Oh là là Côte d’Azur

Well, I can tell you now that although the day did mot go completely as planned, I came across some stuff that completely blew my mind off and also connected the dots with some stuff from yesterday.

It was a very short hop on the train to Port Golfe Juan. It turned out that it was HERE in Golfe Juan that Napoleon had landed after his escape from Elba!!!
Getting off the train, we were met with this mural.
Then we made our way to where we were supposed to get on the boat, and while we were waiting, I asked our captain, Blaize, where exactly did he land and Blaize pointed to the beach RIGHT NEXT TO US!!!!!🫨
Like Not NEVAH, in a 1,000,000 years would I ever dreamed that I'd be starting near that spot!! 😍
I had plenty of time to make a quick dash and snap some pics (6 & 7)

On 1 March 1815, on his return from Elba, Napoleon landed in Golfe-Juan with a small band of 1100 loyal soldiers. And from here he set out on the extraordinary adventure that was to lead to the return to power two and a half weeks later, 20 March, with his triumphal entry into the Tuileries palace which had been hastily abandoned by Louis XVIII. This was the beginning of the Hundred Days.

On disembarking from the brig l'Inconstant, Napoleon exclaimed 'Hail, France, land of heroes'. To mark this event, there is a commemorative plaque on the quay in the port. (missed that one 😒) There is also a plaque signaling the start of the Route Napoléon (The road christened so, is that taken by the Emperor from Golfe-Juan to Grenoble) and (mounted on a column erected at the side of the N7 road) a bust of the Emperor. (and that 😫). Napoleon and his troops were initially delayed by the taking of Antibes (WHAAAAT?! 😲), but that having been done, they soon got en route for Cannes where they made their first bivouac (a plaque on the church Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Voyage marks the spot). - and that we saw and visited yesterday....

As we got on the boat, 1st "misfortune of the day" happened as we were informed that they were canceling part 2 of the cruise to Corniche d'Or. Like it or not, the weather was still iffy, and with expectations of it getting worse and apparently Laurie and I being the only 2 people signed up, it didn't make sense for Riviera to go there. They did refund us the difference, and we got on the way to Île Sainte-MargueriteEn savoir plus