Le Safranier – a walk through Old Antibes' free commune

Old Antibes is small enough to cross in ten minutes, and yet in its southern corner, between the covered market and the sea walls, there is a quarter that likes to think of itself as a town of its own. Le Safranier runs from Rue de la Tourraque to Rue du Haut-Castelet, a cluster of narrow stone lanes, steps and tall old houses gathered around the Place du Safranier, just behind the ramparts and within earshot of the sea. In 1966 a group of residents declared it a commune libre – a free commune – not out of politics but to keep the old town's traditions alive and bring neighbours together. It has a mayor, who holds no real power but runs a calendar of festivals through the year, from pistou soup in September to chestnuts in November and a yule log at Christmas. The Greek novelist Nikos Kazantzakis lived here after the war. It takes less than an hour to walk, and it is the part of Old Antibes that still feels most like a village.

The story

France has a long, cheerful tradition of communes libres, neighbourhoods that elect a symbolic mayor and council for the pleasure of it, and Le Safranier is one of them. The tourist office's own listings describe it as founded in 1966 to preserve local traditions and keep the quarter's residents together; the German guidebook publisher Emons adds that the mayor is elected for life. The commune's festivals are free and open to everyone, and the tourist office lists them in its calendar each year – the clearest sign that the joke has become an institution.

The walk

Start at the covered Marché Provençal on Cours Masséna, ideally in the morning while the stalls are still up. From the market, Côte d'Azur France suggests taking Rue de la Pompe towards the sea. Within a few minutes you reach Rue de la Tourraque, which marks one edge of the commune.

Turn into Rue du Bas-Castelet. At number 8, according to Emons, lived Nikos Kazantzakis, the Greek author of Zorba the Greek, who settled in Antibes after the Second World War – Greek Reporter dates his arrival with his wife Eleni to 1948 – and spent his last years here. There is nothing to visit; this is a private house on a quiet lane, which is rather the point of the Safranier.

A few steps on, the lanes open onto the Place du Safranier, the heart of the commune, close to the sea and sheltered behind the walls. This is where the festivals happen: tables in the square for the pistou soup in September, the press for the grape harvest, the chestnuts in November. Beyond it, Rue du Haut-Castelet marks the commune's other edge.

Finish on the sea walls. Côte d'Azur France recommends following the seafront past the commune for the views, and the walk ends at the Bastion Saint-André, a stronghold built by Vauban in the late seventeenth century, which has housed the town's Archaeology Museum since 1963.

When to go

Any time is good for the lanes, but the Safranier is at its best on a festival day. The commune's calendar, as listed by the tourist office, runs through the warm months and into winter; on 14 July the square holds its own Bal National des boules carrées, and at Christmas the commune makes a yule log that The Good Life France puts at around 14 metres long. The next date in the calendar is the chestnut festival on Saturday 7 November.

Around it

The rest of Old Antibes is on the doorstep. The Château Grimaldi, where Picasso worked from mid-September to mid-November 1946 and left 23 paintings, is now the Musée Picasso; the Musée Peynet is devoted to the lovers drawn by Raymond Peynet. The seventeenth-century ramparts, built by the engineer Raymond de Bonnefons with four bastions and two great arched gates, look over Port Vauban and the Plage de la Gravette, and at the end of the port stands Nomade, Jaume Plensa's eight-metre figure of steel letters, which you can step inside.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.