A week on the Cote d'Azur

Like all of the properties along the street, it was well concealed by a beautiful wall and gates. The Four Seasons hotel was about 100m away but it closed for the season just before we arrived.

During a dinner with a longstanding client in November, he mentioned that a villa in Cap Ferrat was sitting empty. Would the project architect and I like to use it? Since the architect's wife was heading off to Asia later that month and he would be alone at home, he said yes. I offered to join him. But on my way home, I realized my wife would not be that happy at the thought of me heading off to the south of France without her, and so we too decided to book flights and stay together for a week or so.

In a previous blogpost I wrote about the challenges of booking seats on an Air Canada flight operated by Eurowings Discover, a subsidiary of Lufthansa. (A codeshare flight) I should note that notwithstanding the difficulties I had when trying to book seats, everything turned out fine. And so did the villa!

The elevator served each of the four levels, with a wrap-around staircase.

Sally and I had about 9,000 sq.ft. on four levels to roam about. While the stairs provided good exercise, I usually preferred taking the glass elevator since a lovely lady announced in a beautiful French accent whenever the doors opened or closed. The house was located on Avenue de la Corniche aka billionaires' row, alongside villas owned by Kazakhstani and Russian merchants who kept their yachts nearby. 

While there was a Ferrari in the glass doored garage, I rented a comfortable Peugeot 3008 plug-in hybrid with many bells and whistles. I mention this since when some warning lights appeared, I insisted on taking it to a Peugeot dealership in case I did any damage, only to be told the warning symbols referred to speed radar in the area!

Since it is often said a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few pictures.

The deep lot extended down to the Mediterranean Sea. A continuous public walkway took you into town.

To improve views for those living above, the roof was covered in Astro Turf. Several solar panels supplemented energy needs of the house.

Some of the many living areas scattered around the villa. It was obviously designed for parties, rather than traditional family living.

While it was warm enough to enjoy the outdoors most days, we decided not to ask the manager to heat the pool just for us! 

s.