The old village nestled amid lush vegetation
Valbonne was the very first village to be featured on our site. This is understandable since the part of the park of Sophia Antipolis where we live belongs to the Valbonne township, so we are really talking about "our" village. Since so many people (alright, one person) kept insisting that the Valbonne page was in dire need of an update, which was not altogether wrong, I finally gave in, grabbed my camera, and took a whole batch of new Valbonne images on July 29, 2012. Together with a few photos from 2004, I had enough material to not only give this page a serious overhaul but to recreate it from scratch.
The old village of Valbonne is laid out in a grid pattern; you can take a look at this handy map if you want to orient yourself and see where some street names given in certain captions are located. For more information about Valbonne, you can check Provence Beyond or Valbonne's own site. In the meantime, enjoy a pictorial visit to one of our favorite villages!
Click on any image to see a larger (1500 x 1000 pixel) version!
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The bell tower of the old mairie (town hall) |
The heart of the old village |
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The imposing Auberge Provençale |
View from the Auberge Provençale on the Place des Arcades |
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Café des Arcades |
Place des Arcades |
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In the Café des Arcades |
In the Café des Arcades |
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The Place des Arcades is the center of the old village |
The terrace of the Terra Rossa restaurant |
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Place des Arcades view |
The old mairie (town hall) |
The fontaine neuve (1836) |
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Municipal billboard |
The 'wine fountain'... |
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...is closed. |
Valbonne people love plants and flowers! |
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The old church and the new town hall |
The church is about 800 years old |
The interior is pleasantly austere |
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What's left of the old abbey |
Abbey and church are quite a bit older than the village |
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The new town hall is designed to lead the eye to the old church |
The Square Ouvrier... |
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...has a fountain... |
...with real fish! |
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Village house |
Still here! (my first image of this door dates from 1998) |
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The English bookstore |
The Rue Grande: Main Street |
A village boulodrome |
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Rue du Faubourg Saint Esprit |
Boulevard Carnot |
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The Queen's Legs pub is not likely to be open at 8:53 a.m. |
Along the Rue Gambetta |
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Dumanois is rather expensive... |
...but their product is excellent. |
Do you miss our old Valbonne page? You can still take a look at it here.
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This page was last modified on July 29, 2012
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