Menton Lemon Festival
By Marion Bull, TravelMail
Last updated at 16:45 05 February 2003
21 February - 9 March
Further eastwards along the coast near the Italian border, but still only 30 minutes from Nice airport, is the normally sedate and rather aristocratic Menton.
For a century they have been offering an assault on the senses with 130 tonnes of oranges and lemons transformed into carnival floats.
It's an amazing spectacle. But what do they do with all afterwards? Well, there's a lot of fruit juice in town, but you can go on an excursion to jam-makers (enquire at the tourist office), and patisseries all over town sell the famous tarte du citron mentonnais.
Take a trip to the citrus groves - where the scent of the flowers still in blossom is overwhelming. Wonderful!
Menton's Fête du Citron is 70 years old this year, so it promises to be something special, with nearly half a million people descending on the town.
Parades along the Promenade du Soleil start at 2 pm with animated floats on Sundays (23 Feb, 2 and 9 March), with firework displays on 23 Feb and 6 March at 8.30 pm.
Otherwise huge citrus sculptures are on show in the Boivès Gardens. This year's theme is Alice in Wonderland.
Staff in the modern Hotel Riva by the sea will be wearing traditional mentonnais costumes and there's a special citrus menu (Send them an e-mail; rooms cost from £60), but for a taste of La Belle Epoque try the sumptuous Aiglon Hotel and restaurant (send an e-mail), an old villa with lemon groves and bougainvillea gardens. Special festival weekend packages on request.
You can reach Menton easily from Nice on the coastal train.
www.menton.com www.feteducitron.com www.hotels-frenchriviera.com
Most watched News videos
- New video shows Epstein laughing and chasing young women
- Epstein describes himself as a 'tier one' sexual predator
- British Airways passengers turn flight into a church service
- Buddhist monks in Thailand caught with a stash of porn
- Skier dressed as Chewbacca brutally beaten in mass brawl
- Sarah Ferguson 'took Princesses' to see Epstein after prison
- Melinda Gates says Bill Gates must answer questions about Epstein
- Jenna Bush Hager in tears over disappearance of Nancy Guthrie
- Forth Bridge fireball fall into village streets
- China unveils 'Star Wars' warship that can deploy unmanned jets
- Amazon driver's furious rant about deliveries captured on ring camera
- Two schoolboys plummet out the window of a moving bus
