Villa hopping

Today we decided to go out of the city to check out two famous villas. First we took to bus to Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, about half an hour ride from home. The villa was built in the early 1900s by French archaeologist Theodore Reinach. He loved everything related to the ancient Greece. Since admired the architecture, interior decoration and art of the ancient world and decided to recreate the atmosphere of a luxurious Greek house in a new building. The guy bought quite a lot of original Greek sculptures and other objects. The floor mosaics and the wall painings are in the style of ancient Greece. He also had very good taste for real estate picking the spectacular spot right at Baie des Fourmis.

After a quick lunch in a Yoga/lifestyle club's cafe we headed to Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild on the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsula. Villa Kerylos which we thought until this point was incredible, is now demoted to "nice". Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild is incredible. It was built between 1907 and 1912 by Baroness Béatrice de Rothschild. She had a delicate taste not only in real estate, but also art. She also flew aircrafts, drove cars and sailed the sea. The lady filled the mansion with antique furniture, Old Master paintings, sculptures, objets d'art and assembled an extensive collection of rare porcelain. The gardens are classified by the Ministry of Culture as one of the Remarkable Gardens of France. The garden was conceived in the form of a ship, to be viewed from the loggia of the house, which was like the bridge of a vessel, with the sea visible on all sides. It was inspired by a voyage she made on the liner Île de France, and the villa was given that name. The thirty gardeners who maintained the garden were dressed as sailors, with berets with red pom-poms. Weird. But it made her happy.