January 30th, 2006 | The lowdown by Heather Way

Saint Raphael in Winter: The Unseen Side

Heaps of tourists think they know the Cote d'Azur. They think they know these tiny coastal towns because they came here for a week or so one summer.

They put in hours of beach time and then watch passersby from cafes overlooking various ports. But when August ends, they go back to their lives elsewhere with visions of quaint Riviera summers still emblazoned in their minds.

That's where I come in. I arrived here at the end of September, after the crowds had already departed, and I, too, was shocked to see how sleepy the Cote d'Azur could be in the off-season. It's almost eerie how the streets are empty once 8 o'clock strikes, how the only day I ever wait in line for anything is Saturday, and how truly Provencal this town is.

I hail from a little town in upstate New York, right next to Lake George, so I know the tourist town experience well. While working as a waitress during summers through college, I burst quite a few vacationers' bubbles when I responded truthfully to their query: Is Lake George this busy in the winter? "No," I'd tell them cheerfully, "It's actually a ghost town. You could shoot a cannon down the road and not hit a soul." They'd look at me incredulously, and I'd think to myself, "And thank goodness for that."

Is that how the residents of my new town feel? Glad to see the tourists go after two months of wall-to-wall people invading their quaint coastal village? I've only lived here on the off-season, so I really can't imagine this place being the bustling tourist trap they tell me it is in the summer. But what I can tell you, is that I've replaced Lake George with the Mediterranean Sea, and I'm more than happy to inhabit this town quietly...at least until the temperature goes up and les touristes come down.