost completely intact. A marvel of Roman engineering, built around 15 BC.
Puget-Théniers
Puget-Theniers is a small village along the Var with, among other things, still a house from the 11th century.
Quinson
Quinson is a tiny village just downstream of the Gorges du Verdon and the Lac de St-Croix. It has some gorges of its own, but most of all it has a brand-new (2001), big and very nice prehistory museum, housed in a building designed for the purpose by sir Norman Foster.
Rallye d'Antibes
The Rallye d'Antibes is a car rallye that counts for the European championship. The event lasts three days and includes tests in the mountains around Antibes.
Rocca-Sparviera
The ruins of Rocca-Sparviera can be reached on foot from Duranus, Coaraze or L'Engarvin (quickest). The village was abandoned around 1600, but there are still plenty of ruins. And the view to all sides is good, too.
Roquebrune-sur-Argens
The red rock of Roquebrune is a landmark for people following the motorway, but it also has some things to explore, such as ruins of a church and a chapel.
Roquefort-les-Pins
Roquefort consists of a group of hamlets now attached to each other, without any centre. A castle and a village were destroyed in 1341, but some ruines are still visible.
Roudoule
The Roudoule is a small river that joins the Var at Puget-Théniers. Puget-Rostang has a museum for regional history, the Ecomusée du Pays de la Roudoule.
Roya valley
The Roya starts in France and ends in Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. On its way it flows past many beautiful landscapes and photegenic villages and small towns.
Rustrel
Near Rustrel lies the Colorado Provençal, a former ochre mine, now a hiking spot, with red, yellow and white rocks
Saorge
Saorge (Alpes-Maritimes), is built against the mountain in such a way, that cars cannot penetrate it.
Sarreguemines
Sarreguemines (Moselle) is a small town on the Saar at the German border. Formerly a centre for the manufacture of porcelain.
St.-Cézaire-sur-Siagne
St.-Cézaire-sur-Siagne is a good spot for a walk down to the Siagne river and on the other side of the village is a cave, les grottes de Saint-Cézaire, where you can admire stalagtites and stalagmites in beautiful and bizarre shapes.
St.-Jeannet
St.-Jeannet is a hilltop village, more popular with tourists than neighbour Gattières (though not necessarily more beautiful) and the starting point for walks up to the Baou de Saint-Jeannet or the Baou de la Gaude.
St.-Paul-de-Vence
St-Paul-de-Vence is one of the many hilltop villages, except that this one is since the middle of the 20th century full of artists and galeries, and meanwhile the whole year round full of tourists.
St.-Tropez
St.-Tropez (Var), is rich and therefore well-maintained. Outside of the summer season you can get there without spending 3 hours in a traffic jam and there is room enough to take pictures.
Ste-Agnès
Ste-Agnès (Alpes-Maritimes) is a tiny hilltop village near Menton. It's worth a visit for its view (over Menton and the sea), its narrow alleys, castle ruins and Maginot fort.
Seillans
Seillans is a small hilltop village with narrow alleys, fountains and a museum, the Maison Waldberg, with works by Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning and Stanislas Appenzeller.
Siagne
De Siagne emerges from a group of sources (on private property, so not accessible), not far from St-Vallier-de-Thiey.
Sospel
Sospel is a medieval village on the Bevera river (an affluent of the Roya). It has a church with a baroque front, several fortifications (the latest from the Maginot line of the 2nd World War) and an 11th century bridge
Tanneron
Tanneron is a small village surrounded by mimosa nurseries.
Tende
Tende is a village with narrow streets, squeezed between the mountains in the Roya valley, a station on the railway Nice-Cuneo, and the home of the Musée des Merveilles, an archeological museum dedicated to the Vallée des Merveilles and elder sister of the museum in Quinson.
Théoule-sur-Mer
Théoule-sur-Mer is a small village on the coast near Cannes, sandwiched between the mountains of the Esterel. It has a small beach, a small harbour and a few restaurants on the waterfront.
Thorenc
Thorenc is a village with an architecture that you would expect more in Switzerland than in the Provence. Le Domaine du Haut-Thorenc is a bison reserve and horse breeder. And the Castellaras was a medieval village on a rock with a view over both.
Tinée valley
The Tinée valley has narrow ravines ("gorges") and also a very nice arboretum, in Roure, high above the river.
Tourettes-sur-Loup
Tourettes is a “village perché” with a view until the sea.
Tourtour
Tourtour is a small village in the centre of the Var, with a few narrow little streets and two castles.
Trams
From the end of the 19th century until about 1950 a number of tramways and trains connected the villages and towns up to far into the mountains. The many tunnels and viaducts are still visible.
Utelle
The Madone d'Utelle is a chapel on a mountain top above Utelle (Alpes-Maritimes), where in 850, according to legend, Maria made a light that guided three sailors lost on the Mediterranean Sea to safe harbour. On a clear day, you can indeed see all the way to the sea. The Gorges de la Mescla in the Var also belong to Utelle.
Valbonne, Châteauneuf-Grasse
Châteauneuf-Grasse is an old hilltop village with narrow stair streets and, outside the village, the church Notre Dame du Brusc and the Trinity chapel. To the south-east of Valbonne, at the edge of Antibes, two roman aquaducts that once brought water to Antibes can be found next to the motorway A8 (as shown on this map [or a copy]).
Var
Some aerial and other photos of the Var coast.
Vence
Vence possesses a (former) cathedral with parts from the 11th century, a chapel (chapelle du Rosaire) of which the interior has been designed by Matissse, a walled old town, and festivities: the photos show the flower parade in April.
Villa Ephrussi
The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild (St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Alpes-Maritimes) is the work of the baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild from 1903, but harks back mostly to the 17th and 18th centuries. The gardens are varied and particularly well situated.
Villefranche-sur-Mer
Small town squeezed between the mountains and the sea, which makes good use of its old citadel for various events, including a garden show.
Villeneuve-Loubet
Villeneuve-Loubet has a zone of shops along the RN7, next to Marina Baie des Anges. But it has more than that.
Zoo Cap-Ferrat
St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat had until September 2009 a small but cosy zoo. But the prices of ground on the Cap Ferrat are too high (44,000 &euro/m2 in 2009) and a real estate developer bought the land…
Detmold
Detmold and Horn-Bad Meinberg (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Duitsland) lie in the heart of the Teutoburgerwald, where, according to legend, Arminius beat the Roman general Varus.
Dolceacqua
Dolceacqua is a medieval town along the Nervia river in Liguria (Italy), near the French border. An old bridge and the castle ruins define its image.
Groningen
To the north of the Paddepoel quarter (Groningen, The Netherlands) one just finds a few scattered buildings of the university, but for the rest it is grassland, with the Van Starkenborgh canal in between.
Hanbury Garden
The Hanbury Botanical Garden is an English garden with thousands of local and exotic plants on a slope going down some 75 m to the Mediterranean Sea, between Ventimiglia and Menton.
Saarbrücken
Some photos near the Saar river.
San-Remo
San-Remo (Liguria, Italy) may be best known for its Italian song festival, or for its casino, but it also has an old town, referred to as “La Pigna.”
Seville
Some photos of Seville (Spain) from 1996.
Ventimiglia
Ventimiglia is not especially beautiful. The French go there mainly to shop.
Bert Bos
Created: 26 januari 2002