Perrier-Jouet is now planning to put its latest limited edition champagne on sale for the public – if you are lucky enough to live in Monaco that is.

The bottle was created for the Prince Albert II of Monaco and Miss Charlene Wittstock royal wedding that took place earlier this year.

It was also a symbolic choice for Perrier-Jouet as the brand was born from a love story between founder, Pierre-Nicolas Perrier and Adèle Jouet over 200 years ago. This made the limited edition version an ideal addition to the royal wedding with its romantic background.

The champagne was served in magnums at the official wedding dinner, which was held on the beautiful terrace of the Opera Garnier in Monaco.

There was also a dinner served by Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse and the Monte Carlo SBM teams. There were around 500 guests including European royalty, Heads of State and other notable personalities.

The champagne chosen for the occasion was describes as the “ultimate expression of elegance and refinement of Perrier-Jouet distinctive signature style” by Hervé Deschamps – the cellar master of the Perrier-Jouet house.

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The Monte Carlo SBM Resort is playing host to this year’s edition of the Monte Carlo Jazz Festival, in partnership with Rolex and Audi.

This year the festival will be held in the Salle Garnier – one of Monaco’s most prestigious venues, which will lend its unique ambience to the proceedings. The programme runs over 3 days, with the opening night featuring some of the World’s greatest guitarists, and the following night boasting a set by clarinettist and sax player Michel Partal.

There is also an appearance by drummer and composer, Aldo Romano. The final night introduces an array of upcoming Jazz musicians that explore the frontiers of Jazz by blending it with alternative musical styles such as hard rock and folk music.

The main and final set will be performed by Avishai Cohen; a bassist and pianist and composer who has become one of the most symbolic figures in contemporary music. His sound compromises jazz, world, pop, hard-bop and traditional music, and it is said to be worth getting a ticket for him alone.

The festival is a must-see for jazz fans of all ages, and combines tradition and innovation in its mix of performers. Legendary personalities are billed alongside major names for the future to demonstrate the constant evolution of jazz music.

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Is it any wonder, with its ancient sea port, and an ambitious cultural package that features more than 74 artistic projects for a budget of 98 billion euros, the bustling and cosmopolitan city of Marseille, with more than one million inhabitants, beat its French rivals, Lyon, Toulouse and Bordeaux to be announced winners of the European Capital of Culture in 2013.

Whilst Marseille’s excitement at being crowned the queen of culture in 2013 may have finally settled down, the news that there is to be a merger between Orange and the Marseille-Provence 2013 European Capital of Culture has ruffled Marseille’s colourful cultural feathers once more, as the event is now anticipated to be a major technological showcase as well as a cultural one.

In the year 2013, Marseille, the largest city on the Cote d’Azur, will hold hundreds of artistic and cultural events, which will bring the whole province flamboyantly alive.

But now, through the strong partnership with Orange, the 400 planned events will be accessible to an expected audience of 10 million, as the spectacular occasions and events taking place on the Cote d’Azur will now be transmitted in real time, thanks to a series of innovative technology and services.

Through the use of augmented reality, GPS positioning will be available, enabling spectators to interactively share their favourite moments of this monumental occasion on the Cote d’Azur, but particularly Marseille, with friends and family.

The 2013 European Capital of Culture events will pool all the assets and strengths of Marseille and the Cote d’Azur province together, with the government, public authorities, leading institutions and some of the region’s most prominent artists, uniting together to become a single dynamic force.

The city of Marseille has never been a stranger to producing avant-garde, inspiring and innovative projects, events, artwork and architecture, but in 2013 this cosmopolitan French city promises to take the meaning of cultural innovation to new heights.

Fashion is a truly artistic expression of an individual’s identity and this artistic expression is embedded firmly into the culture of the Cote d’Azur.

Obviously inspired by the stark emphasis on fashion, uniqueness and identity, the British fashion and music photographer, Rowan Smith based himself in Cannes, one of the style-conscious capitals of the world.

As well as being dubbed as ‘one of the sexiest Englishmen on the Cote d’Azur!’ photographer Rowan Smith, is one of the most respected and revered photographers on the French Riviera. His talents in photography excel beyond fashion photography alone and have branched Rowan Smith into music, maritime, scapes, people, and digital, as well as, of course, fashion.

So compelling is fashion photography in Cannes that each year a Festival of Fashion Photography is held in the French Riviera town. The Cannes Fashion Photography Festival has been a roaring success for eight consecutive years, which gives the residents and visitors of Cannes the possibility to feature in the vast display of images spread across the town.

Each year a panel of judges award three prizes for the best photographers, based on creativity, imagination and ‘daringness’.

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When we think of the Cote d’Azur, the words that immediately form in our mind are ‘beauty’, ‘glamour’, ‘wealth’, ‘exquisiteness’ and ‘quality’, with the word ‘gypsies’ rarely making the list altogether.

Although you would be mistaken if you were to think that gypsies had no connection to this sublimely striking stretch of coastline. The town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, meaning “Saint Marys of the Sea”, is the capital of the Camargue and boasts a vibrant history of being a town honoured by a succession of cultures, including Romans, Celts, Christians and, most recently, Roman Gypsies.

After the arrival of gypsies in Europe in the early 1400s, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, became a popular place for gypsies to reside, although the reasons for this remain hazy and ambiguous. The town’s remoteness is one valid reason why this small fishing village on the Cote d’Azur became a prevalent destination for gypsies, meaning they could remain predominantly hidden from the bustle encountered on other places on this stretch of Mediterranean coastline.

According to local legend in the village, shortly after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, was the place of residence for Mary Magdalene, Marie-Jacobe, Marie-Salome  and several of the other disciples, who were forced to free the Holy Land in 45AD.

After a treacherous journey across the Mediterranean, the women landed their boat in the town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where they became honoured by the local people. In light of this veneration, the church in the town, enshrines three wooden statues, one being Marie-Salome, one being Marie-Jacobe and the other being of Sara-la-Kali, whose identity remains a mystery.
The mysterious female statue remains the hub of worship of gypsies, who gather here each May, to embark on the ‘Pelerinage des Gitans’ meaning ‘Pilgrimage of the Gypsies’. Many of the gypsies believe that Sara was an important queen of the village who welcomed tired travellers to the shores of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

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