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Published: June 20th 2008
Lake Como am
Leaving ComoAhhhhh The French Riviera. I can think of worse things. Certainly a cultural change! Have to think in French. Well, bon soir and au voir anyway. You do the right thing and ask the French shopkeepers how much something is in French (Compienne) and they have the temerity to answer you in French! And I don’t understand a bloody word.
We slept fitfully on the night we were leaving Bellagio, Italy as we normally seem to when we’re leaving a place. We were on the road just after 5am and decided to take the coastal road down the peninsular where Bellagio sits at the tip. During the day that road would have been a nightmare but at that time of the morning, it was a joy with breathtaking views across the misty lake. We got onto that trans-Italy highway again and even for a Saturday, it was busy with big trucks. About 3 ½ hours into the trip, we crossed into France. Before we knew it we were passing Antibes and Nice, where
we first arrived in Europe. As we were running early, we took a side road down onto, then along the coast. All that driving in Tuscany and
Monaco
Monte Carlo Amalfitana stood us in good stead for the roads along that coast. Each time you went around a point; there would be a port with cruise liner in the harbour. Difficult to look and drive. The traffic was thick and we were brought to a crawl, especially when we arrived at Monaco and Monte Carlo. We would have loved to have stopped to have a look around but there literally was not a square inch vacant to park.
We arrived in Cannes in good time for the time window where our landlady would meet us without charging an extra $40. We had only just received her telephone number the day before by email. She was reluctant to give too much info out beforehand and required everything in cash. Lol. We found the building without much bother. It was as close to the port as you can get without going into the old part. (another tick for Fran) Both our mobile phones would not work (still don’t) when we tried to contact the landlady. We looked for a phone booth but they did not take cash (unlike landladies) We had to find a place to buy a phonecard to make
Monaco Tunnel
Some of the tunnels were really old. the call only to get an answering machine. Anyway, eventually we got it sorted out and the landlady, who is English, took us up to the Penthouse Suite. Oh, sorry, I meant the attic. It is one of those rooms with the sloping roof and dorma windows. Very quaint and clean, but no view. Most importantly, it has a washing machine. Sheer bloody luxury!!!! I have illegally parked the car, as everyone does, and so far, touch wood, have got away with it. We will be going to St Raphael tomorrow, so I’ll have the problem of finding another pozzie when we get back.
We explored the town and made our way down to the promenade by the beach, The Boulevard de la Croisette. Walking along the beach was glorious. The atmosphere, the people, the sidewalk crepe vendors, the free and the paid beaches, the occasional topless lady. All very lovely. The Film Festival period has just ended but the town is still very much geared up into that mode. It was interesting to walk along the Sidewalk of the Stars where they have done the Hollywood thing of the handprints and signatures in the pavement. Then there were the
boats. Oh, the boats!!! The opulence of these multi million dollar boats all lined up. Literally hundreds of them. Some three storeys high. Of course, the really big ones have to moor out a little way but closer in than the cruise liners.
We ate out that first night but have eaten in the last two. Trouble is that the food available at the markets is all so delicious, you buy some beautiful items to eat that night and you walk home seeing so many other things you would have liked to have tried. The homewares shops are a delight to wander around. We would have 10 suitcases if we’d bought all of the things we wanted. We went down to the dock and bought tickets for the ferry to St Tropez and then went up the hill where there was a Church, the Notre Dame d’Esperance and a lookout, then wandered down for a café. I bought a couple of bottles of French wine for the next couple of days. A local Cotes d’Rhone and a Bordeaux. The Bordeaux was a Medoc, one of the best areas in France and not only that, it was a Haut Medoc. Wussell
Cannes Town
The murals were all over the place. What r they called....Tromph something? will tell you about them, maybe. Twas divine to drink. It certainly didn’t break the bank and I am seriously thinking of parceling up 6 to send home. Maybe we’ll wait ‘til we get to that area in a week or so.
We went to St Tropez today by ferry. It’s about 30km along the coast and apparently is impossible to get into by car, so the ferry was a good option. St Tropez is on a curved point and actually faces north unlike all the other French ports along the Mediterranean. The renowned beaches are actually on the other side of the point and as the weather was threatening, we didn’t head for there. Instead, we walked to the main square where there was an enormous market, the Marche d’Provencal. There was a secondhand section with great stuff, no crap! and a clothes section (all expensive ‘cept for the T shirts), a jewelry section and a food section. We had thought we would be smart and bring a picnic hamper along from Cannes but we would have been in heaven buying the picnic things there. After tiring of walking down aisle after aisle of these stalls, we made
our way down to the port and sat on the dock of the bay (watching the tide roll away) there’s a song there!! Hahaha We spread out our terrines, jambon (ham) pies, little tarts and a glorious home-made (bought) salad, opened a bottle of Beaujolais and caught many envious stares from the passersby. My hat went into the drink unfortunately, and although we fished it out, I don’t think it’ll ever be the same, Dammit.
Wednesday 18th
We drove to St Raphael along the coast road. It was very scenic. We passed by, what we thought was Christian Dior’s house perched on the side of a hill. It was certainly different, being built as a series of balls. We arrived at St Raphael and found a space for the car and walked down to the beach. One of the nicer beaches! Plenty of topless females as eye candy for me. Fran was not impressed by them. We walked back and had a café and I had a powder to stem the Kendenup disease. Back at Cannes, we had a siesta before going out for our last night in Cannes. One of the harbour front restaurants was a seafood restaurant that
I had espied a couple of days beforehand and stored in the memory bank. Fran had an entrée, knowing that she wouldn’t be eating too much of the main course which was almost the biggest seafood platter you have ever seen. It wasn’t the biggest cos 2 of them were on the table next door! The only difference was that they had crayfish in the centre whereas ours didn’t. The $40 extra for the crays persuaded us not to take that option. Ours however had about 10 different types of seafood atop. Starting off with a precursor of some tiny periwinkles about the size of your little finger nail. You received a needle like apparatus to coax out the insides if you were lucky. What came out was like a piece of snot. Sorry to those with delicate stomachs lol.
I won’t say it tasted the same cos then you’ll know. They did have a couple of sauces which made them palatable for me. Fran, obviously did not partake. Then the main platter arrived. At least a dozen huge oysters plus mussels, cockles, sea snails, prawns, scampi and clams. Fran ate what she could and try as I might, I
couldn’t finish it. Yum!
The next morning, our landlady had forgotten that we were checking out so we were left waiting and making phone calls to her. We got on our way to Montpellier about 11am and made good time on the Autostrada. Arrived in MP mid afternoon and went for a drive to the town centre. It is a very cosmopolitan city. Most of MP was pretty badly damaged by various wars but the newly built centre was a delight of new constructions in the ancient theme combining well with modern architecture. They have done it very well. We went looking for a beach which was very difficult to find. Ended up in a place called Le Grand Motte which is an island, except connected on both ends. It had a canal running through the centre with a short ski lift over the canal. It is a real resort town in the true sense. Nice beaches on the Med side too, and very well patronized, mainly, I suspect by the French themselves. W drove back to MP town centre and came back in by a different route and when we stopped for a photo opportunity, I looked up and
Cannes
This old lady was done up to the 9's Fran loved her.
saw a pub called the Ayers Rock Pub. Blow me down!!! We made a beeline for it and went in. It was in an outback style with Aussie flags abounding. I went up to the bartender and said “Jeez Mate, I didn’t expect to see youse here!!! He said “Non comprehendre” Place was infested with Frogs. We were the only True Blues there. And a lot of poofy kiss kiss hello’s going on. What a let down. Hah.
Dinner that night was out of the travel book, which has not let us down yet. We settled for a tiny little restaurant that you would not know was there unless you knew about it. An unassuming door into a small dining section, then outside into an open area dominated by a large apricot tree. We sat beneath that tree. There were only two other occupied tables besides us. The owner did his best to explain in very broken English what was on the chalkboard table. Both first courses were absolutely divine. I have Coquilles St Jacques and Fran had a well presented salad in a large glass with a beetroot sorbet. Unfortunately the mains and dessert were not as spectacular, although
good and hearty. We departed the hotel, which was in the French colonial theme with weatherboard walls, by 9am for Espana. We made two diversions off the main highway on the way to Barcelone. First was to a Fort built in 1506 to protect the Catalans from the French. It was a new style fort built to combat the new form of warfare using gunpowder, recently brought back to Europe by Marco Polo. The second diversion was almost on the border to Spain to a little town called Ceret. This is where the first cherries of the season are grown. They are also into bullfights. To me, the place did have a distinct Spanish feel to the place. On the way into Ceret, we passed by an abandoned chateaux. It was so grand looking from the outside but we couldn’t get near it for locked gates. Fran and I feel that for only a couple of million from all our friends, we could get the place up and running again. You guys could stay for free!!!
The run into Barcelone was hectic. Very big and busy city. We have only just arrived and plan to take the metro into the
centre tonight.
BTW
we've been having mobile phone probs as well as no internet access lately. We can receive text messages but not reply. Dealing with France Telecom is as easy as Aussie Telstra 😞
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deb
non-member comment
MP
just finished reading your France blog and you wont believe I have a French client whom have just booked to go home for a few months to Montpellier...such a small world. x