Villa Kerylos

The French Riviera offers numerous sites beyond the main tourist routes. Medieval hilltop villages such as Èze and Saint-Paul de Vence perch above the coast, while historic fortifications like Fort Carré in Antibes preserve the region's maritime past. Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild on Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Château Grimaldi in Cagnes-sur-Mer display architectural styles from different eras. The region extends from the coastline to the backcountry. The Îles de Lérins off Cannes are accessible by ferry, Col de la Bonette reaches 9,193 feet (2,802 meters) elevation, and Vallée des Merveilles in the Mercantour preserves prehistoric rock carvings. Hiking trails cross Parc national du Mercantour and follow the coast at Cap d'Ail. The Gorges du Verdon to the north form one of Europe's deepest canyons. Museums in Nice focus on Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse and Asian art. The Musée de la Mer on Île Sainte-Marguerite documents the island fortress's history. Smaller towns like Tourrettes-sur-Loup and Le Cannet lie a few miles from the coastal cities. Lac de Saint-Cassien near Montauroux provides water sports in a rural setting.

Between the ramparts of the old town and the pines of Cap d'Antibes, this seaside resort on the French Riviera preserves an architectural heritage spanning eight centuries. Grimaldi Castle, a 12th-century fortress turned Picasso’s first museum in 1946, overlooks the seafront from Place du Safranier. Further south, Fort Carré stands with its four bastions on a 26-meter-high (85 ft) rocky promontory, built in 1565 to defend the border between France and the Duchy of Savoy. Cap d'Antibes features about twenty residences built from the late 19th century through the interwar period. Villa Eilenroc (1867) covers 27 acres with French-style gardens and a rose garden facing the sea. Château de la Croë (1927) once hosted the Duke of Windsor and is now a private estate. Notable visitors included Anatole France, who resided in Villa Soleil, and Karl Lagerfeld in the 1990s. Villa Thuret, established in 1857 by botanist Gustave Thuret, currently hosts a research garden of the INRAE with 2,500 plant species suited to Mediterranean conditions. Modernist architecture is represented by Villa Aujourd'hui (1938), a rare example of geometric design from the 1930s on the Côte d'Azur.

The neo-Moorish architecture developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, driven by European interest in oriental forms. This architectural movement combines Western building elements with Moorish decorative motifs: horseshoe arches, carved arabesques, geometric mosaics, and ornate stuccoes. This stylistic synthesis appears in a variety of structures, from places of worship to private residences, theaters, and city fortifications. The collection gathers representative examples from across Europe and beyond. In Marseille, the Alcazar Grand Theatre has displayed a façade decorated with oriental patterns since 1857. The Great Synagogue of Brussels, inaugurated in 1878, demonstrates the adoption of this style in Belgian religious architecture. In Germany, Drachenburg Castle near Bonn incorporates Moorish elements into a late 19th-century villa. The movement also reaches unexpected locations: Brighton’s Royal Pavilion blends Indian and Islamic influences for a British royal seaside residence, while rural farms in Hälsingland, Sweden, include ornaments inspired by this orientalist trend. From Pena Palace overlooking Sintra to the Justo Sierra Synagogue in Mexico city, these buildings exemplify the international spread of an architectural style that profoundly marked its period.

Nice naturally lends itself to photography. The Mediterranean light shapes the city from morning to evening, revealing in turn the ochre facades of Old Nice, the palms lining the Promenade des Anglais, or the blue domes of Saint-Nicolas Orthodox Cathedral. From the Château hilltop, at 92 meters high, the view encompasses the entire bay, while below, Place Masséna displays its geometric paving stones and red facades. The flower market at Cours Saleya, established since the 17th century, extends to Lympia Port where yellow facades reflect in the water, each neighborhood forming a different scene. The Negresco Hotel with its pink dome marks the coastline, and the Matisse Museum shares the painter's love for the light of the South. Nice offers a variety of viewpoints, making it a preferred destination for those interested in capturing the architecture, colors, and vitality of a city oriented toward the Mediterranean.