Today we head out a day trip to the Benedictine Monk retreat at Montserrat which offers you some of the most spectacular mountain views of Catalonia. We took the cable car from the base of the mountain up to the Monastery which is 1350m up at a 45degree angle at a speed of 18km per hour with fantastic view of the valley and the mountain from all sides. Not only is Montserrat Monastery of significant religious importance for the black faced Madonna but the natural beauty of the surroundings is breathtaking. After visiting the Basilica and town we then take another cable car (funicular) to the top of the mountain were we took a walk out to visit one of the 6 small chapel’s all the mountain ridge and to view the unusual rock formations. Before ... read more

Today we headed to Pineda de Mar for lunch and to pick up Rose’s cousin Alan who is hosting us for our time in Barcelona. After a great lunch of Spain Tapes (including a fantastic snail dish) we headed off to Alan’s place in the Old City area of Barcelona. The afternoon was spent walking the streets to some wonderful places like the old markets that is now a Cultural Centre and houses a fantastic archaeological site, Santa Maria de Maria basilica that was built in the mid 13th century and of course a visit to the port area to view the boats. We spend the afternoon and evening bar hoping trying the wonderful drinks and food. What a fun City.... read more

Today we decided to stay close to home and visit some of the local attractions. As we are in the area of France’s leading underground tourism operators we decide we could not pass up the opportunity to check out one of the Grottos of France. We went on a 2 hour underground guided boat and walking tour to view the subterranean river of Labouiche, to view many stalagmites, stalactites, crystals, and waterfall on the 1500 metre journey of the river and reach a depth of 60 metre below ground. The temp of the cave is about 13-degree C which is wonderful on this hot day and the water was crystal clear what a shame we cannot go swimming. The waterfall flows into a pool with a depth of 3 metre and the speed of the water ... read more

This morning we started the day with a full English Cooked Breakfast at the local English pub (The Blue Lady great remendiation Clarke). This local English Pub was full of French housewives who come to the pub for English courses the publican is running, what a great we to attract the locals and they serve great breakfast with good coffee. We are travelling to Marseille for a look around and then on to Fontvieille in Provance for the evening. Marseille was a bit of a letdown after the wonderful coastal cities of Monaco and Antibes and was on par with Naples in Italy. But I must see Marseille harbour area must have more policemen on patrol than any other place we have been to, they were everywhere. After a walk around and lunch we head off ... read more

A little sad and excited this morning as we realise that today is the last day in Italy, yet excited that today is the first day in France. We head out of Spotorno and decide that Monaco for lunch would be a great start and then Nice before Antibes for the night. After the 100km drive and actually crossing the border in a tunnel we arrive at the turn off to Monaco and the steep descent back to sea level. Our plan was to find one of the many car parks and have lunch by the water. Once the Sat Nav said we are here we targeted a Car park and parked the Car. Our plan was complex, all road down headed to the sea, so that’s where we went. Scuttled by the recent F1 GP, ... read more