PV Holidays Residence Maeva Les Citronniers Menton

They speak French & Italian, some English.

by thinking

I love the gardens, the fresh air, the sun in winter, the coffee, the lunches and dinners, the citrus fruits and flowers.

Just be willing to speak some of their languages. I miss the provencial fabrics, the lunches, the gardens, the Italians and the French.

The town's "central park"

by Pavlik_NL

For those who do not have the time to go to one of the exquisit gardens in Menton, maybe the central park of Menton will do? "Jardin Bioves" stretches out between the Casino and along the hall of congress. In it several orange and lemon trees, as well as fountains and colourful flowerbeds everywhere. Remarkable is the statue of Volti: "Goddess with the golden fruites". the view towards the mountains is here quite spectacular.

The " Serre de la Madone " garden

by Polly74

A " Serre " is a long narrow ridge of a mountain.
This is the only garden ever created by Major Lawrence Johnston. It was built between 1924 and 1958. A list has been made of all the components of this garden, among which, about 1500 rare species could not really be well established and are still much debated upon.
Indeed, they are unique. Besides a " botanic-point of view " interest, the " Serre de la Madone " garden remains exceptional conception: it is structured with numerous terraces themselves suspended over stone low walls. Surprisingly enough, it does not overlook the sea just to highlight its botanic richness.

The monastry of " l'Annonciade"

by Pavlik_NL

Steep the road climbs up from the outskirts of Menton. The narrow road makes it impossible for cars to pass one another so we pray that no-one is coming down at this moment. The raod leads to the monastry of " l'Annonciade" high above the town on a rock. The place was built in the 17th century and is very popular in Maria pelgrimages. From a hight of 225 meters one can enjoy the panorama, as well as the msytique of the chapel and the monastry. The gardens surrounding it are equally worth the detour.

Italy with a touch of France or vice versa

by Pavlik_NL

"Welcome to the gardentown of the Cote d'Azur"

The last town one meets before crossing the French Italian border is Menton. This town was part of quite a lot of empires and states, seeing some pass into oblivian and others still hanging on in present days. The town is famous for it's micro-climate that is almost tropical. Here almost all plants on earth are able to grow and blossom, making it to an ideal place for exotic gardening. This has been taken on fanatically in the last few hundred years. Menton is THE gardening town along the Cote d'Azur and offers a wide range in public gardens with numerous species.

"A microclimate due to special circumstances"

The microclimate that Menton has is created by the Alpes mountains and the Mediterranean sea. The first reach here the highest near the coast and screen of the town and vicinity from cold influences from the North and West. The sea provides moisture and takes care that the heat of the sun does not reach too high levels for fauna. Temperatures here never drop lower then 5 degrees Celsius. To give an example of the special nature here. One of the "jardins" holds a collection of over 700 different plants.

"A town with a very mixed architecture and style"

When walking through Menton one must sometimes have the feeling "where to be". Styles and architecture run through one another and though being in France, one can't supress the feeling to be in Italy as well. History recalls that here already in prehistoric times people lived. In modern times the town fell in the hands of the French only a few centuries ago. Before that it was Monagascan and belonged for a long time to the Sardinian empire.