The Côte d’Azur has long tempted travellers of the royal, literary and glamorous variety, offering an array of waterside enticements from Marseille’s laid-back aura to the glitz and sophistication of Saint-Tropez (its allure cemented by Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s Et Dieu... créa la Femme). Synonymous with old world travel, wealth and beauty, in France’s south time slows, the sea entices and postcards from yesteryear seem oddly familiar. It was for these reasons that Arturo Bamboo embarked on a French Riviera road trip, armed with rolls of film and a sense of adventure. 

Their route took them from Marseille and Cassis (famed for its Middle Eastern culinary offerings and the Massif des Calanques respectively), to Porquerolles and Le Lavandou, where nights were passed in Relais & Châteaux decadence and lunches were enjoyed at the brilliantly laid-back Chez Jo, a local treasure. There was Saint-Tropez decadence (provided in spades by Club 55) and a Nice evening feast atop historic diving boards at Le Plongeoir. Their journey - after a pause at Eze to stay at the fairy-tale-like Château de la Chèvre - ended at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and with an obligatory visit to the nearby Cap Moderne, a must for lovers of Le Corbusier’s Modernist wonders. This road trip, punctuated by countless pauses to photograph soft light and holiday vibes and partake in beach-side bottles of wine, resulted in a series of vintage-inspired images that will inevitably stir up feelings of wanderlust and leave you pondering the possibility of travelling along the Côte d’Azur forever. 

Arturo Bamboo is the working name for Arthur Groenveld and Bamboo van Kampen, lovers of all things analogue and dedicated, wherever possible, to travel, vintage film and cameras. You can see their Côte d’Azur images in print, published alongside a detailed description of their trip, in the latest issue of Lodestars Anthology.

www.arturo-bamboo.com / @arturobamboo 

Credit: Lodestars Anthology Editor and founder Liz Schaffer
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