After several more hours on the expensive toll roads we start to climb up into the hills behind San Remo on the Italian side of the French boarder along a very narrow, very windy road…scary. Our little apartment is typical of the others, a little maze of rooms with rounded ceilings and white washed walls. I had to do a little housekeeping at first. I think when Nonna fell off the perch the relatives just decided to rent it ou; the drawers are full of Nonna’s best linen and some old clothes as well. The plastic Madonna’s are safely packed away, [View Full Entry]

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Ooh la la. It’s a sensation overload. Beautiful shops, amazing cheeses, meats, fruit and flowers (and a cute little dress I just had to buy). After lunch we planned to go on a tour of ‘quaint villages’ in the area but only got to the first one and stayed the day. Fontaine de Vaucluse. The fountain refers to the way the river that runs through the town centre gushes out from the still waters of a cave at the base of the cliffs. On top of the cliff is also a fort of some kind. No idea how to get to [View Full Entry]

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Another driving day today, to Provence. Oh oh, first booking mistake. We weren’t expected till next week. Don’t know what happened there. No matter there’s a room for us. [View Full Entry]

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Why not… It’s just over the border! After an hour or so windy drive we came to a little Spanish seaside village. No bargains to be had here I’m afraid, the shops were expensive and the menus priced as per France but our lunch was delicious. French food so far hasn’t lived up to expectation. Out of the wind the sun is scorching so we found a little rocky alcove to have a little time in the sun. [View Full Entry]

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It’s market day so we got some fresh fruit (should have seen the strange look I got when I was trying to ask for cherries in what I was trying to pass off as French) and bread for lunch then took a hike up the mountain. Collioure is where the Pyrenees Mountains meets the sea, so over the years many countries have fought for its control, there are castles and fort dotted all over the place. We decided to walk up to a fort we could see from town. Up and up this long steep path marveling at the countryside. Part [View Full Entry]

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Oh Collioure; I’m in heaven. It’s a small tourist town but only for the French it seems (only a handful of English or other accents heard). We had a wander through the castle in the centre of town and had a peek at the exquisite little shops. No cars allowed, cobbled streets, all leading to the quayside, fortified castle in the centre of the town, and then we come across a group of 10 or so musicians, again, simply playing for the joy of it. Then down by the beach was another group playing music. This one had plenty of wine [View Full Entry]

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After a drive of more than 6 hours (even on express roads that cost $A55) we were looking forward to our little refuge at Collioure (on the French Spainish border)…only to find out that the new owner had forgotten to register the electricity and there was no power. The only other place they could find for 4 people was a flat in a residential area…yuk. So while the tears were drying we came to an agreement where we would use the yukky flat to shower but stay at the apartment in the old part of town…free. Great for us: extra money [View Full Entry]

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We simply strolled around Rochefort-sur-Mer today. What a surprise this place has been. This feels like the France the French are used to. It has been testing my very basic French though, backed up strongly by sign language. There happened to be a protest marching through the streets this morning. It felt like a parade, great music and singing, well chanting really, but when it's in French it still sounds great. And then we found a street market, fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, meats, fish and poor plucked chickens with their heads and feet still attached. Most of the shops close [View Full Entry]

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Brittany was just picture post card perfect. On the drive south the buildings are subtly changing from the dark stone with slate roof’s of Brittany (and most of Ireland and Wales) to a pale sandstone with terracotta roofing. The windows on the houses and buildings have shutters on them, (as they do in Brittany as well) shutters everywhere. The naturestrips have changed from bursting with flowers, to flowers scattered in the red pebble earth, though the fields are still very green. It looks like what I would have expected to see in Spain perhaps. Interesting because it’s different b [View Full Entry]

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Our days are starting quite late; it doesn’t get dark until almost 10pm. But when we finally got going we went for a browse through the town in Dinan. Fantastic old medieval buildings that look like they’re from a Harry Potter set. I think it’s of season but it doesn’t seem to be touristy at all. The shops are regular clothes shops (and for a windowshopaholic it seems insane for me to say) but I had better things to look at. I was expecting the temperature here to be 15-18c but it’s 28 today; well at least it was until we [View Full Entry]

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