Erin Monroney
Cap d’Antibes, France

A few summers ago, I spent several days at Cap d’Antibes, a wooded and rocky peninsula that juts a mile and a half [1.6 kilometers] into the Mediterranean, near Cannes. Each day, I walked along a winding road to a small sandy beach called Plage de la Garoupe. Along the way, I passed tile-roofed stucco villas painted in deep pastels, hidden behind high walls, grillwork gates, pines and palms.

At the beach, I lay on a chaise on the floating dock, under a huge wood-and-canvas umbrella (like a large cocktail-drink parasol), sipped iced coffee, took dips, and listened to French. I watched sailboats bob and yachts skim across the water. Now, when I want to relax, I think about the road that leads to the beach, snippets of French, and boats going by.

Erin Monroney is a researcher-writer for TRAVELER.