Crème brûlée and flea markets
Disclaimer: I thought it would be fun to share my insights and the things I genuinely loved from my holiday – nothing sponsored whatsoever!
I have been to France a few times now, always with my husband César to visit his family in Nîmes and often we stop on our way out in Paris for a few nights.
It was so much fun to visit Paris and the south of France with my photographer friend, Taylor Kezia and refreshing to see some new places in different ways and with someone who loves to dawdle as much as I do.
You will notice that most of my shots from France are on film, which is something to talk about another day!
Paris
It turns out that when you visit a city as beautiful and as large as Paris with a bestie it takes a little longer to see the sights! We also unfortunately experienced a heatwave which slowed us down significantly.
Continually distracted by decadent pastries, thirst-quenching cocktails, grand interiors and exteriors, exquisite robes and sparkling towers, Taylor and I waltzed our way around town with cameras and goodie bags in hand for four sunny days, including each of our birthdays!
We flew into Paris on a Friday night so that we could visit a flea market on Saturday. I directed us to one on the outskirts of the city in Porte de Vanves as it had a more authentic atmosphere compared to that of Saint Ouen (from what I read online).
I had set myself some flea market purchase goals prior to my visit so that I could keep myself accountable and not buy too much… simply as I was restricted by my suitcase!
There were so many places that we didn’t even get to that was on our list, but I know that I will return some day! Below are some of our favourites from the places we visited
EAT
Chez Janou – I could have visited many times to try different things on the menu
Perruche – for “Bellini Boy” and the view of the Eiffel Tower, I do recommend booking a table, though we got lucky with a late-night seat at the bar with a view of the tower and it was so so lovely
La Marine – in a more casual suburban area of Paris, we had one of the most delightful meals there
La Fontaine de Mars – I had a delicious terrine here for dinner before we went to see the tower sparkle
Mamiche – pastries and sandwiches around Paris
Stay
Hotel Les Deux Gares – My recommendation of this hotel comes in two parts.
It was super beautifully decorated and also conveniently located between two major train stations, which made getting to a variety of different metro lines very easy, as well as arriving via train from the airport.
However, I do think that next time I would opt to stay somewhere that felt a smidge more central. I loved walking about St-Germain-des-Pres, and will see if I can find a hotel there next time.
VISIT
Porte de Vanves flea market – authentic and many small bits and bobs that fit in your suitcase!
Napoleon III apartments at the Louvre (reopened in June 2024)
Jardin du Luxembourg – always a favourite to wander around
Musée Jacquemart-André – an incredible Museum of a traditional Parisian townhouse with incredible artworks and an iconic stairwell
Eiffel Tower – at night to see it sparkle, bien sur!
SHOP
Officine Universelle Buly 1803 – line up if you dare for a custom-engraved comb like we did
Merci Paris – fun homewares and souvenirs
Marin Montagaut – a beautiful store for souvenirs
Sezane – a favourite French clothing brand
PROVENCE
Three days in Provence - not long enough!
After the stifling heat of Paris, the breeze from the hills across to the pool terrace at our most wonderful Provençal accommodation was everything we could have wanted.
Tempting as it was to stay poolside with David bringing us Aperol Spritz, we strolled for an entire day around L’isle Sur Le Sorgue and on the next we navigated to the mountaintop villages of Gordes, Bonnieux and Lourmarin.
And before we drove east to the coast we detoured to another flea market. Alas no petite still life painting for me, but I did buy some antique garments from a lovely old lady with whom I managed to communicate in my broken french.
Le Petit Chateau
The best accommodation of my entire trip! Taylor and I had spent hours trawling websites to find places to stay in the South of France. We found that many of them would look gorgeous outside (the hero shot of the listing) and then the inside would be incredibly drab. Or, the properties we loved were booked out, did not have air conditioning, or was way out of our price range.
Le Petit Chateau ticked all our boxes: air con (which we needed during the heat wave we had), a pool, in a quiet village near a few amenities, beautiful inside and out. It also had fabulous reviews.
We absolutely loved our stay there and highly, highly recommend David and Jeannette’s charming bed and breakfast.
L’Isle sur le Sorgue
We spent a whole Thursday wandering around this lovely little village. A local produce and craft market was on through the morning which was so lovely to wander through.
There are lots of lovely shops in this village including many, many, antique shops. We probably could have planned things a bit better but we stumbled across these lovely places for food, drinks and treats:
Honoré – lovely alfresco dining
Olive et Raisin – we had a little wine on the edge of the canal here and it was so lovely!
La Maison Jouvaud – also a lovely homewares shop
VISIT
These are the villages we loved visiting during our stay in Provence:
Gordes
Lourmarin
Bonnieux
Avignon
flea MARKETs
Villeneuve-les-Avignon – we visited this market and it was in such a lovely setting and had many beuaatiful things in all sorts of sizes
L’isle sur le Sorgue – we didn’t get to attend this one but apaprently it is hectic!
use the Broc-a-Brac website to find flea markets local to you
Coté d’Azur
From Provence, we drove at a spicy 120 kilometres an hour to the Côte d’Azur, where we stayed a couple of nights in both Antibes and Nice.
Antibes was hard to fall in love with due to some lacklustre accommodation. Though we stumbled across a wonderful restaurant in the Old Town on our last day that left a lasting impression – enticed by the arrangements of ruby tomatoes, purple eggplants and other lush fresh produce that complimented the cherry red gingham tablecloths.. oh and they had Crème Brûlée on the menu!
Nice was very nice! I hadn’t known what to expect of it, but I loved its colourful city buildings and we had a few very relaxed days there. The first day we spent exploring Villa Kerylos and after we ate the most amazing tarte tartin ice-cream and carried a takeaway pizza down to the tiktok viral Paloma Plage.
Another we spent 7 hours on a sunbed by the ocean and it was all I ever wanted. And our final day we walked around the village, stumbling across a food market where I bought two Nicoise specialties: pissaladiere and a pan bagnat.
Antibes
Chez Jules – one of our favourite meals in France!
Old Town – lovely for a wander, nice shops and lovely food markets
Beaulieu-sur-Mer
Villa Kerylos – a beautiful greek villa
Saint-jean-cap-Ferrat
Plage Paloma – TikTik viral
Plage des Fossettes – not viral but just as beautiful and less people!
Nice
Le Plongeoir – for a fancy dinner at this iconic location
Opera Plage sun beds – cheap and a lovely way to spend the day in comfort. Don’t expect much frm the food but the drinks were perfectly fine!
Old town and daily markets
hunt down the local foods: pissaladiere and pan bagnat