Entering at the south end of the hill a steep and narrow street leads straight up to the top at the north end, where stands the old castle of the Grimaldis ([Fig. 209]). This is evidently an ancient structure, having the bold machicolated parapet of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But it has been greatly altered in the seventeenth century, when large windows have been opened in the walls, the machicolations being in numerous places cut away to receive them ([Fig. 210]); while at the entrance front a wide outer staircase with double ramp and marble balustrade has been introduced leading up to a principal entrance doorway on the first floor. From this access is obtained to a small inner courtyard surrounded with Renaissance columns forming a staircase and corridor above of two storys in height, which, adorned as it is with beautiful plants by the present proprietor, has a peculiarly pleasing effect. Some of the apartments are finely decorated. That of the “Belle Cheminée” has a sculptured marble fireplace and a ceiling painted with the fall of Phaeton, said to be by Carlowe. From the platform lying to the north of the château a magnificent view is obtained to the northward up the valley of the Malvan towards St Paul and Vence, and the lofty precipices of St Jeannot beyond, backed to the right with the snowy ridges of the distant Alps.
FIG. 210. CASTLE OF CAGNES (from the N.E.)
The nearest place of prominence from Cagnes is the Castle of Villeneuve-Loubet—about two miles to the north-west. This castle has been modernised and nearly rebuilt, but enough of the original work remains to render a visit very interesting. On nearing it, the edifice ([Fig. 211]) is seen to consist of a central castle strengthened with four towers at the angles, and surmounted by a lofty, quaint, and Moorish-looking watch-tower, the whole being enclosed with a strong wall of enceinte, defended with round towers at the angles ([Fig. 212]), provided with large port-holes for guns, and separated from the surrounding county by a deep ditch. The entrance gateway consists of an iron grating, guarded by two round towers, and furnished with a drawbridge over the moat. The round towers and walls of enceinte are by no means modern; they probably belong to the sixteenth century, but they have been shorn of their proud battlements, and thus present a very squat and subdued appearance.
FIG. 211. CASTLE OF VILLENEUVE-LOUBET (from the N.W.)
The central castle is in part much more ancient, but also for the most part greatly altered and modernised. The