For decades ballet has been an important artistic expression in Monte Carlo. In 1985, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo was founded, a classical ballet company, which is the official national dance company of the Principality of Monaco, that was established by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hanover in accordance with the wishes of her mother, Princess Grace of Monaco.

Since its inauguration, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, has attracted some of the biggest and most highly-esteemed names in the world of ballet, with its opening performance in 1985 casting several of the Paris Opera as guest stars.

In 1992 the world-renowned and highly influential French dancer and choreographer, Jean-Christophe Maillot, joined Les Ballets de Monte Carlo as an artistic consultant, and was quickly promoted to director of choreography. Because of Maillot’s passion, creative vision and energy, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, helped to create an increased demand and popularity, moved to a much bigger and glamorous location at the new congress centre in Monaco, known as the Grimaldi Forum.

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If you fancy taking a break from the shimmering beaches, chic bars and exclusive boutiques that adorn the coastline, pay a visit to Place des Lices to discover the rustic charm of St. Tropez.

Located in the heart of St. Tropez, the town’s open air market provides a treasure trove of items that you wouldn’t find in the luxury stores dotted around the area. There is also a historical side to the market, with 100 year old trees dividing the area into 7 long arcades.

This creates the perfect set up for the rows of market stalls that fill Place des Lices every Tuesday and Saturday. Without the stalls, the view down the tree-lined arcade today is exactly the same as it was when it was captured in 1936.

On non-market days boule players take over Place des Lices in the morning, forming small groups that play until the early hours of the next morning.

The trees form the backbone of the market’s shopping arcades, but these are usually left hidden by the canopies of the branches, which also overlap the umbrellas that the vendors set up around their stalls.

Place des Lices began to take shape in the early 1800s when 12 plane trees were planted, and it is thought that the area dates back to the 9^th or 10^th century when it was most likely used as a jousting ground (the definition of “lices”).

The St. Tropez market can’t really be defined as a typical ‘Farmers market’ as not all of the vendors grow the produce that they sell. The majority of them buy fruits and veg from major regional wholesalers, such as Draguignan – about 50km North from St. Tropez. However, you are able to find some local farmers, as well as vendors who make their own produce and sell prepared items such as olives and breads.

With the mixture of local wholesale and farm produce, the market is a great place to find some Provenҫal specialities.

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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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