| Biot
and the local area Côte d'Azur, South of France Biot
is built on a headland that is typical of this type of hill top village (Mougins,
St Paul de Vence, Cagnes old town etc) and overlooks the sea. It is one of the
art centres of the south of France.It is famous for its decorative pottery and
glasswork. Apart
from its beautiful location, a major reason to visit Biot is for the potteries
and glassworks (Verreries) and the Fernand Léger Museum (Musée Fernand Léger). The artist Fernand
Léger made the village his home and both it and its people had a profound effect
on his work. Unlike some of the neighbouring hill top villages, Biot has not been spoilt
by too many art shops, estate agents and expensive restaurants. It still retains
much of its cobbled streets.It is located in the département of Alpes-Maritimes
(06) and the région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. If
you want to drive to the village there is plenty of car parking in the village,
although this gets very full in July and August.
 Click
Here for more photos of Biot In
the summer a Shuttle bus (Navette) is available and visitors from outside the
area are encouraged to use the car parks outside the village and take the Shuttle
in and out. You can walk to the
village in approximately 6 minutes from one of the two Navette car parks. There
are many excellent restaurants cafes and bars there, each with their own character.
La Restaurant Hotel Galerie des Arcades, La Pierre a Four
Restaurant le Migranier, Le Café de
la Poste, Chez Odile,
Café Brun and Creperie du Vieux are amongst the selection. Biot
is approximately 5 km to the sea.
Nice airport is 15km away, Cannes
10km, Antibes &
Juan les Pins (very nice beaches here and restaurants
on the beach) 8/12 km and Nice
is 25km away (Lovely old town area here)(CLICK
HERE FOR Fact File Nice) Apart
from the museums and other historical attractions, by the sea close to Biot SNCF
station is Le
Parc de la Mer - Marineland Europe’s largest Marine
theme park is approximately 4 km away (althouch technically in Antibes). It was
founded in 1970 by Roland de la Poype.
It is currently owned by a Spanish group Parques Reunidos.
Going inland towns like Grasse are well worth a visit
2006
The Verrerie de Biot celebrates 50 years of business History
of Glassmaking in Biot - 1956 - 2006: It is an entire family history: the creation
of the Glassmaking in Biot and glass bubbles by Eloi Monod in 1956. In 1973 the
Lechaczynski family started to promote the traditional means of manufacturer using
the hand made manufacture process of glass with bubbles in and to promote their
product. There
has been fifty years of creative passion in the style of the glass and to promote
the products made in the Verrerie de Biot on the edge of the hilltop village of
Biot throughout the world. 
In addition to sixty retail outlets swelling their products
in France, The Verrerie de Biot exports its creations ton Austria, Belgium, Canada,
Japan, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States.
This
is a very successful commercial venture with the specialized market of glass manufacture
with bubbles in it and has become a major tourist attraction on the Côte d'Azur
attracting over 700,000 visitors a year to the Verrerie and they have a turnover
of four million euros. Since
2000 Jean and Danièle Lechaczynski have passed on the running of the business
to their children who continue with the successful management of this family enterprise
and as Anne Lechaczynski says "they are manufacturing the traditional products
with the style of the day but also adding an innovation and a permanent modernism" To
celebrate its fifty years, the Glassmaking of Biot launches a selection of glass
products called The Riviera, in a contemporary design.The Verrerie de Biot has
developed their own Internet site to sell the products on line The
Verrerie de Biot is located at Chemin des Combes - 06410 BIOT. It is very well
signposted with distinctive purple signs. Opening
Hours: Summer: Every day : de 9 H 30 à 20 H Sundays and
Bank Holidays : 10 H - 13 H & 14 H 30 - 19 H 30 Winter: Every
day: 9 H 30 - 18 H Sundays and Bank Holidays: 10 H 30 - 13 H & 14 H 30 - 18
H
30 Web
Site in English - La
Verrerie de Biot June
2011: La Verrerie de Biot is now charging for parking: On
a visit there in June 2011, I discovered that they had introduced a car parking
charghe. Barriers have been installed and you only get 10 minutes free parking
and after that the costs are from 2 euros upwards. If you buy glas then this is
refunded. Personally I think this is a great shame as they get countless visitors
and not everyone wants to buy glass there. No doubt they have researched the economic
benefits for this decision, but it does seem rather strange. There would no advantage
for the visitors to Biot to park there and then walk up to the village as there
are FREE car parks for visitors much closer. It is possible to see glass blowing
in under 10 minutes, but no time to go into the art exhibition or even browse
in the showrooms. In
addition there are several other Verreries in Biot including:- Verrerie du Val
de Pome and Verrerie Raffaello Farinelli
Villefranche
sur Mer (pictured below), Monaco, Menton and Italy
only a short drive or train journey away.
 Across
the border in Italy every
Friday there is a large street market at Ventimiglia and
a smaller one at the next town along the coast
Bordighera on a Thursday.
Both are set against the glorious back ground of the Mediterranean
Sea. Bordighera has some excellent value restaurants on the sea front.
If
you are visiting Italy you will also see a lot of Liquor stores in the border
town of Latte (below). The duty is much lower on alcohol in Italy than in France
and you might want to stock up .
SanRemo
is only a few minutes drive from Ventimiglia
and for more information CLICK on
the picture below 
Views
of Biot 
 
 All
photos ©PJMSuter/jml Property Srvices SEE
ALSO: Nostalgia
in France - Photos of the 1960's and 1970's in France
- Click
Here 
Photos of Nice Monaco Menton Antibes & other areas in
the South of France in the 1920s and 1960s
- Click here
South
of France Fact File Click
Here 
Back
to More Articles about the South of France
jml
are members of the National
Landlords Association (NLA) in
the UK and Riviera
Business Club
(RBC) in the Côte d'Azur France 
-------------------------------------------
jml
are members of the National
Landlords Association (NLA) in the UK
and Riviera
Business Club (RBC) in the Côte d'Azur France
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