We ventured to the Old Town of Antibes for a few days, out of season, at the end of October. Access to the city from London is fairly easy. The obvious method of transport is a 95-minute easyJet flight from London Gatwick to Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, then a local train taking six stops to get from the airport to Antibes.

Almost too easy, so we took the slower, but more luxurious route of Eurostar and TGV. A short hop from St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord (First-Class, naturally; the free champagne doesn’t drink itself); an overnight stay in the City of Lurve, and then a five-hour, door-to-door journey from Paris Gare du Lyon straight to Antibes.

The journey from home front door to holiday home took a day and a half, with around nine hours of that being on trains. If you have that much time to spare, and an inclination to ponder, it is genuinely a very relaxing way to travel – even the English leg of the journey.

Temperatures in the South of France at the end of October still hit around 24ºC, so a balmy climate met us as we disembarked the effectively chilly air-conditioned TGV.

We had booked a self-catering apartment in the Old Town of Antibes, with three balconies, one overlooking the Med – a crystal clear, perfect azure Med at that – in one direction, one looking towards Nice in another, and the rest of the city of Antibes looking inland on the third. The first thing that struck us on our ten-minute walk from the station to our accommodation (it was all that close) was how clean the whole place was. Immaculate, even.

This is a citadel of money. Antibes boasts the largest yachting marina in Europe – over 2,000 berths. Everything from a pedalo to multi-million-pound, four-deck, leviathan-sized yachts are moored here. While people could access most of the marina, unsurprisingly, access to the areas with the biggest moorings was closely monitored.

What is now the marina was previously the old harbour which once housed a considerably-sized fishing industry, with the area being noted for exporting dried fruit, salt fish, and oil.

Even though it was out of high season (or maybe because it was out of high season), most berths were taken, and many bars, restaurants and cafés were frequented by people working as deck crews; they stood out pretty vividly.

And because of the wealth the area can command, we found Antibes is not a cheap place to visit. While our accommodation was reasonably priced (around £140 per night for four nights with all mod cons), budget restaurants were at a premium. Not that we worried about that – did I mention it, we were on our honeymoon!

Breakfast each morning was taken on the balcony which overlooked the Med, where it had been decreed that I was to purchase orange juice, coffee and pastries to get our day going. This task was wonderfully helped by the fact that not 100 yards from our accommodation was the Old Town’s main market – Marché Provençal on Place Nationale Cours Massena – open every day except Monday offering just the kind of products you’d expect Mediterranean local markets to sell. I love these and was like a kid in a sweet shop.

As our trip was only four days, we declined the temptation to head into nearby towns of Juan-les-Pins, Nice, Villefranche, and further afield to Monaco and Menton – maybe next time, and there will be a next time – purely to use up shoe leather taking in the Old Town in the mornings, un siesta l’apres-midi, and a blow-out meal in the evening.

Our restaurant of choice was Nacional Trattoria on the Rue de la Republique. The food, Italian but with a French twist, was superb, and reasonably priced; we ate both indoors and out – and the staff were a scream. They were professional, but cheeky; attentive, but… well, actually, when we told them we were on honeymoon, they clucked around us like excited children. Do we normally want that from the waiting staff? Not really, but we loved it.

There was no lack of bars to sit, chat, people-watch and imbibe at. Place du Rhum, located in the corner of the town’s main square, offered us our best vantage point to rubberneck the locals, while the myriad bars open in the evening where the aforementioned market had been, saw much of our custom.

The rest of the time was spent wandering through the small, winding alleys of the Old Town – some with shops, others being purely residential. Considering the tourism in the Old Town, once you’re one street away from the commercial thoroughfares, it is an amazingly quiet, tranquil place. One felt obliged to whisper as we made our way down these immaculate, well-preserved streets.

In amongst this revelry, there are two landmarks I must point you to.

The Château Grimaldi was originally built in the late 14th Century as the residence of the town’s feudal lords Marc and Luc Grimaldi, scions of the famous Grimaldi Dynasty. In the early 17th Century, the Grimaldis moved to Monaco, where they are still the ruling House, and the château was acquired by Henry IV in 1608. 

In 1925, the château was acquired by the City of Antibes and became known as the Grimaldi Museum. For six months in 1946, it was the home of Pablo Picasso. The museum was renamed the Musée Picasso in December 1966.

We looked around at some of Picasso’s works, while at the same time, we also got to see an exhibition of Catalan artist Joan Miró’s early works, which were also on display.

Also, if you get a chance, do visit Antibes Cathedral (or Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Immaculée-Conception d’Antibes to render its full, tortuous moniker). We are currently on the third incarnation of the Cathedral; its
predecessors having been destroyed in 1124, and again in 1746 by the previously-mentioned raiding outsiders.

Much of Antibes’ long and colourful history can be read about within this hallowed place, if your French is up to snuff, that is. The same can be said about the marina and harbour - indeed, anywhere you go, there are reminders of what Antibes has had to put up with for the past two and a half millennia.

Will we return? Of course, especially as our hosts have offered us the same spot for a cheaper price next time. But more than that, it was just the perfect place to relax, unwind and enjoy a wonderful lune de miel.