Blogs from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 218

Eurorail 2002 - Photos from: Lyon, Antibes, Cannes & Nice... A 3 week escapade on Eurorail and night trains beginning in Amsterdam, then journeying through Paris to Lyon. After that, onto the Cote d'Azure through Marseilles to camp (and enjoy the "tent fever") in Antibes, Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo before riding the North Mediterranean coast to Barcelona. After that, a mother of a train ride through France and Belgium to land just back across the Southern border of the Netherlands again to revisit an old stomping ground: Breda. From there, a penultimate jaunt up to Bruges then home from Brussels.... phew!!... read more

I have actually had the chance to do this trip on two occasions - the first being in December 2001 and the send in December 2003 to enjoy the Christmas markets. Both times were great and involved spending lots of time (and money!) in various chocolate shops, bars and cafes in and around of the main Markt Square although we found a couple of great little bars slightly away from the main square, which we could have stayed in all weekend! I think Bruges is possibly one of my most favourite cities - it has that gorgeous medieval old towns that seem to have been lost in some of the bigger cities with a brilliant selection of restaurants, cafes and bars and much culture and history to go with it. We spent some time in the ... read more

After having spent way too much time on a train (literally too long time after having taken the wrong turn and traveled halfways through France in the wrong direction), and having found a nice little hotel, I feel a strong urge to socialize. The little hotel in Nice is nice. Probably not honored with a bunch of stars in any hotel guide. But it's clean, safe, affordable, and there are quite a few fellow budget travelers. My socializing takes the form of sitting outside on the lawn furniture, writing post cards, surrounded by other young vagabonds. But I feel a need to speak, with anyone about anything. Preferably in English. The Americans present are arrogant, and have seemingly no interest whatsoever to speak with anyone who is not American. The group of Aussies show the same ... read more

As we were hoping that 1995 would be our last year in Europe, we decided to make the most of it. We wanted to make one more trip to the French Riviera, which we hadn't been to in several years; a trip to Norway to trace Bob's ancestors; and one final trip to visit Shirley and the cousins in Northern Ireland, at least while we lived in Europe. 8 April 1995 Saturday. We had never taken the kids on a train ride so we took the train from Brussels to Paris where we transferred to the fast TGV. It was a quick ride to Lyon, Marseilles, and Toulon, before we disembarked at Le Lavandou. There we caught a taxi to the Pierre et Vacances resort at Pramousquier. We would be there for a week. We had ... read more

You wouldn’t be inter-railing if you didn’t spend at least one night on a train, so I travelled overnight to Marseille. After a two hour wait, there was then a train to Aix and, when I eventually managed to track down a pay phone that took cash, I met up with my cousin who went to university here and has since made it her home. Provence is incredibly laid back - as is made clear in the book “A Year in Provence”. It was great to take it easy, drink Pastis (a local drink that tastes a lot like Pernod or the Greek equivalent, Ouzo), eat great food and watch everyone else do the same. My cousin really looked after me and showed me all the sights of Aix and the rest of Provence. She took ... read more