cotedazur

Den franske Riviera strækker sig fra grænsen til Italien og til Rhoneflodens delta. Den er kyst for Provence-området og bliver meget besøgt af turister fra Nordeuropa og de franske storbyer.

Kysten kaldes også Côte d'Azur (= Den azurblå kyst) efter havets intense, blå farve. Lyset er meget kraftigt, og det har gennem flere hundrede år tiltrukket kunstmalere, som har arbejdet i maleriske fiskerbyer langs havet.

The Côte d'Azur (French: Côte d'Azur, Occitan: Còsta d'Azur), often known in English as the French Riviera, is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeastern corner of France, extending from Menton near the Italian border on the east to either Hyères or Cassis in the west.

The Côte d'Azur is one of the first resort areas in the world. It began as a health resort for ailing British tourists at the end of the 18th century. With the arrival of the railroad in the mid-19th century, it became the playground and vacation spot of British, Russian, and other aristocrats, such as Queen Victoria and King Edward VII, when he was Prince of Wales. In the first half of the 20th century it was frequented by artists and writers such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edith Wharton and Somerset Maugham, as well as wealthy Americans and Europeans.