There’s no place like home

Home is where the heart is.

Eva Khoury is part owner, with her brother Jean, of Sud Optic Opticiens and boutique in Antibes. She has lived on the Cap since she was just six years old and has no plans to leave, ever! Her father is Lebanese and her mother is from Bordeaux. The family moved to Cap d’Antibes in 1992 for the sun and also to be closer to Evas’ grandparents who also have their home here. Eva lives with her boyfriend, Jérôme, in an apartment right in the heart of the Cap.

How long have you lived in Cap d’Antibes?

So I arrived on the Cote d’Azur in 1992, I was born in Bordeaux  in 1986. When I was 6 years old we moved to this region of France.

My parents wanted to move to the area because my grand parents lived here. I used to visit them often when I was very little, they also live near Plage Salis so the whole family is within 5 minutes of each other.

My parents used to come here on holiday before deciding to move here from Bordeaux full time.  A decision made partly to be near the family and also partly to escape the rain and the grey skies.

My father is a doctor and my mother is a nurse so first my father found a surgery to buy and then he bought the family house near Plage de la Salis. I was very happy to move here from Bordeaux as since I was little I had always wanted to live on the Cap. I absolutely love it here. It’s my paradise.

When we arrived here it was during the school year so my parents didn’t manage to find a place for me at the local school (Ecole du Cap), so I went to Mont Saint Jean instead.

What are your earliest memories of Cap d’Antibes?

My  first memory of the Cap would be from when I visited my grand-parents. I remember that we were always at the beach and we used to go for lots of walks around the Cap and to the Chemin du Contrabandiers. I also remember going to the Plage des Ondes which I adore. It’s my absolute favourite beach.  I have always loved this area and I would like to live here forever. Basically I never want to live anywhere else actually. I am very lucky that I managed to find an apartment to buy here 6 years ago  as property prices are sky high now.

How long have your grand parents lived in Cap d’Antibes and what brought them here?

My grandparents arrived in Antibes in 1978 and they bought a house right in front of the sandy beach (Plage de la Salis). My grandfather was a chef on boats so they came here for work. His boss at the time had a boat in the port of Antibes so that is why they moved here from Bordeaux.

How has Cap d’Antibes changed over the years?

There are things which have changed but there are also some aspects which have remained the same.  There are things which for me are exactly the same as I remember them when I was young. For example the local shops, Eric the butcher, the beach snacks, they are still the same as they were when  I used to go there with my grand parents.

I guess one thing which has changed is the development. When my grand parents came here it was still quite wild and it wasn’t as built up as it is now. People didn’t want to live on the Cap back then, they wanted to be in the towns. When the people bought properties in Antibes in the 50’s or 60’s they often had some land on the Cap where they would grow produce but it wasn’t a place where people wanted to  live. Back then the Cap was too remote and hard to get to  therefore a large part of the Cap was un- occupied.

At that time people would be offered areas of land on the Cap which they could cultivate free of charge just to  manage the land. Of course this has completely changed. Now everyone wants to be here and consequently the prices of properties here are now way beyond most peoples’ reach.

In fact the prices are out of control now. It’s amazing to think that just  50 or so years ago you almost had to pay people to live here, imagine! Now a 1 bedroom apartment in this building for example, would cost you upwards of 450,00 euros.

I was lucky with my apartment as I knew the previous owner who wanted to sell. I was able to get a good deal and we didn’t involve any estate agents but now I would find it very hard to buy an apartment here.

Memories of growing up here in Cap d’Antibes?

When I was a teenager I used to spend all my days during the summer on the beach. It was just beach, beach, beach. I also remember going often to the bay of the billionaires with friends. When I was young no one knew of this place.

I would leave the house with my cousins or friends in the morning and we would spend the entire day on the Cap, swimming, fishing, walking and then go home late in the evenings. It was a fabulous place to grow up and we had lots of freedom.

There wasn’t a public path like there is today and people didn’t really come here as it was a long way to walk. Most people just went to the beaches like the Plage de la Salis. Cap d’Antibes was a wild place which only the locals went to. It was our secret place. Now there are lots and lots of people and lots of tourists. It isn’t a secret place anymore, everyone knows about it which I guess is a shame. In the winter we did kind of the same thing and we also used  to hang out in the Bois de la Garoupe with our bikes.

Most of my friends  have left the area now to pursue careers or for other reasons. It is quite difficult to stay here and to find work here. There are  limits to what you can do here work wise. Some of my friends have moved away to the UK or to Paris. They come back in the holidays of course so I still see some of them when they visit their families.

I have a few friends who pursued careers in the fashion industry or in design so they had to move away to larger cities or abroad. The Cote d’Azur isn’t the best place to be if you work in a creative industry, for that you need to go somewhere else.

Is there anything you don’t like about the Cap?

No, not really apart from the litter I guess. This has definitely become an issue here in recent years especially in the summer. There is so much rubbish left by people who come here, on the beaches and on the sentier du littoral and even just on the streets . We also have people who squatt some of the un occupied villas which we never had before and there are several homeless people who sleep rough especially near Salis and also up by the light house.

It’s also not as safe as it used to be especially in the evenings. I wouldn’t walk through the bois de la garoupe alone at night now. When I was young we thought nothing of getting on our bikes in the evenings and cycling around the Cap or through the woods by ourselves. We had the run of the Cap, it was like our own private playground. I am not sure it is like that for the kids growing up here now.

Do you think you will always live in Cap d’Antibes?

I think and I hope that I will always live. I am very attached to the Cap and I plan to live here forever. It is the place I call home. Although I wasn’t born here, I feel as though I was. It is where my heart is, that is for sure, when people ask me where I am from I say Antibes. I am an Antiboise through and through.

My father on the other hand still feels Lebanese. Although he has lived in France for most of his life his heart is still in Lebanon.

My father came to France when he was about 16 with his parents to escape the war in Lebanon but he has a lot of his family who still live there.

My father goes back every year to visit them without fail. I think when he finally retires he would definitely like to retire to the Lebanon, for him that is ‘home’. However I think in reality he will live a part of the year in Lebanon and also keep a foot in the ground here, especially because  my mother loves Antibes. She will certainly never want to go to Lebanon full time.

My mother  is a very active woman who takes advantage of all the wonderful things to do here. She does aqua gym in the sea all year round, even in the winter, with her group of friends. She also loves to walk around the Cap on the Sentier du Littoral.

My father on the other hand still spends most of his time working. He is a specialist in pediatric Medicen so in addition to having his own surgery he also works at Lanval, the large childrens hospital in Nice. He leaves the house at 8 or 9am and often doesn’t return until 9pm.

Do you ever go to Lebanon?

I have been to visit our family in Lebanon many times but I haven’t been there for a few years now as I don’t have the time because of work.

Tell me a little about how you came to own Sud Optic.

After school I went on to study to become an optician. It seemed like a career which I could do here on the Cote d’Azur and more specifically in Antibes. Towards the end of my studies I knew I wanted to work for myself rather than for someone else. It was my brother who suggested that we get a shop together. He is a little older that me so when he finshed his studies he suggested that maybe we could do something together when I finished my studies. We started to look around and eventually found this shop here on Bd Maréchal Leclerc. My brothers background is in medicine, he worked for 3 years in health engineering before deciding to open his own business locally.

Until then my working background was in the service industry. I had worked a lot in restaurants and hotels during the summer holidays. I used to work at Le Pecheurs when it was a gastronomic restaurant and before it became the Cap d’Antibes beach hotel. In fact it’s where I met my boyfriend, Jérôme, in 2007.  I was working as a waitress in the gourmet restaurant and Jérôme was working in the kitchen.

I enjoyed working in this industry however I wasn’t sure that it was what I wanted to pursue long-term. It’s not that practical if, for example,  you want to start a family. Owning a shop on the other hand seemed like a good thing for me to do.

My job has many elements of things that I like. There is the medical side and then the boutique. Basically my business combines the medical side of eye care with the aesthetic side. The aesthetic side being the range of eye-wear we have in store. We stock a wide range of frames and glasses from the large designer brands but we also try to find unique and original designs too. We are in constant search for new materials, trends and brands all over the world. I like fashion so I enjoy this part of the business, it’s the creative part of what I do. 

I am very lucky in the sense that I have all the things I love in one place. My business, my home and my family. It’s perfect.

Describe a typical week for you?

Most of my time is spent working. During the day I work in the Boutique then in the evenings I go and work in my boyfriends restaurant. He recently bought the restaurant Le 44 which is at the bottom end of Albert 1er so I help him there.

When he told me that he wanted to buy a restaurant somewhere I insisted that it would have to be here in Antibes because I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. So he found a restaurant which was close to me. He looked at places all over but I already have my business here and also my family so it would have been impractical for him to start a business anywhere else. Luckily the opportunity of taking over what was then Bistro 44 came up so it worked out well for us.

I am very lucky as everything I love is now here in Cap d’Antibes. My boyfriend, his business, my business and my family.

What do you like to do when you are not working?

When I am not working I love going to the market in the old town to buy fresh produce as I also love to cook. I have many cookery books in the apartment.  When I have the time I like to read too.

Who does the cooking at home?

At home it’s me who does the cooking. Sometimes we will do the cooking together but not too often because Jérôme always wants to show me his technique and keeps me from doing things how I want to do them! (laughs). Obviously he is the best cook out of the two of us. Cooking is his true passion and he is very talented, for me it is just a hobby.

You mentioned an interest in fashion. Do you think you might have pursued something in this area if you weren’t so attached to Cap d’Antibes?

It is true that I love fashion and I guess also true that I have not done this in my life because it would have meant going to live and study in Paris. I knew that I did not want to leave here. Cap d’Antibes can be a very addictive place, once you have spent time here you  never want to leave. I guess I have made sacrifices in some areas of my life to stay here, but they aren’t really sacrifices they are just decisions I made which have enabled me to remain in the place that I love.

Your favourite time of the year here?

My favorite period here is spring and Christmas. Spring because there are still not too many people here. You can go for quiet strolls around the Cap which in the summertime can be very crowded. I also love watching the the sea and the changing colours of the skies in the Spring. No two days are ever the same.

I love Christmas just because it’s always been my favorite time of the year. It’s whenI get to spend time with my family and loved ones. Christmas has been my favourite time of year ever since I can remember.

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