'Un jour'... on the French Riviera, discovering its heart of heritage

Eugène Fuchs founded the Fragonard perfumery in 1926, in homage to the eponymous painter from Grasse. Three generations later, and the perfumery cultivates, distils and shares with the world its fragrances inspired by essences from the local area and faraway places. It has recently opened its own museum.

There’s plenty to gain by getting lost in its maze of meandering lanes. With its 16th century gates and rampart walkway, cobblestone courtyards and gently rising steps, Biot abounds with the flavours of Provence, and the prestige of its ancestral crafts of pottery and glassware.

Here, master glassmakers have been coaxing air bubbles to their will for more than 50 years. Genuine alchemists of earth and fire, they use their blowpipes to create the unique pieces that give Biot its reputation as an international centre for glassmaking.

Fruit jellies, bonbons, lollipops, boiled sweets, chocolate, honey, preserves, and other sweet treats have been lovingly crafted in this confectioner’s since 1949, tucked away in the Gorges du Loup where the climate is perfectly suited to the cultivation of orange trees and aromatic plants.

Like an eagle’s nest perched on its lofty cliff, Moustiers-Saint-Marie has all the proud and impregnable charm of mountain villages of the Middle Ages. A waterfall hurtles down from the rock face, pouring life into the village’s many little fountains, which are almost as numerous as the earthenware studios for which the village is known.

This typical 18th century Provençal home was the birthplace of Auguste Escoffier, the father of French gastronomy. He was born in the very same room in which stands the desk where he wrote his famous Guide Culinaire, the chef’s bible.

Legend has it that here, Eve planted a lemon tree from the Garden of Eden, so much did Garavan Bay remind her of paradise. And so it was that Menton was born, with its famous festival that celebrates the wonderful citrus fruit in February every year.