In France twice…
In April 2014, I traveled to France to fulfill my dream, which was to work there. I had been traveling for about 8-9 hours from Athens to Nice. When I arrived, I drove to Cannes, a 40-minute distance and from there we traveled to saint Margaret island (Île Sainte-Marguerite), which is the biggest island of Lérins islands. I worked at La guerite restaurant.
It was the ideal beginning! A very nice experience, a nice restaurant and a great menu. A totally different culture and a totally different attitude towards food. But unfortunately, I had to leave earlier than I had planned because of my father’s bad health situation. I had to return to Greece and stand by my family’s side.
My plans fell behind for a while, but I believe that we should never stop dreaming! So, I went back to France the following year.
De ja vu…
In April 2015, I started again from the same place, I did exactly the same trip, I was at the same restaurant. A real de ja vu! That year, I worked in a better position and everything was ideal at the beginning. When I had my day off, I went to Cannes, to Nice, I tasted raw mussels and various shells which is an ordinary street food for the local people.
An interesting experience I had, was a private dinner in one of the most rich and famous restaurant owners, near Monte Carlo. We were 5 cooks to cook for 8 people (the tips were good enough)!
After a while, things changed…. I had an argument with the restaurant’s chef and I left to Greece, to work at the restaurant in which I used to work the previous year.
Impression
I think that Cannes are overestimated, due to the Cannes film festival. It’s a beautiful city, indeed, but in my opinion, Nice is far more beautiful. France is deeply affected by Italy. There are a lot of pizza and pasta restaurants, while I was expecting to see traditional French cuisine across the French Riviera. However, it is well worth a visit, despite the high cost.
As far as I am concerned, it was an expensive experience, which really taught me a lot of interesting things. It’s useful to have both good and bad experience so that you can be a complete person.
