The Jersey Shore of the Côte d'Azur

Juan-les-Pins is the Jersey Shore of the Côte d’Azur. I think this while wandering past the overpriced specialty gift stores lining the boardwalk. The buildings hold neither historical significance nor architectural aesthetic. Instead, they crumble around the edges like the pages of a notebook that has been spilled on and shoved in to a backpack one too many times. The beach is pretty with a sandy shore that attracts sunbathers, but the blaring discotheque music from the nearby bar prevents me from lingering.

So far, I’ve seen very few women in Juan-les-Pins. But if you’re looking for pasty-white men in Hawaiian button-ups, shirt-less older men with dark orange pot-bellies or 20-something-year-old men in tight tops with suspiciously bulbous muscles and the inability to walk with their arms swinging freely at their sides, you’ve come to the right place. It is the end of tourist season and the town seems to be clinging to those last days of summer. Today, the sun obliges and the weather is warm enough for a stroll, but the beachside cafés are mostly empty except for an older American couple and a few locals who are enjoying a drink. Although July in Juan-les-Pins may be the perfect beach getaway for wealthy tourists and their families, late October in Juan-les-Pins seems bereft.

The larger beach town, Antibes, is only a few miles away, so I hike the hill separating the two and find a pleasant market square. The market is just starting to close at 1 pm when I arrive, so I scramble to buy bread, cheese, fruit and un unknown candy that I hear is a specialty of the region. As the food vendors close down their carts, the antique dealers move in and begin setting up their tables and blankets with all types of knick-knacks. But I have no room in my suitcase to be tempted by the goods.

Nonetheless, I find myself laden down with all the food I’m carrying, my purse and camera. I still have to walk a km to get to the beach, and I’m exhausted and cranky by the time I arrive. I do my best to make myself comfortable and enjoy my makeshift picnic while watching the sailboats pass by.

After lunch, I decide to check out the marina. The fancy yachts get bigger and more glamorous farther down the marina, and I am more appalled than impressed by the extravagant amounts of money harbored here.

It’s been a long day, so I try to catch a train back to Juan-les-Pins. On a high note, I’ve become very good at using public transportation. I arrive just in time to hop on the train approaching the quai with only a vague sense that it was heading toward Juan-les-Pins. Luckily, I am right. :)

I spend a few hours reading on the beach as the sun sets and an uneventful evening writing in my hotel room. Last stop in France is Montpellier!

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