The Riviera tour of culture

With summer drawing to a close, we have created a cross-country cycling and train tour from Bilbao to Venice, passing by a selection of our cultural, civic and retail projects along the Mediterranean coast. As you travel through the 1,844km tour, we look forward to you tagging us with #RivieraTour

We kick off the tour in Bilbao, Spain at one of our earliest transport and infrastructure projects ‘Bilbao Metro’ (1). Its glassy entrance canopies − or 'Fosteritos' – that announce the stations at street level are as special to Bilbao as the Art Nouveau Métro entrances are to Paris. After catching the train to Toulouse from San Sebastian we cycle through the beautiful French countryside Narbonne.

Narbonne is home to ‘Narbo Via’ (2), a new museum of Roman antiquities on a site adjacent to the Canal de la Robine. The centrepiece of the museum is a collection of more than 1,000 ancient stone relief funerary blocks excavated nearby. A short detour by car allows you to discover the ‘Millau Viaduct’ (3), the highest road bridge deck in Europe. 

Cycling along the Western edge of the French Riviera, you’ll head inland through Montpellier into Nimes. At the heart of the city lies the ‘Carre d’Art’ (4), a contemporary cultural building situated opposite the Roman temple Maison Carrée. The challenge was to relate new to the old, but at the same time to create a building that represented its own age with integrity.

The 124km cycling route crosses the River Rhone in Arles and leads up to the historic port city of Marseille. The popular harbour features our ‘Marseille Vieux Port’ (5) on its easter edge – a dramatic blade of reflective stainless-steel.

133km east of Marseille you’ll found the ‘Lycée Albert Camus’ (6), located in the rapidly expanding town of Fréjus on the Cöte d’Azur. A challenging 73km ride northeast peaking at 676m then slowly winds down towards the medieval village of Quinson in Haute Provence. There you will find the’ Musée de Préhistoire des Gorges du Verdon’ (7). The museum preserves and illustrates the rich traces of Stone Age life uncovered within the exceptional archaeological site of the nearby Gorges du Verdon. 

A picturesque, coastal train ride from Nice to Genoa snakes North towards Milan. Walking through the city centre, you’ll discover our first Apple store in Italy ‘Apple Piazza Liberty’ (8). Located just off the Corso Vittorio Emanuele – one of the most popular pedestrian streets in Milan – you’ll be drawn towards the piazza by the sight of the dramatic new fountain.

Our final 297km cycle ride from Milan to Venice takes in the most spectacular scenery, at which point borders the southern shores of Lake Garda. Through the thriving streets of Venice and a short boat trip across to San Giorgio Maggiore island, you’ll reach our final destination, ‘the Vatican Chapel, Pavilion of the Holy See’ (9). The timber tensegrity structure was built for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale and has remained on the island ever since.

Click here to download the tour.