Costa Azul Insolita y Secreta

La petanca con bolas cuadradas, un sorprendente pozo aéreo, vidrieras de plástico, un banco de mármol para el hijo hemofílico de la reina de Inglaterra, los instrumentos de la Pasión de Cristo, un cañón que dispara huesos de cereza, un cerdo de la buena suerte, una misteriosa pirámide, un homenaje a los agentes secretos, un pueblo trasladado, una máscara de gas para caballos, una estatua esculpida por san Lucas, resucitados que salen de sus tumbas, una trampilla en la nave de una iglesia que da a un torrente vertiginoso, un restaurante en un vagón del Oriente Express, la playa de Babar y la Isla Negra de Tintín, el castillo de la Bella Durmiente, los primeros pechos desnudos de la Costa Azul, un hotel en un árbol…

A game of pétanque played with square boules, an astonishing aerial well, stained-plastic windows, a marble bench built in memory of the Queen of England’s haemophiliac son, the instruments of the Passion of Christ, a cannon that fires cherry stones, a good-luck pig, a mysterious pyramid, a monument to secret agents, an entire village that "moved house", a gas mask for horses, a statue sculpted by Saint Luke, a chapel showing the dead rising from their tombs, a trapdoor in the nave of a church that opens onto a rushing torrent, a restaurant in an Orient Express railway car, Babar’s beach, Tintin’s Black Island, and Sleeping Beauty’s château, a chance to admire the Riviera’s first pair of naked breasts, or spend the night sleeping in a tree…

The French Riviera is not limited to the clichés of its beaches, private yachts, and luxury hotels.  For those who know how to leave behind the beaten paths, the Riviera is full of surprising details and curious sights. It will even amaze its inhabitants as well as visitors who think they know it well.