February 17 – March 4 2012

Having been dubbed as being the ‘main winter event on the French Riviera’, the Carnival de Nice really is an event not to be missed. Being one of the largest carnivals in the world, there is an abundance of unforgettable entertainment on display during this 15 day long festival.

The many parades that feature throughout the carnival are a hypnotic mix of colour, costumes and creativity. The largest of the parades is made up of 20 floats, marches through the streets of Nice by day and by night, features over 1,000 musicians and dancers from around the world, and has a different theme running throughout it each year.

This year the theme is to be the ‘King of Sport’, which is a reference to, not only the great sporting exploits and achievements of Nice and France as a whole, but also to this year’s London Olympics.

Each year the Nice Carnival has a guest of honour, and this year it will be Great Britain, a decision, given this emphasis on sport at the Nice Carnival 2012, based fundamentally on the 2012 Olympic Games being hosted by the UK.

The Nice Carnival roots date back to the Middle Ages, when the people of Nice, according to the Catholic tradition of Lent, enjoyed a rich, plentiful and flamboyant feast before fasting for forty days.

This ostentatious feast gradually escalated in merriment and grandeur, with the earliest mention of a carnival in Nice being in 1294, when the Count of Provence, Charles d’Anjou spent the “joyous days of Carnival” in Nice.

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Histrionically poised on the most southern tip on the Cap d’Antibes, having just completed a 45 million euro restoration project and having been a hotel hub for the rich and famous since it first opened its doors in 1870, the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc has had the making of an iconic hotel, in which only the wealthiest, most glamorous and elitist of guests would stay. And boy has it lived up to expectations!

Whilst most luxury hotels across the world can ‘name drop’ a celebrity or two amongst their guests who have stayed there, the Cote d’Azur’s Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc could win a competition amongst hoteliers of whose hotel has had the highest number, and highest calibre, of famous names rest their heads there hands down, if such a competition was ever to occur!

Alongside the Hollywood megastars such as Sharon Stone, who was reported to have ordered a traditionally Irish-dressed harpist to entertain her during her stay at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, socialite Paris Hilton, who, of course with a father who runs the Hilton Hotel empire is no stranger to luxury hotels, stayed here during the

Cannes Film Festival when a Vanity Fair party was held at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.

Brad and Angelina, who were reportedly turned away during a film festival, the Windsors, Bushes, Clintons and Berlusconis are all regulars, hey even Pablo Picasso and Gary Cooper set up a shooting gallery in the gardens. Okay, okay we get the picture, the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc ten, the Marriot eight!

And being set in a plum position in 22 acres of pine trees and tropical gardens, overlooking the spectacular Cote d’Azur, it is easy to comprehend why the stars flock here in their droves.

The main part of the hotel was constructed in 1870 by the founder of Le Figaro newspaper. Picasso’s legacy lives on in the hotel, with an abundance of art works and tapestries adorning the reception’s walls.

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Luberon, basking underneath a perfect Mediterranean climate, which, for centuries, has kept both its cultural and natural assets, is an idyllic region of Provence –perfectly intact. In fact so immaculate and picturesque is the Luberon area in this highly revered region of Provence that since 1977 it has been a listed Parc Naturel Regional.

There have however been criticisms made by locals of the Luberon area, that the Italian-born fashion designer Pierre Cardin has turned the unspoilt area of Provence into one of the most expensive places in France.

In recent years the world famous fashion designer has bought 23 properties in the area, including a splendid castle that aristocrat and writer Marquis de Sade once owned.

In buying so many homes in villages such as Lacoste, the so-called medieval gem of the Luberon and home of the castle which used to belong to the notorious Marquis de Sade, locals are accusing Cardin of turning their one rural village retreat into an enclave for the rich and famous, and having made house prices soar in the area.

Although surely if one owns a property in an area, one would be grateful to anyone or anything that resulted in the value of their property being increased? A family home in the Luberon typically cost well over £1 million and £4 million villas are common.

The 89-year-old fashion designer has also converted several of his properties in Lacoste into art galleries, an act that has led to many locals believing that Cardin is transformed the Luberon from ‘traditional’ to ‘trendy’.

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The Cote de’Azur is alive and buzzing all year-round, even in February, when much of France and other European countries seem to be reduced to a late-winter lull just waiting to be woken up the spring.

The town of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, just to the southwest of France is particularly ‘alive’ in February, when it hosts the annual Fete Du Mimosa, a festival which brightens the soul and refreshes the spirit.

Birds soaring through the cloudless blue sky above the Cote d’Azur, their feathers ruffled slightly by the brisk late-winter air, you see them sweep down towards the dazzling yellow tree protruding from the cliffy rock faces, contrasting avoidably with the azure water of the Mediterranean and the equally azure sky, the air is sweet with the fragrance from the mimosa tree, and you know that winter is officially over.

This is the essence behind the celebrations that take place on the Cote d’Azur to celebrate the blossoming of the mimosas.

Between the town of Mandelieu-la-Napoule and the village of Tanneron, Europe’s largest forest of mimosa can be found and it therefore seems provident that in the town of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, locals have celebrated the emblematic mimosa flower for decades, with a horde of spectacularly colourful displays, parades , markets and arts and crafts.

This colourful and deliciously fragranced festival takes place in mid-February each year but the Cote d’Azur’s celebration of the mimosa stretch much further than a mere few days in February.

Every year the region organises a constellation of events that span from mid-January until mid-March. During this time, eight villages on the Cote d’Azur participate in the ‘La Route des Mimosas’, a “trail” that consists of various activities, guided walks, celebrations and tours, all dedicated and centred around the blossoming mimosa.

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It would be nice to be in Nice in January, to say the least. Although, this said, your experience of Nice this January could be made considerably more exquisite and memorable if you attend the International Club’s “Spotlight” cocktail evening on Thursday January 19, 2012.

The International Club in Nice was founded in 2007 by a group of internationally-minded people resident on the French Riviera. The aim of the club is to raise money for various themed charities through a series of sporting, cultural, social, business and educational events.

Nice’s International Club is in collaboration with many other International Clubs in cities across the globe and encourages it members to build up social and business contacts with the members of other International Clubs worldwide.

In short, the French Riviera’s International Club provides a social platform for both residents and visitors to the Cote d’Azur to enrich, both their experience of the cosmopolitan city of Nice, as well as their lives in general.

And what could be a better way to meet like-minded people, enhance your social and business contacts, and have a fun night out in one of Nice’s finest and trendiest hot spots, than spending Thursday January 19, 2012, at Galerie Oscar for the International Club’s “Spotlight” Cocktail Evening?

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