Blogs from Agay, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe

Walk along the Red cliffs of Dramont Set against the natural backdrop consisting of the Esterel mountain range, Saint Raphael on the French Riviera is a well known seaside holiday resort, halfway between Cannes and Saint-Tropez. With 36 kilometres of coastline stretching from the Alpes-Maritimes through the Gold Coast (Corniche d’Or). Saint-Raphael has over 28 different beaches : sandy beaches, pebble beaches, creeks and rocky inlets. So today was My first tour with Heygo guide Eniko, what a beautiful walk following the rocky paths along the coastline & into the forest. The views were stunning & the intense red cliffs against the beautiful blue Mediterranean and the green pine trees was breathtaking A less happy memory for this part of Saint-Raphael is the landing of the allied troops during the Second World War on the Dramont ... read more

We're off to a good start, although yesterday's travel was exhausting. We arrived in Aix shortly after midnight local time - 22 hours after we left Danville. After a good night's rest we spent the day exploring Aix. We ate lunch at a little neighborhood Boulangerie that our apartment's owner recommnded. It gave us an opportunity to practice our limited French. After lunch, we toured the town. We based the route loosely on the walking tour of Aix in the Rick Steves Provence book. We walked along the Cours Mirabeau, a mosly pedstrian street with lots of local artists and trendy shops. We stopped for ice cream at a small place near Place Richelme - a market square. The lavender ice cream was delicious. And lastly we visited the Cathedral de Saint-Sauveur. Overall a great first ... read more

We are now working to Plan C. Four days ahead of schedule we have decided to leave the wet Alps and see if we can find some more reliable sunshine on the coast. Our lovely campsite was bathed in sunshine when we got up and tempted us to stay a little longer to admire the magnificent mountain views but we were not deterred. We have several times now been seduced into mistakenly believing that a sunny start means a sunny day. We are a little sad to miss the particular highlights of this area that Bob had chosen – The Lac de Monteynard walk, The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mont-Dauphin and the medieval fortified village of Entrevaux. We will keep them on our list for next visit here, hopefully in a drier spell. Our drive ... read more