In the old village of Roquebrune, southeastern France

 “Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing.”

-- William Butler Yeats
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(in southeastern France) Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the French Riviera paradise beloved by artists and writers, is a municipality in the Alpes-Maritimes department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, between Monaco and Menton. (Its current name was changed from Roquebrune to differentiate the town from Roquebrune-sur-Argens in neighboring Var.)

+ The medieval part of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin sits 300 meters-high, on a pudding-shaped lump crowned by the Château de Roquebrune. Of all the steep and tortuous streets leading up to the château, rue Moncollet, with its arcaded passages and rock-carved stairways, is the most impressive. (Marvelous sea views can be enjoyed from place des Deux Frères.)

+ From the middle of the 19th century, with the construction of the Marseille–Ventimiglia railway line, this stretch of coast also became a magnet for well-known personalities as a holiday home. Elisabeth of Austria spent the last years of her life from 1894 to 1897 at the Hôtel du Cap Martin. Eugénie, widow of Napoleon III, owned a villa here. The area became fashionable in the 1920s and 1930s leading to the construction of several notable buildings including Coco Chanel's La Pausa on Cap Martin. The Irish poet and Nobel Laureate William Butler Yeats died in the Hôtel Idéal Séjour in the neighboring town of Menton on 28 January 1939. The literary couple Romain Gary and Lesley Blanch lived in Roquebrune from 1950 to 1957. Le Corbusier built a cabanon, a minimalist architectural design. He drowned in the sea here on 27 August1965 and was buried in the local cemetery.

+ Roquebrune-Cap-Martin has several villages and towns: St. Roman (practically a suburb of Monaco), the residential areas of Cabbé, Bon Voyage and Serret, and Roquebrune (with its perched village and castle), posh Cap Martin peninsula and the modern seaside resort of Carnolès (with its long pebble beach bordering Menton). The whole area has a major tourism industry, particularly during the high season from April to October.

+ Roquebrune village is best known for, and dominated by, its castle, which was built in the 10th century to keep the saracens out, and the castle donjon (the massive inner tower) is thought to be the oldest in France. Much of the castle's visitors now see was added later by the Grimaldi family, once very powerful in the region. It is from inside the castle that they can enjoy the best views in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, across the village rooftops and an extensive length of coastline.

+ In the old village of Roquebrune you can also see the Church of Saint-Marguerite (the tower of which can be seen in the image below), which dates back to the 12th century but was substantially rebuilt in 1573, and then further enhanced during the 17th century and again in 1750 (and then redecorated in the 19th century to gain its current appearance.)