The popular impression of the French Riviera is of a land of balmy zephyrs and of an ever-smiling nature. Are there not orange and lemon trees in the gardens? Do not heliotropes, carnations, marguerites and roses flower all the winter out of doors?
Are not primulas and cyclamen bedded out in November, and cinerarias in January? And are not the happy ladies pictured lightly clad and holding up a sunshade even on Christmas Day?
It is so, and yet the French Riviera is not a veritable Avalon.
At the risk of unpopularity in certain quarters we deem it advisable to point out that there is another side to the question and that while visitors should come prepared for boundless sunshine they should also bear in mind that even on the French Coast there are occasional cold days and chilly corners against which it is necessary to be forearmed.
It is common to talk of the French Coast climate, and even this section is so headed, whereas the French Coast has a dozen climates, but all have one notable quality in common, namely the great amount of sunshine. There is something like nine times as much sunshine on the French Riviera as in England, and the sunshine on the French Riviera is quite different from that in England, where watery vapour gives a whitish hue to the sky and mitigates the power of the sun’s rays.
The mean temperatur during the winter months ti is is only some 5° higher at Nice or Cannes than at Torquay or Falmouth, but at the former places there is in the sun a temperature of 75° or 80° and the English winter resorts cannot promise that.
On the other hand, the have this advantage over the French Riviera resorts: their daily temperature is less varied.
This is due to the fact that the higher temperature of the French Coast in winter is that of the sun. The are not under its influence is usually cold.
Those who visit the Cote d’Azur in winter for the first time often think that summer clothing only is necessary. ” Never was there a greater mistake,” said Dr, Bennett, the great authority on the climate of the region.
Summer clothes are useless from December to May.
Those required are the light but warm woollen clothes we wear during our cold Spring and autumn with light over-garments. The latter can seldom be safely dispensed with even on the sunniest and warmest winter days, on account of the great difference between the sunshine and the shade.
To the inequality of the daily temperature as one of the drawbacks of the winter climate of the Cote d’Azur must be added the windiness of the region, especially in the first four months of the year.
The worst of the winds is the Mistral, magistral or master wind, to which reference has already been made.
It is due to the inrush of cold air replacing rarefied air which ascends from the heated coast.
The mountains bordering the French Riviera compel the cold northern currents to turn round their western flank and so become a north-west wind.
Another wind which originates in the north is the Tramontane.
It is hardly felt in the sheltered spots. Passing over the mountains in its path, it strikes the sea at a considerable distance from the shore where it may he seen raising big waves.
Occasionally when it has passed over the coast, the atmospheric conditions reflect it, and it returns as a cold south wind. Originating in the African deserts is the Sirocco, which comes as a south-cast wind, and is chiefly experienced in spring and summer. When the mountains of Corsica are heavily laden with snow, the sirocco is sometimes accompanied by sleet which is called the Neige de Corse.
With the exception of the sirocco, the south winds are not of great importance during the French Riviera winter season. That from the south-west is not a wet wind, as in the British Isles, as it has been deprived of its moisture in passing over the Spanish mountains. The cast wind of the French Riviera also differs from the British east wind in being less dry.
Generally welcome winds are the land and sea breezes, caused by the difference in the temperature of the land and the sea, and experienced in fine settled weather. The mollifying influence which the sea exercises on the climate of the neighbouring land is here greater than that of the Atlantic upon the winter climate of the western coast of Great Britain, because the temperature of the Mediterranean is higher than that of the Atlantic.
Finally, by reason of the latitude of the French Coast the sun has much greater power there at all seasons than it has over the coast regions of the British Isles.
In the six months, November to April, there are, speaking generally, six rainy days per mouth in the south of France, as against fifteen days in time south of England.
For the whole period, Nice has, on an average, 36,2 rainy days; London 89,5; but the quantity of rain which falls at Nice during that time approaches double the quantity which falls at London. Throughout the Riveria, when it rains, it pours, but thoroughly cloudy days and days of incessant rain are rare and occur chiefly at the autumn and spring equinoxes.
We have dwelt at some length on the less pleasing features of the French Coast climates in the endeavour to counteract extravagant reports which have led to so many disappointments.
If we mention cold winds, it is but to emphasize the fact that even on the French Coast in winter the rays of the sun are cut off at morn and eve by the horizon and that when the sun is not shining the air is distinctly cool.
But the world-wide reputation of the French Coast has been built on the predominant circumstance that it does receive, especially during the winter months, a far greater amount of sunshine than almost any other place in Europe.
By reason of the dryness of the climate of the Cote d’Azur, the great characteristic of the vegetation is the evergreen nature of the trees and shrubs. And by reason of the comparatively high temperature much of the vegetation has the additional charm of being semi-tropical.
Everywhere along the coast are palio trees in abundance. They look so much at home that it comes almost as a shock to learn that they are all foreigners, as indeed are nearly all the trees which attract the notice of the visitor by their foliage, flowers or fruit.
A charming tree cultivated as an ornament is the Californian Pepper, owing its name to the pepper-corn form and taste of its red berries, which hang in pretty grape-like bunches. The heaves may cause time tree to be mistaken for all acacia, of which the French Riviera has an endless variety.
They are known by the general name of Mimosa, and form one of the most beautiful of the floral sights of the region, which is indebted for them to Australia.
Also from Australia are the Eucalyptus or Blue Gum Trees.
Preferring stony, burnt-up soils are the Carouba or locust trees, among the most striking on the coast by reason of their dense crown of glassy foliage. Luxuriant specimens are met with between Villefranche and San Remo, either isolated on the sunny shore or in olive gloves.
Of never-failing interest are the olive trees.
Their riven and twisted trunks excite pity, until one has learned that they may have weathered the storms of centuries and may weather as many more. The fruit is generally harvested by being knocked down by means of long canes, a method mentioned in Deuteronomy xxiv., 20, together with aim incitement to generosity towards the poor.
Not everywhere along the French Riviera are both orange and lemon trees to be seen, as the latter are less hardy than time former. As the lemon tree flowers all the year round, there are upon it flowers and fruit of all ages at the same time.
As the sweet oranges grown on the French Coast are not, as a rule, of first-class quality with the exception of the Mandarines, it is the bitter variety of orange which is principally cultivated, and that less for its fruit than for its flower, used in the manufacture of perfume.
A fruit tree which the uninitiated may easily mistake at first sight for a laden orange tree is the Kaki, a native of Japan.
The fruit begins to ripen in October, but it must be over-ripe before eaten, and care must be taken not to put into the mouth a piece of the skin, which is exceedingly astringent. The interior is pulp, somewhat between plum jam and apricot jam both in appearance and taste.
In striking contrast to the prevailing evergreens are the fig trees, whose great sprawling, crooked branches are naked when the winter visitors begin to arrive. One will look in vain for the bloom, as that is inside what we call the fruit.
Interspersed with the oranges and the figs there are trees of the almond, peach, apricot, mulberry, medlar, plum, cherry, pear, apple and quince, and as Dean Hole declared, “the bloom of these fruit trees amid the evergreens is a sight to make an old man young.”
Hardly to be recognized on account of its size is the castor-oil plant, and those visitors who carefully cultivate an india-rubber tree in a pot will stand incredulous and amazed before the veritable forest trees in the Monte Carlo garden and elsewhere.
Mostly in stony ground and among rocks are prickly pears and other cacti. And forming a striking feature of early spring arc the flowering aloes, whose spikes of orange or scarlet flowers somewhat resemble the ” red-hot pokers ” of English gardens. Commonly but erroneously called an aloe is the Agave, which came from South America to Europe in 1561.
When, on the Mediterranean coast, it has been growing for 10 to 15 years, it sends up a flower stem which in a remarkably short time attains a height of from 15 to 20 feet, and has produced horizontal branches which bear at the extremity bunches of greenish-yellow flowers, which may expand in May.
With its flowers expanded it is, as the peasants cali it, God’s candelabra.
Giving, when bearing its magnificent plume, quite an Eastern touch to the landscape in many spots is the Great Reed, the Arundo Donax, commonly called a bamboo.
Of the other vegetable productions nothing more can be said here but a word or two about the flowers which are in great demand for exportation and for the manufacture of perfume, so that their cultivation is general and has reached enormous proportions.
If abundantly watered, the soil, warmed by the sun, will grow almost anything. The rapidity and luxuriance of growth astonish visitors from northern climes. Astonishment and interest also will be ecited by a visit to a flower and vegetable market in one of the great towns as Cannes, Monte Carlo, Saint Tropez and Nice.
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