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The second lavender-growing expanse of Provence after Sault also bursts into colour in July and August. Waves of blue and purple roll away towards the Alps, flanking the road from Riez to Digne-les-Bains.

Two streams merge at St-Martin-Vésubie to form the River Vesubie, which flows through landscapes of pinewoods, flower meadows, forested peaks and narrow canyons to join the Var 24 km (15 miles) north of Nice. The valley is dotted with attractive villages, and the river is at its most scenic where it passes through the Gorges de la Vesubie, a canyon of coloured rock walls.

High in the Parc National de Mercantour (see Parc National du Mercantour), this valley shelters a treasury of Bronze Age art (see Vallée des Merveilles, Mercantour National Park). Rock carvings are scattered over the slopes of the 2,870-m (9,400-ft) Mont Bégo, and date from 1800–1500 BC. They are almost impossible to find without a guide, but the less energetic can see fascinating examples in the excellent Musée des Merveilles at Tende.

A 2-hour walk through shady forest to the Fort de la Vigie.

A gem of the region, with an unbeatable location on a high crag and sweeping views. The old medieval centre is ringed by formidable battlement walls and is entered through a massive stone gateway, to a labyrinth of cobbled streets and tall stone houses. A small cathedral, dating from the 11th century, stands on place Clemenceau.

The city’s heart, filled with the aroma and sounds of all things Niçoise (see Vieux Nice).

Commercial sea traffic might have moved round the corner to newer docks in the 19th century, but the old port remains the heart of city life. Bobbing with pleasure boats and fringed with restaurants, it’s where the Marseillais gather for festivities and to buy fish at the market. The occupying Germans attempted to subdue the city by blowing up the port’s north side in 1943, but Marseille’s indomitable nature won the day.

The most palatial of all the villas built in the Riviera’s plutocratic heyday was the dream of Beatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild (1864–1934), a daughter of the wealthy banking family. Its lavish Neo-Classical façade conceals an opulent interior of arcades surrounded by a covered courtyard hung with magnificent tapestries. Superb antiques and sketches by Fragonard also feature, while the gardens are as sumptuous as the interior (see Jardin de la Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat).

Theodore Reinach (1860–1928) conceived this remarkable building, constructed between 1902 and 1908, as a perfect Classical Greek villa, in imitation of the palace of Delos in Greece, dating from the 2nd century BC. Copies of ancient mosaics and frescoes evoke the world of the Greek city states.

Only a brave or foolhardy enemy would have attempted to assail the citadel of Entrevaux, one of the most dramatic of all the region’s many fortresses. Perched on a pinnacle above the fairytale town, it can be reached only by a zig-zag path which passes through more than a dozen arched gateways. Lying beneath it, the impregnable Ville Forte is ringed by towers and ramparts and reached by a drawbridge.