Hotel Narev's

A morbid thought: a walk over the cemetry

by Pavlik_NL

Menton has, like many other old town on the Cote d'Azur, it's old cemetry on top of a hill. From the boulevard down below along the seaside, one actually already can see the crosses and statues topping over the cemetry walls high up above on the hillside. A walk there is however a great way to experience the oldest parts from Menton and eventually be rewarded by a spectacular view from the cemetry hights as well as the sculptures on the serene grounds.

The "Val Rahmeh" garden

by Polly74

At the end of the 19th century, a few english people who were very keen on botany decided to create this garden.
From 1925 on Lord Radcliff, the governor of Malte, added plants that he had carried back from the two hemispheres to it.
In 1967, this garden became the Mediterranean Center of the
National Museum of Natural History.
This garden is more specifically enriched in the Solanaceae family plants.
It also displays exotic fruit trees.
Thanks to the exceptional climate of the Garavan area, you can find citrus fruits, Central America avocados, Topical American annonas and so many others.

Palais Carnolès

by call_me_rhia

Palais Carnolès, Carnoles Palace in English - is the former summer residence of the Grimaldi family of Monace-Montecarlo. It is now a museum with an interesting collection of European paintings from the Renaissance to the present day. The halls of the palace are quite impressive, too.

What I liked best about this palce is its gardens, which houses the largest collection of citrus trees in Europe... though I think that this fact is debatable. What it not debatable is the "bigarade", a strange and rare fruit known as the bitter orange, which is more or less a fruit that is a combination of a lemon and a sour orange. Statues are scattered all around the palace gardens.

One of the most unusual specimens in the garden is the variety ' Bizzaria'. In Menton this is labelled as a 'bigarade' - sour or bitter orange - although the information booklet suggests it is the variety described by Risso in 1818. If so, it would actually be a chimera of a citron and sour orange. However, on my visit in August 2002, I could see no signs of the irregular stripes shown in drawings by Risso and others.

The palace is open Wednesday to Monday, between 10 AM and midday, and 2 PM to 6 PM.

Baie du Soliel, Menton panorama

by NiceLife

Menton's answer to the Promenade des Anglais is the Baie du Soliel, stretching towards Cap Martin and Roquebrunne to the west.. The bay is fronted by a relentless row of modern apartment blocks, none of any aesthetic merit. - unlike Nice, where art deco style predominates. Menton's modern developments are designed not by architects but by developers in that homogenous "could be anywhere" style.

However this should not detract from the beauty of Menton, which is to be found more in the old town and up above the bay of Garavan.

Menton

by TRimer

"An Italian Village in France"

Menton is the last town on the coast before the Italian border.

Menton is situated on the Golfe de la Paix (Gulf of Peace), on a rocky promontory that divides the bay in two. The fishing town, the older part with its narrow streets, is in the east; the tourist zone and residential belt are in the west.

Menton was part of the Principality of Monaco until 1861 when it was sold to France along with neighboring Roquebrune. The town became well known as a health resort at the end of the nineteenth century and was visited by large numbers of royalty and aristocrats from abroad, especially from England.

The town center just behind the seafront is one of the most beautiful anywhere on the coast. The architecture here is superb, turn of the century hotels stand alongside huge Italianate palaces.

Menton is one of the most colorful towns on the Riviera and all of the town’s gardens are full of beautiful flowers and semi-tropical plants. Menton is world renowned for the growing of Oranges and Lemons and this is celebrated with the Lemon Festival in February which attracts over 300,000 visitors every year.