Lord Norman Foster is one of the world’s most pioneering, accredited and celebrated architects.

In 2013, the city of Marseille on France’s exquisite Cote d’Azur will become the European Capital of Culture and it has been announced that the British architect Norman Foster will be renovating Marseille’s port ahead of the city’s 2013 accolade.

From designing Monaco’s ultra-glamorous yacht club, to designing the World Port Centre in Rotterdam maritime architecture, Norman Foster is no stranger to maritime architecture.

But how exactly will the legendary British architecture transform Marseille’s 2,600 year old port?

Working in collaboration with the French landscape designer Michel Designer and Emmanuel Dujardin, reports are emerging that the three architectural geniuses plan to make Marseille’s port more accessible to tourists and residents by pedestrianizing several of the lanes that run along the waterfront where a new sandstone promenade will frame the shore.

Talking about the project in a press statement, Lord Foster said:

“I know the port….I want to make it better.”

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Jacques and Laurent Pourcel, the twin sons of a winegrower who grew up on the shores of the Mediterranean in the Herault region of France, are currently the youngest chefs to hold three Michelin stars.

These world-renowned French chefs opened their first restaurant, Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier, in 1988, which was quickly awarded in recognition for its elegant, creative Mediterranean cooking.

In 2000, the talented duo branched out onto an international stage, opening restaurants in Geneva, Casablanca, Paris, Tokyo, Bangkok and Marrakesh.

In Paris, the restaurant ‘La Maison Blanche’, located at 15 ‘so chic’ Avenue Montaigne, is perched above the ‘Theatre des Champs Elysees’, and provides a piece of heaven looking right across the Paris roof tops. Having taken Paris and pretty much every city in the world by storm, the Montpellier twin chefs are returning to the south of France and opening a restaurant in Cannes.

Named the Sea Sens, this super-chic new restaurant is located in The Five Hotel, one of the most luxurious hotels in the whole of Cannes. The restaurant’s lavish décor comprises of deck chairs beneath huge flower murals, whilst its decidedly exquisite menu includes Asian-spiced cuisine, Blue Lobster and truly delectable dessert creations, and a Sunday brunch that has been described as being one of the ‘best on the Cote d’Azur’.

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In the late 1800s Russian, Belgian and English royalty flocked to the town of Grasse on the Cote d’Azur to construct stately “Belle Epoque” mansions, and in doing so helped to pin the French Riviera firmly on the map as being a favourite holiday destination for the aristocracy.

For the last three centuries, Grasse has been considered to be the ‘perfume capital of the world’, an industry which today pulls in 600 million Euros a year and produces almost all over the perfume made in France.

Although Grasse has not always enjoyed being at the height of noble culture that it first experienced in the late 19^th century.  During the 1970s when the likes of St Tropez, Cap d’ Antibes, Cap Ferrat and Cap Martin were luring the world’s most affluent and elite to purchase lavish second homes to escape to in the winter, the town of Grasse had lost its patina.

Four decades later, the situation in Grasse could not be more different and the town has certainly returned to its former glory as being one of the most sought-after places on the Cote d’Azur to be seen in. Talking about the rise and demise of Grasse, Jill de Moleyns, who works for Riviera Estates said:

“It [Grasse] was where everyone wanted to come to because of its perfume reputation. Then the local council built a lot of cheap housing for the wave of North African immigration and people started to look elsewhere.

“But Grasse is getting back to the city it used to be. As the oldest part of the Cote d’Azur, Grasse has a fantastic, safe historic centre and the houses have great character.”

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Held at the Ephrussi de Rothschild Villa at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, one of the most exclusive, luxurious and naturally stunning locations on the whole of the Cote d’Azur, is the Roses and Plants Festival, a highly anticipated and popular event aimed at presenting beautiful displays of different types of roses.

From 6 – 8 May, 2012, the Ephrussi de Rothschild Villa’s famous Rose Garden of Beatrice will be hosting the region’s third Rose and Plants Festival.

Demonstrating the love and enthusiasm that the Baroness Ephrussi de Rothschild had towards roses, some of the most talented and recognised rose growers from France, Europe and beyond will gather in this luxurious French garden in early May to showcase their breath-taking creations to the crowds of visitors who eagerly ascend on the Ephrussi de Rothschild Villa to witness rose growing at its very best.

All of the arrangements of roses on display at the festival will be significantly enhanced with their colour, fragrance and vivacity augmented by their harmonious surroundings of palm trees, fountains and pink umbrellas.

This particularly colourful festival on the Cote d’Azur enchants its visitors with not only some of the most stunning rose displays they will have likely to seen,, consisting of both old and modern roses, but also perennials of exotic plants and flowers from around the world.

Asides musing through the wonderful displays of roses and exotic flowers and plants, guests attending this year’s Rose and Plants Festival at the Ephrussi de Rothschild Villa will have the chance to attend perfume workshops held by the legendary rose grower Delbard.

For the second year running the inimitable French Delbard Roses, with their animated colour and sweet-smelling fragrance, is working in partnership with this eagerly-awaited event. As well as French Delvard Roses being involved in the festival, Fragonard, the legendary perfumer from Grasse will be presenting his unique range of fragrances at this year’s event.

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The Cote d’Azur simply exudes sophistication and is one of the most multi-cultural regions in the whole of Europe. Although it has to be said that one of the most international spots on the Cote d’Azur is an albeit unlikely place – a technology park known as Sophia Antipolis.

Europe’s leading international business park is located between Antibes and Nice. Building the state-of-the-art technology park took a whopping 14 years, starting in 1970 and not completed until 1984.

Sophia Antipolis is known as being a hub in the “Telecom Valley” and is a landmark in the world of invention, science, research and innovation, with a focus on developing an international environment and community.

This world-renowned park is named after Sophie Glikman-Toumarkine, wife of Pierre Laffitte, a French Senator who founded the park. As ‘Sophia’ is the Greek word for wisdom, a Greek theme runs throughout the architecture and design of the technology park, and asides many of the roads within the park having Greek names, there is a huge sculptured Greek urn as a centre-piece on one of the roundabouts.

Surrounding this “hub in Tele-com valley” is a huge national park. The wild boar that live in the park have occasionally been known to walk through Sophia Antipolis’s streets, which also attracts a community of bats after dark!

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