Monaco
My fourth and last day in France was in Antibes, a small town on the coast about 20- minute train ride from Nice. The main reason for going there was to see Fort Carre. I love forts, fortresses, castles and alike and I had an extra day to kill in France. Fort Carre was built in the second half of the 16th century to watch the border between the French Kingdom and the County of Nice. It was rarely attacked and the bored soldiers kept themselves busy by building additional structures or carving their initials into the stone walls, just like we do it today.
When Sebastien Vauban, the best military engineer of the 17th century, was asked to inspect the fort, he said it was the worst fort that he had seen. The underfed soldiers built a bread oven to supplement their food rations. Vauban ordered its demolition together with the other structures that the garrison erected to make their life more comfortable. Everything but the bread oven was destroyed, although it was built right next to the powder storage area.
Vauban designed a new wall for the fort. The wall construction began, then Vauban died and all works stopped, then Nice became part of France and nobody needed the fort anymore.
Among other Antibes attractions is Picasso Museum in the house where the artist lived 6 months. I did not go there, I do not like Picasso. Overall, it was a pleasant day in a small French town.