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ANTIBES, or rather its promontory the Cap d'Antibes, is one of the select places on the Côte d'Azur where the really rich and the very, very successful still live, or at least have residences. Yet it's not immediately obvious why this area should be so desirable: it's just as built-up as the rest of the Riviera, with no open countryside separating Golfe Juan, Juan-les-Pins and Antibes. Long-time resident Graham Greene said it was the only town on the Côte that hadn't lost its soul; perhaps he was right, though he also gave his reason for living there as simply to be with the woman he loved. Be that as it may, Antibes is extremely animated, has one of the finest markets on the coast and the best Picasso collection in its ancient seafront castle; and the southern end of the Cap still has its woods of pine, in which the most exclusive mansions hide.
The sixteenth-century Château Grimaldi is a beautifully cool, light space, with hexagonal terracotta floor tiles, windows over the sea and a terrace garden with sculptures by Germaine Richier, Miró, César and others. In 1946, Picasso was offered the dusty building - by then already a museum - as a studio. Several extremely prolific months followed before he moved to Vallauris, leaving all his Antibes output to what is now the Musée Picasso (Tues-Sun: June-Sept 10am-6pm; rest of year 10am-noon & 2-6pm; 30F/?4.58). Although Picasso donated other works later on, the bulk of the collection belongs to this one period. There's an uncomplicated exuberance in the numerous still lifes of sea urchins, the goats and fauns in Cubist non-disguise and the wonderful Ulysses and his Sirens - a great round head against a mast around which the ship, sea and sirens swirl. Picasso himself is the subject of works here by other painters and photographers, including Man Ray and Bill Brandt; there are several anguished canvases by Nicholas de Staël, who stayed in Antibes for a few months from 1954 to 1955; and works by other contemporaries and more recent artists. Alongside the castle is the cathedral, built on the site of an ancient temple. The choir and apse survive from the Romanesque building that served the city in the middle ages while the nave and stunning ochre facade are Baroque. Inside, in the south transept, is a sumptuous medieval altarpiece surrounded by immaculate panels of tiny detailed scenes.
One block inland, the morning covered market on cours Masséna overflows with Provençal goodies and a profusion of cut flowers , the traditional and still-flourishing Antibes business (June-Aug daily; rest of year closed Mon). On Friday and Sunday (plus Easter-Sept Tues & Thurs) a craft market takes over in the afternoon. When the stalls are all packed up, café tables take their place.
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