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After electing to fly with Turkish Airlines to France we were pleasantly surprised that this fully inclusive airline was in fact great to travel with. We loved the seat arrangement of two, four, two seat combination so that Pete enjoyed his preferred isle seat and I got the window seat instead of always being stuck in the middle seat!
We were picked up in France by our motorhome swap couple in Lyon and after spending a night at their place in the country we headed off with much trepidation off to explore southern France to begin with. Pete had no problems driving on the right hand side off the road and thankfully my basic French is getting us by quite nicely, We travelled though the French Alps which are absolutely stunning and very very impressive with their snow capped peaks and quaint villages scattered around. The roads are very narrow compared to Australia and many a time I asked Pete to move away from my side as all I could see was horrendous steep drops on my side of the van!
The weather so far has been fantastic with more sunshine forecasted. We have been
exploring the French Riviera for the last two days by train as the traffic is crazy around here due to the Cannes film festival on and the Monaco Grand Prix about to begin. We loved Monte Carlo and visited Prince Albert’s Palace and then the Casino where I miserably lost 5 euros on the pokies! Nice was a busy but interesting place and It was great to visit Cannes again after living there years ago but it has changed so much and I really couldn’t remember too much. I mean how could I forget that there was an old castle there! Either my memory is going or perhap I was just not into visiting anything but clothing shops when I was young!!!
French wine is very cheap so very hard to resist buying in the supermarkets plus the varieties of cheese is amazing. We are parked at a free camp spot in the middle of a small village now and have just been down to one of the local bars for a welcome beer and wine after 6 hours on the road. We didn’t actually travel too far but road congestion is a problem around here for
sure. Anyway our drinks only cost $6.00. So very cheap and I am sure it won’t be our last!
,I have just realised that I am unable to download photos to my iPad so will have to wait until I can use a library somewhere. It may be very sporadic blogs this time but hope they will be worth reading when they do arrive!
On the road again and stayed at a small in village in Provence as one does!!! Spoke to some lovely people camped by the side of us or should I say I did as Pete just listened! I am sure he is looking forward to chatting with English speaking travellers as I am afraid he has only me at the moment!
On to Spain and we are staying at a campsite just out of Barcelona and took the train in today to visit all the sites. Barcelona is incredibly busy even in May and we certainly walked several kilometres for sure. It is a beautiful tree lined city with incredible architecture. We were unfortunately unable to visit most of the sites as one had to book on
line or they were sold out or the queues were too long! We have instead enjoyed drinks on the beach opposite our campsite with Pete enjoying the topless Spanish bathers!. He actually toppled over backwards off his beach chair into the sand, much to the amusement of the customers next to us but unfortunately I did not get it on film! ! We did go for a half hour cruise on the Mediterranean and walked, what seemed, half the streets of the city before relaxing! Good and bad news in that drinks are even cheaper here so we are really enjoying Spain so far!
We have Internet to find the best camping spots with co-ordinates and a GPS that takes us there. Admittedly we have taken the wrong roads several times but we are getting there in one piece so far!
We had a wonderful day driving slowly down the coast to Benidorm where we are now staying with my best friend from Primary school who I haven't seen for over 40 years! It has been wonderful to catch up and visit her in a small village way above the busy city of Benidorm.
Today Pete and I are exploring Benidorm and apart from all the overweight sunbathers, mostly pensioners, it is an interesting town with an old part and obviously the new with the many skyscraper apartment blocks.
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Beverley
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France and Spain
Great reading Suzanne. Terrific photos as well Cute car ? Glad all is going so well. Take care. Xxxxx