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Published: September 17th 2010
Nice Streets
There was lots of pleasant architecture and bags of charm walking the lovely streets of Nice.'Bad times' - self explanatory
'Don't bother' - self explanatory
1* - worth a look
2* - Good Times
3* - Unmissable
+ - emphasis on the rating
We spent a month in France so I need to break up my blog into sections. Ideally I want no more than 4-5 entries to cover the areas of France we went to; this section broadly covers the 'South' and 'South West' .
As we flew into Nice the Cote 'd Azure from above looked beautiful (particularly Nice and Monaco); a wonderful stretch of coastline. In Nice we walked the pretty streets of the city and were immediately charmed by the buildings, boulevards, and nice fountains then hopped on the bus toward Monaco to the village of Eze.
The bus journey toward Eze was reminiscent of the lovely Amalfi coast in Italy with the same pretty coastline and style of buildings. We passed a particularly stunning stretch of coast with sweeping views down the hills towards a lovely peninsula. It all looked very beautiful and wealthy; we'd have loved to have gotten off there for a quick view and photo, good thing we didn't though as
Nice Beach
Looking along the beach of Nice and the city, lovely place! we later learned the buses are terribly rare.
Lamenting that we'd missed some staggering views and photos earlier on the drive we arrived in Eze (3*) where our troubles were promptly forgotten as we climbed up into the old-town/ fort area where all the little village buildings were. We found narrow streets with charming little tiled houses, creeping vines and bags of charm. We loved the cosy tiny village and paid to get into the 'Jardins de Exotic' (2*) which are gardens on the very top of the steep hill town. It was a good choice with views from the garden over the buildings of town, the valleys around, down to the coast, and over the perilous gorge-spanning arch bridge leading into town that were all very fine. Alicia in particular adored Eze.
The next day we enjoyed the beautiful streets of Nice old town on Sunday morning with not many people around. The streets were filled with pretty old pastel covered buildings, charming painted wooden shutters, and washing hanging on lines above alleys in the old town. We discovered a few stores selling fresh made pasta ravioli/ tortellini that looked delicious and got us interested but we had
no means to cook them, so we could't buy any.
We travelled out to the stunning town of St Paul de Vence (3*) it was a great day with hot weather, blue skies and some white fluffy cloud . SPdV is a beautiful little hill village where we walked the walls and streets, had some nice milkshakes, and loved the beautiful buildings clad in vines and flowers. We got some great photos too.
Back in Nice we found a strong wind wrecking havoc on the beach; Nick observed one big beach umbrella plucked from the sand and sent cartwheeling down the beach in the gale killing and maiming 96 people along the way until it finally crashed into an innocent mother who bravely wrestled it to the ground! We climbed the Nice Chateau on a hill above the harbour and beach and had great views, and saw some rich boats in the Nice port.
We hopped a quick train over to Monte Carlo,Monaco (1*+) the alleged playground of the super rich. We walked up to the hill to it's 'Jardins de Exotic' which were closed but the views from outside the gates over the city was unobstructed and very
good. Monaco has remarkable, steep mountains and cliffs rising behind and around it that give a pretty setting. The harbour is very squared away and obviously manmade. Well built to offer ample calm waters behind the big sea wall.
Down at the Monaco harbour we walked amongst some amusements and rides setup for kids including one cool one where they stick the kids in mostly sealed giant plastic bubbles about 6 feet in diameter
then leave the individual kid floating around in their bubble in a medium pool of water. It was hilarious watching the kids in the bubbles floating about and falling down in their little spheres; this was a ride we'd not seen before!
We walked the harbour to see the boats of the rich and famous since Monaco is apparently the place to be for rich boating types. We saw some small, cheap and nasty boats initially; I was very surprised they could afford the mooring fees to be there?! Further along were bigger boats including some that must surely have been cruise ships. The largest boats we saw that were probably privately owned and for individuals were about 30m long and 20m high. Alicia noted
one party eating dinner on the back deck of a rich boat with a young tarted up girl sitting on a much older chaps lap; good to see him enjoying his money?!?
We had to move on from lovely Nice to the city of Marseilles where we immediately leapt aboard a train to detour out to the town of 'Aix in Provence' (2*) . We walked the very pleasant tree lined avenues of Aix and loved the charm. The main street (supposed to be the prettiest main street in Europe) wasn't bad, and had a fountain every 100 metres and lovely leafy avenues. Very pleasant.
We saw a forgettable free church, and concluded there wasn't a lot of sight-seeing or action in Aix but plenty of charm. Alicia had a Banana and Nutella crepe she loved then we sat in a cafe in a square under the shade of large trees where musicians were playing to the diners and had a drink, it was very relaxing and a great way to soak up the small town charm.
Heading back to Marseilles (1*) we have never seen more stupid people than the motorcyclists of Marseilles! The riders will
literally go through a red light, cut across oncoming cars, go over the roundabout and onto footpaths, doding pedestrians, and generally have a 'whatever it takes' attitude. It's shockingly dangerous and they must die in droves; probably taking a few pedestrians with them when they crash the inconsiderate bastards.
We walked the streets of Marseilles to the port; but we weren't feeling the vibe or love for Marseilles, streets are busy with locals and tourists but the buildings aren't particularly attractive, and there were a few bums around reducing the good times too.
On our second day in Marseilles we picked up the car for the first of 23 days; we are now able to overflow all the crap from our bags into the car; hoorah!
The Marseille Notre Dame de la Garde (2*) church on the highest peak of Marseilles has been built in a very impressive position, a really steep hill with sweeping views of the sprawling city and bay. We enjoyed the fine views over the city (which is really large), and reflected there must be nicer areas down there we just failed to find them in our limited time in Marseilles. We also enjoyed
Monaco
Views from up near the Jardins de Exotic over the impressively placed city amongst the steep mountains. Note the squarish rich manmade harbour. the nice view of the bay where the prison island of 'Count of Monte Cristo' fame sits just a short way off shore with a little fort/ prison on it. We'd have liked to see the little prison Island of film and literary fame but time was against us so we had to get away.
The church interior was VERY pretty, 3 or 4 circular domes lined with gold and pretty design, well lit, and an impressive altar area with pretty columns, etc. Definitely not JAC (just another church), we liked it a lot and it helped Marseilles claw back some love in our hearts.
Always on the move and sight-seeing frantically now we have the car we visited Avignon where the Pope lived awhile during a period of violence in Rome and then a Catholic church leadership crisis in the 14th century. Amusingly (for me) by moving the Papacy to Avignon it lead to there being two and then at one stage three popes at once! What a mess, hahaha, go karma! Many argue this ongoing “Who's the real pope?” debacle led fairly promptly to Protestantism.
Near the Popes Palace we had lunch on the grass by
Nice fountains at night
These fountains are lovely by day or night the Pont St Benezet bridge (2*) which was quite charming. The Pont is effectively a fortified stone bridge extending out from the heavily fortified city wall about halfway of the way over the river, then it abruptly stops, not a very effective bridge anymore! (they stopped repairing it in the 17th century).
After a nice lunch of jam rolls we set off for a quick walk around Avignon where we admired the fine town walls and the square around the Popes Palace where a statue of an Elephant balancing on it's trunk amused us. The Popes Palace was there looking significant, Nick couldn't comprehend why they'd chosen to build such a major seat of 14th century power in what appeared to be not a very big city even today.... it was probably a one horse town back in the day! Our research had told us to avoid a Palace tour so we skipped it and moved on.
We went to 'Orange' to the ancient Roman Theatre (3*) and took an audio guided tour in blazing 31C temperatures. The theatre was built around the time of Caesar Augustus and consists of the original theatre wall about 20m high that backs
Prisoners from here are Vengeful
The island in the harbour is where the 'count of Monte Cristo' was imprisoned for those who know the story. the stage, a wooden stage built in the traditional style, and all concrete style seating reconstructed quite convincingly and faithfully in tiers leading high into a big semi-circle that apparently could seat almost 10,000 people! The audio tour was pretty good and we loved being able to experience a Roman theatre so faithfully similar to what it would have been.
Giving up on towns and buildings for a moment we went to see the Pont d' Arc (2*+) a vast natural stone arc in the Ardeche national park area. It's apparently 50m high and 60m wide. It spans a river running through the gorge and is a great natural stone formation with a picturesque rocky cliff above it one side too. We saw people swimming in the river off a little beach just 200m down the hill and Alicia guessed the nearby parking and camping places we'd passed must have access so we headed down there and got in swimming gear. Alicia dip tested the water and reported it very cold but we decided to seize the day anyway and swim 'cause it'd been hot all day. It was very enjoyable and refreshing and a great memorable experience to
Marseille knows how to do an interior
Marseille Notre Dame de la Garde lovely church interior. swim at such an interesting natural landmark.
Back in the town of Orange we got parked up and to dinner just after 10pm. Contrary to tourists infos advice the restaurants were NOT still serving food, only drinks, we got smiles and looks of surprise when asking for a table for two to eat at the first 3 places; they all tapped their watches and implied we were way too late! We were lucky to find a 'greasy spoon' willing to feed us, thank goodness we didn't have to go hungry!
Early in our France trip we started to pick up a problematic trend of being up too early each morning for the hotel breakfast (or they're stupidly overpriced and we declined them) then hungry for breakfast and not happy to go without too long we'd hunt around in our car on the way to our first sights trying to find something to eat. On our first morning of this we just couldn't find anywhere to eat for love or money until 10:30am! Bloody France; we really struggle with breakfasts!
Once we got into the hang of finding early morning bakeries open we could at least buy croissants or
Pont St Benezet Avignon
Notice how the bridge don't cross the whole river?! That's what no maintenance for 4 centuries will do to your bridges... similar but eating buttery french pastry items for breakfast got old and unpleasant for us very very quickly.
Alicia and I are both keen breakfast eaters and we just want things we know like toast or cereal promptly when we get up and it's just so very hard to get these in France in a cost-effective and timely fashion. Our breakfast problems lasted all the way throughout France we ate cereal everytime we could get fresh milk (Nick hates UHT), on other days we compromised with Macdonalds (which is frequently not open for breakfast anyway!), or whatever we could choke down from a bakery.
We spent a lot of time in France checking out pretty tiny villages that were on the way to things we wanted to see or do; in one of these villages early in our travels we hoped into the little town vine yard and picked a black wine grape to try, we ate it and found it tasted like a good green grape (the kind you eat), just with a thick dark skin outer; it was strange but we were pleased to try the taste of a wine grape.
Our next main stop was
in Arles where we unfortunately showed up in the midst of a major market day and the town traffic was at a standstill. We eventually got to the Amphitheatre (arena) (2*), this was another building built by the Romans when they occupied Gaul and was where gladiator fights and the like would have taken place. Coming on the back of the excellent tour at Orange's Roman theatre we were a disappointed to find they had no audio guide or other info; we roamed about inside the Arena and it's stone archways and climbed up to the top of the tiered seats but didn't have a lot of reason to stay long as it was in blazing 30C heat and we had no context on what we were seeing, a tour may have been wise..... The arena was very impressive though, apparently it could seat nearly 25,000 and from the exterior it looked a bit like the Coliseum and old and genuine.
Our next attraction was a real winner the 'Pont du Gard' a section of Ancient Roman aqueduct near Nimes. We weren't the only cars doing a desperate u-turn at the gates! They wanted 15 euros for parking (hahaha
no way!) We drove off in disgust and eventually parked on a dodgy dirt track away from the road then walked 1.5 kms back to the grounds and entered for free. We were amused to see many other cars U-turning away from the insane prices at the gates. It's a disgrace to charge so much for people to come to see a World Heritage listed wonderous sight.
The Pont du Gard (3*) was fabulous; a towering section of aqueduct spanning the river and for anyone who likes Ancient Romans history or can appreciate how clever the Romans were moving water around it was brilliant to see the aqueduct still intact after almost 2,000 years . It had been built so high across the river to keep the height of the watercourse at the level required for the aqueduct and it was remarkable ancient engineering.
We walked about to view the aqueduct from both sides and met an 80 year old German woman who wanted a photo of herself on her old 'point and click', she told us she learned English in school 65 years ago (in German she didn't recall much English). We counted back and realised this would have
Theatre at Orange
The Ancient Roman theatre in Orange. Great place! been an interesting time to be in school in Germany (freshly post WWII), how the curriculum was changed from Nazi days to Allied occupation days would have been intriguing.....
We loved the Pont du Gard and after marvelling at it some more and keeping in the shade we walked back to our car and made our escape.
On this particular day we discovered Nick's itinerary planning was woefully optimistic for that days driving and at 5pm we were over 400km from our accommodation!! Oops, needless to say we paid a costly accomm cancellation and rebooked somewhere achievable.
We started to learn hard lessons about driving in France; decent toll roads sped us along at 130km/h but cost us 11 euros for one leg of the journey! Ouch! After doing some reading on the internet later we learned the French auto-routes may charge tolls as much as 1 euro for about 15km. So driving on them everywhere all the time can add up stupendously. Disappointing. On a positive note for our driving our little Renault Clio II eco is getting fabulous mileage; 800+ km for 50 euros! Great work diesel!
Mindful that some of the distances we were
looking to cover were pretty huge we debated whether to go deep into the Languedoc-Roussillon region to see just one small port town Collioure, thankfully we did.
Collioure (3*) had a stunning waterfront, beautiful sights around the harbour, and pretty streets with nice buildings around the town. There were forts on the hills around, a fortified castle on the waterfront, a pretty lighthouse, nice docks and charming small boats too. We marvelled at the beauty of the Collioure harbour which had couple of stretches of inviting beach too and decided on the spot to do a quick change and swim in the clean, clear, cold water despite our parking meter running out.
It was really refreshing and fun with lovely views of town during our swim. The beach was of large grain gritty sand and some stones, comfortable to walk on. We loved the town!
Back to our car we found some kind of notice on the windshield as we were 11 mins late on parking. Since it was all in French we weren't sure if it was a fine or not. After translating the paper notice on the internet days later we discovered it was only a slap on
the wrist! Hahaha isn't Collioure wonderful! Of all the places we visited in France we would put Collioure in our top three and would strongly recommend a visit maybe for a night or three to relax and soak up the delightful beauty of the town; we wish we could have stayed longer.
Our next big sight was the fortified town Carcassonne (2*+) which had incredibly picturesque walls and towers. The town had a double ring of walls around it and had been through the odd medieval siege in it's history; nowadays it looks like a fairy-tale fortified castle town with impressive lengthy battlements topped with plenty of Disney-style towers.
We walked around the walls avoiding the pricey wall-walk tours and loads of other tourist crap which is sadly all that is left within the walls; but did enjoy a nice ice cream before waving a fond farewell to this remarkably pretty walled town. Of all the fortified towns you see in Europe it's unlikely there are any with more impressive, intact, and picturesque walls and towers than Carcassonne.
It was deja vu for us in the carpark when we found someone had kindly scratched our parked car and
run away (sigh). We see quite a lot of cars around our France driving holiday with scratches and scrapes and now wonder if it's part of the driving culture of France, either way we're once again wondering what additional rental charges could be in store for us when we return the car in 3 weeks. It's disappointing and always puts us in a bad mood.
Being in France in August is a fine time to see the rich farming especially throughout the Provence and Langdoc Roussillon regions; on our travels we saw some lovely huge fields of Sunflowers, Corn, vineyards, and even a little pumpkin patch! The sunflower fields are the most charming but the blazing sun has taken a lot of life out of the flowers, when we saw them some were already drooping and dieing in the heat.
We found some incredibly charming small towns in the Aquitane region around the Lot river and the village of 'St Cirq Lapopie' and our hotel in Bouzies. It was a very pretty area, with vertical steep stone cliff faces and arches cut in the rock to drive the road along this sheer wall, on the other side a
gentle bank down to pretty Lot river. There were some great views along here including up to the cliff-top perched town of St Cirq L. which looks astonishing perched up on it's cliff top as you drive by. We were stunned and enthused by the beauty of the area.
By this time at our hotel we were starting to be used to what you can and can't get in France; Nick almost cried with relief to be able to order a pint at a reasonable price since the typical French beer is 250ml (throw-down size) and 4+ euros. I never thought I'd be excited to receive a pint of Stella but I was this time!
The village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie (3*) is very impressive indeed; perched on a cliff edge above the river valley we took in the fantastic views of the pretty town from every vantage point in the area and went to the lookout towering on the highest rocky point in town for great sweeping views around the whole region. We took a little walk through town and down the road leading out of town for views back; the views over the steeply perched pretty buildings was very
fine indeed. It's an unbelievably picturesque little village.
For a change of pace from small, beautiful villages we saw the beautiful medieval fortified bridge 'Pont Valentre' (2*) at Cahors . The waters of the river were still and reflecting the bridge nicely and we got a lot of photos and enjoyed it's beauty. It's a very fine quick stop on the way through the region and one of the best looking bridge you'll ever see.
Once again chasing pretty villages the town of Puy-lEveque (2*) turned out to be very pretty indeed, a nice little place on a hill by the river with interesting decorations all throughout the town. This town really makes an effort to be attractive and different, the decorations included colourful stockings on one of the trees in town, avenues of large twigs lining public flights of stairs, dozens of shoes hanging on clothes lines in one alley, and everyday scenes of life painted on the walls of public facing buildings. There were pleasing or interesting views all over this town and the views from the river bridge back to town were stunning too; it was an excellent place to see.
In fairly popular
cliff town of Rocamadour (2*) Nick was very surprised to find the town was nothing like what his research had told him it would be, what we discovered from the fine sweeping views from the Rocamadour chateau (2*) was that on top of the cliffs there really wasn't much but the chateau, below on a broad ridge of the hill was the main body of Rocamadour town centre set 'into' the steep rocky cliff base; still a fairly impressive setting for a town. We ate dinner in town and had Lamb Tajine and Duck Margaret (duck breasts in berry sauce) & fried sliced potato. The lamb tajine was excellent and Alicia insisted on stealing it from Nick.
That wraps up the main notes from our wonderful first week or so in France, broadly covering S & SW places we visited. We are having loads of good warm weather and loving it.
My next entry will be more Western areas of France and the Loire valley.
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anne and Phill
non-member comment
loved the blog
thanks again for the great blog, we have also been to St Paul de vence and loved it very pretty. Keep up the good work xxxxx