
Antibes juan les pins
Overview:
Antibes is a resort town of southeastern France, on the Mediterranean Sea in the Côte d'Azur, located between
Cannes and
Nice. It is c. 20 km by rail southwest of
Nice, and is situated on the east side of the Garoupe peninsula. Its inhabitants are called Antibois or Antipolitains.
It was formerly fortified, but all the ramparts (save the Fort Carré, built by Vauban, and the ramparts along the sea coast) were demolished in the 1860s. A new town then rose outside the former defenses.
Antibes has the largest yacht marina (by total tonnage) on the Côte d'Azur, built in the 1960s on the site of a Roman harbor. There is still a local fishing industry, much diminished from its size a century ago. It was formerly a site of perfume distilling; the surrounding country once produced an abundance of flowers. Perfume distillation is still carried out on a commercial scale in nearby
Grasse.
Tourism:
The major attractions of Antibes are its history, climate, art, beaches and yachting. The sand beaches of Antibes are all manmade; the natural beaches are gravel (shingle in British English); in summer, these beaches are maintained using large tractors towing a device which scoops-up, sieves, spreads, and rakes the sand. Antibes' beaches east of Fort Carré (that is, going toward
Nice) are still the original rough materials.
Miscellaneous:
Next to Fort Carré, facing the N 98 Bord de Mer highway is a marble statue of a World War I soldier, said to be the tallest war memorial in France. Unfortunately, he is holding his rifle at Order Arms (rifle held vertically, butt on the ground, barrel held near muzzle end) next to his LEFT leg, which is a gross mistake since Order Arms is only alongside the RIGHT leg; French veterans reportedly went berserk over this egregious error.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Antibes - See Authors history list.
Antibes has one of the largest yacht marinas on the Côte d'Azur, built in the 1960s on the site of a Roman harbor. There is still a local fishing industry, much diminished from its size a century ago. It was formerly a site of perfume distilling; the surrounding country once produced an abundance of flowers. Perfume distillation is still carried out on a commercial scale in nearby Grasse.
The major attractions of Antibes are its history, climate, art, beaches and yachting
SightSeeing
- FORT CARRE
This defensive building was once a circular tower dating back to 1550 on the site of the Saint-Laurent Chapel. Its construction was perfected under Vauban's command and adapted to the evolution of fire-arms[...] - MUSEE D'ARCHEOLOGIE
Pay a visit to the prestigious Antipolis of Antiquity, founded in the 5th century B.C. by the Phoceans and later a major centre of Roman culture. Archaeological collections recall the town's daily life and[...] - MUSEE DE LA CARTE POSTALE
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