La Vie Rothschild

It is always fun to drop in on the 1% of any century.

Today we went to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, where Baroness Beatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild built her grand villa and gardens early in the last century. Her estate overlooks both the bay and the ocean, and is drop-dead spectacular, barely vulgar at all!

Borrowing freely from all her favorite architectural styles, and favoring every game table, desk and bibelot ever owned by Marie Antoinette and her husband, Beatrice created a surprisingly light and entrancing mansion, which has what must be some of the most amazing views on the Riviera.

The rooms are spectacular, but what the windows frame just takes your breathe away.

And then, there are the many gardens, with themes ranging from the local Provencal vegetation, to the exotic desert flora, to Japanese and Spanish creations. There is just no limit to what one can achieve with 35 gardeners, it seems.

We had a lovely lunch (one salade niçoise, of course) at the villa, with another fabulous view.

Then we strolled down to the village of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, walking along a lovely promenade that includes some features as David Niven’s home – which looks gorgeous, even from the side not facing the sea. Lots of wonderful sights, including Paloma Picasso’s favorite beach. Guess Pablo was ensconced nearby.

Oh yes, the 1% know where to go and how to go there.  How nice of them to let us visit!