The Mediterranean fascinates many of us, primarily because it serves as the setting for captivating stories, both true and imagined.

Many consider Tender is the Night to be one of the best books set in the French Riviera. F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a glamorous couple, psychoanalyst Dick Diver and his wife Nicole. They settle on a villa in the South of France and surround themselves with a circle of friends. Then Rosemary Hart, a 17-year-old film star comes into their lives. She is instantly attracted to the couple but has no insight into the darkness that drew them together or the machinations that bind them. Eventually, as Dick tumbles down a road of adultery and drunkenness, his marriage crumbles.

This is more than a simple story of estrangement and infidelity. The author grapples with the complexity of human relationships and the manipulations of those closest to us. The novel explores the myriad forces that shape our lives.  It also shows how love can be won, perverted and lost.

Facts fuel fiction

The alluring setting and plot of Fitzgerald’s novel seem richer, more poignant when viewed against the backdrop of his life. The story was conceived during his darkest years, when his beloved wife Zelda experienced her first break with reality. The death of his father followed soon thereafter. These blows devastated Fitzgerald. He subsequently decided he would write about a man of almost limitless potential who makes the fatal decision to marry a beautiful but mentally ill woman. Their doomed marriage fails, and he ultimately sinks into despair and alcoholism.

Tender Is the Night, is intensely, even painfully biographical. Fitzgerald’s father and mother, he a failed salesman and she an heir to a successful grocery store, provided much of the inspiration for Dick and Nicole Driver. The death of Fitzgerald’s father was also written into the novel, as the death of Dick’s father. Similarly, the book almost mirrors the events of Fitzgerald and Zelda’s marriage. The novel portrays both his affair with Loris Moran, a young Hollywood Star, and Zelda’s corresponding liaison with the French aviator Edouard Jozan.

Fitzgerald learned a great deal about psychiatry through Zelda’s struggle with schizophrenia. Consequently, the subject plays an important role in the plot, with characters being pulled from and put back into mental care. Through it all the male figure, Dick Diver, starts his descent into alcoholism. Fitzgerald did the same, battling the demons of insecurity and depression. Despite the author’s immense talent and incredible fame, his life did not end well. Nor did the life of Dick Diver.

Movies and television

A film based on the novel, Tender Is the Night was released in 1962. Jason Robards and Jennifer Jones starred as the Divers.

The song “Tender Is the Night” from the movie soundtrack earned a nomination for Best Song at the 1962 Academy Awards. Tony Bennet made it a hit.

A television mini-series provides another re-telling of the story. Mary Steenburgen and Peter Strauss had the starring roles of Nicole and Dick. The production was released internationally in 1985 by the BBC, it’s creator.

The book’s legacy

During Fitzgerald’s lifetime Tender is the Night enjoyed neither commercial success nor critical acclaim. However, critics have since described it as an exquisitely crafted piece of fiction. Some even hail it as one of the greatest American novels. The book is now widely regarded as among Fitzgerald’s most accomplished works. According to the author’s own assessment, it surpasses The Great Gatsby.

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The French Riviera is known as the Côte d’Azur. Translated literally, it is the Coast of Azure. This idealized setting comprises just a fragment of the coastline along the vast Mediterranean Sea.

The Sea covers a 2.5 million km² area and has an average depth of 1500 meters. It is part of the Atlantic Ocean, although almost completely enclosed by land. Europe is on the north, while Africa sits on shores to the south. Asia lies to the east. The Sea provides passage to 24 countries plus one independent City State.

Locate Monaco and 21 countries on the map below with the use of your cursor. Gibraltar, a British overseas Territory on the tip of Spain is too small to be seen here. It sits between the Bay of Gibraltar to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the East. The Strait of Gibraltar provides passage between Gibraltar and Morocco to the north.

Similarly another small island nation, Malta, comprises an archipelago in the central Mediterranean. It sits between Sicily and the North African coast.

Finally, a small de jure sovereign state bordering Israel and Egypt self-identifies as the State of Palestine. It sits on the Gaza Strip.

The Mediterranean Sea and bordering countries

Tides are very limited on the Mediterranean Sea. This is as a result of the narrow outlet/inlet with the Atlantic Ocean. The amplitude of these tides, averages just a few centimeters. In contrast, tides in the Atlantic Ocean measure at about one meter.

The Mediterranean Sea features almost 200 coastal settlements. Due to overlap many of them can’t be identified on the map shown below.

Spain claims a significant percentage of these coastline communities. Two of them, Melilla and Ceuta, are Spanish cities situated along the coast in Africa.

Italy boasts the most coastal settlements in the Mediterranean. The reasons are obvious.

Several villages, ports and oil terminals are situated on the coast of the small Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus lays claim to two of them. This unrecognized nation-state is comprised of the Turkish Cypriot population continuously living on the island since 1571. Similarly, the Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri and Dhekelia serves as a British Overseas Territory, also on the coast of Cyprus. I can’t wait to someday discover what makes that little island so popular!

Coastal settlements on the Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea provides access to numerous coastal communities. In turn, their ports often serve as gateways to important and well-known cities and regions. In the same way, these cities and regions offer a great deal of scenic and cultural diversity.

Cruise ship ports are shown in red. My desire is to eventually explore each of them.