Sospel and Mont Agaisen

Time to show Jocke some of a typical local mountain village. So we took the car and drove down to Sospel, just about 30 kilometres from Nice (which because of the winding roads took as more than an hour to drive...).






From there, we decided to do a walk around Mont Agaisen, since the weather was so Nice - to start with anyway. Because after we had scaled the heights of the hill (at 751 meters), it started pouring down - and I mean really p***ing it down. (of course we had left hour rain coats in the car, because the weather is always good in this part of the world, right? Wrong...). And we had some thunder to add to the excitement as well.



We made it back to Sospel eventually, to the safety of the local bar, where we warmed up for a while, waiting for the rain to quiet down - which it didn't. So we drove straight to Nice without having a look around the town - the journey was pretty exciting as well what with all the water and rocks on the road. But we survived :-)



In the evening we met up with the clan Turtiainen (including my brother Janne and Katja, who were visiting) in Brasserie Flo for a nice evening meal.

The Italian Riviera

Today I was supposed to run a half-marathon... But due to some organisational difficulties (er, like not registering for it on time - excuses, I know...) I failed...

So instead of this strenuous activity we decided to walk up to the site of the old castle of Nice, for some nice views over the city.

In the afternoon, we jumped in the car and drove down to the Italian Riviera. Our first stop was Bordighera, a seaside town near the French border. I felt pretty certain somebody had recommended the place for some reason, but a quick stroll around didn't excite a lot of interest in us.

So we drove on to Dolceacqua (which came highly recommended in my Eyewitness guide). It was a very nice town actually, with a most impressive bridge and a castle dramatically situated on a hilltop. We also visited a herbal exhibition - which interested Mathilde a bit more than me and Jocke I think ;-)

Wine tasting in Nice and Wappu in Monaco!

My good friend Jocke decided to come over for a visit this weekend, and finally arrived after some eventful voyaging... (a few hours wait in Paris, lost luggage, usual story...).



We started off the day by going wine tasting, to try out some of the local wines. There is actually an AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée) in Nice called Bellet (click here for some free advertising :-). It's one of the smallest (if not the smallest) appellations in France (mostly because of the price of land, which as you can imagine is not the cheapest around Nice...). We eventually found a nice little vineyard, and had our authentic French experience (and of course even though the wine tasking was free, we felt obliged to buy 2 bottles for about 30 euros afterwards ;-).





From there we rushed over to Monaco (stopping by in Eze, a nice perched village between Nice and Monaco). After a quick look around town, it was time for the Finnish Wappu celebrations in Stars 'n Bars (a famous sports bars, frequented by such people as Michael Schumacher, Janet Jackson, Jude Law, Britney Spears, just to name a few...) - we were about 15 people altogether. The proceedings were relatively civilised for a Finnish celebrations (although after our "balloon wars", not very adult, one could say...)

Weekend in Toulouse

This weekend we went to Toulouse to visit Philppe and Aniko, who had come to see us in Nice a few weeks earlier. Bravely, we decided to take the night train, which brought us into Toulouse 5:30 Friday morning. In spite of us insisting he shouldn't, Philippe met us at the train station (fortunately he doesn't check his messages very often ;-).






Friday was spent calmly strolling around in Toulouse (although calmly is a kind of relative expression since the thermometer reached +30 degrees...), walking around the river (Garonne) and the canals of Toulouse. Toulouse is the 4th city of France, with a student population of over 100000, famous for it's aeronautics industry, and known as the "pink city". Strangely enough, it kind of reminds me of Manchester (with all the brick buildings) - in a positive way of course ;-). In the evening, we naturally had a couple of pints to cool off... (we were also joined by Marie and Pauline, who are Mathilde's former colleagues from Tormead school in Guildford. They were here on a school trip - small world eh?)





On Saturday, we jumped into the Chevy Philippe had rented (I didn't know they made them THAT small these days...) and drove out to explore the countryside a bit. We visited Cordes sur Ciel (means Cordes "on the sky") - a really pretty little town perched on a hilltop. Quite different from the perched villages of the Cote d'Azur - you can tell people used to be quite well off (and probably still are - what with all the tourists that no doubt come in hordes during the summer). Lovely place!




From here, we headed to Albi (passing by to say hi to one of Philippe's mates on the way), which is famous for its museum housing the most comprehensive selection of Toulouse-Lautrec's work (he was born there). The other famous sight is a massive brick cathedral. Very impressive!

Sunday was spent walking yet more, visiting a Japanese garden. And then spending 7 hours on the train going back to Nice...

Circuit de St. Michel

So time for another walk again... We took the train (well, thought we would, but there were engineering works, so ended up taking a bus) to Beaulieu sur Mer (which means "beautiful place by the sea" in English), and climbed up various staircases and paths, crossing the Moyen and Grand Corniches, up to the Plateau St. Michel (at 384 meters), from where we had some nice views over Beaulieu, Villefranche and Cap Ferrat.



From there we walked down a forested path along the Vallon de St. Michel to Eze-sur-Mer (which is considerably less pretty than Eze Village, a perched village a couple of hundred meters above).

Roller skating on the Promenade des Anglais

After all the walking and dining in fancy restaurants we decided on a different type of activity this saturday - roller skating (we hadn't used our blades yet in Nice so it was about time).

And what better place to do this than the Promenade des Anglais? It was quite an adventure getting there, zigzagging between the cars and people in the streets - but we eventually made it (Mathilde did kind of accidentally enter a cafe at one point ;-).





The promenade was quite busy as well since the weather was nice - but in spite of the look of horror on peoples faces as we hurtled past them at breakneck speed, we killed no one (as far as I know). The way back from the airport (which is as far as we went) nearly killed us - what with the wind in our faces...

More Finns visiting

So time for the next bunch of Finnish relatives to pay a visit :-) This time we had the pleasure of meeting Birgitta (who's my godmother), Ole and Anton, who came over all the way from Stockholm, Sweden.

After my parents took them around the coast for some sight-seeing, we all met up on Friday night for a nice dinner at Le Tapenade in the old town of Nice, a nice and cozy place to try out the local cuisine...

Into the Var valley on the Train des Pignes

We decided to go for a proper hike today, up in the Moyen Var valley. We decided upon a somewhat original mode of transport - the "Train des Pignes" (yes - more free sponshorship). The train des Pignes is kind of cool - it's a single-track railway all the way up to the Alps (Digne-les-Bains). I'd like to say this is why we took the train - but actually it's the only way to get to the Var valley villages now that we are once more deprived of personal motorised transport...

We ended up doing the walk in a little town called Puget-Theniers, from where we walked the Circuit Des Aubrics. It was a very nice walk, in nice sunshine, with great views. Quite different landscapes to what we're used to - more dry and arid. Not a very high walk (the highest point was 820 meters) but seemed somehow quite mountainous.





Afterwards we walked around Puget-Theniers, which is not the prettiest place on the Riviera (but has its charms), for a couple of hours waiting for the train (one thing has to be said against the Train des Pignes - the trains are not particularly frequent...).

Daytrip to Grasse

Wanting to do something not involving too much walking, on impulse we decided to visit Grasse, one of the bigger towns on the Riviera (or a bit inland actually), with its 43874 inhabitants (very accurate, the "Guide Vert" ;-).






Grasse is famous more than anything else for its perfume - there are three perfumeries in town (Fragonard, Galimard and Moulinard). Having had a bite to eat, and having walked through the (as always) charming old town with its winding streets and tall houses, we paid a visit to the most famous one of them, Fragonard.



Quite an interesting visit (never thought I'd hear myself saying that about a museum about perfume - must be getting old ;-). Although unfortunately it became very clear to me that I will never be a "Nez" (it's what they call the people who have a nose for scents - the lucky fellas work only a couple of hours a day and get paid a fortune!). I really struggled to tell the difference between Fleur d'Oranger and Lavande, I tell ya that... But now I do know the difference between perfume, eau de Parfum, and eau de toilette, at least ;-)

In the evening we met up with Dan and his girlfriend who were here for a golf trip (perhaps more the former)....

Ile Ste-Marguerite

Easter weekend... Even though we didn't find any last-minute holiday, we were quite content to stay at Nice.





On saturday we took the train down to Cannes, and took the ferry from the Vieux Port (with all the posh yachts) to Ile Ste-Marguerite, the larger of the Iles de Lerins. (Ste-Honarat being the smaller one).



Ile Ste-Marguerite is a very pretty island, about 3 kilometres long (we walked around it in a couple of hours), with some untouched nature (although some trees have been planted over the years to replace some destroyed by a recent storm, for example). But the island also has a long history dating back to Roman days. These days, the island is dominated by the Fort Royal, which was fortified by the famous Fort builder Vauban. in 1712 (it was originally built by Richelieu). One famous resident at the island prison was the man with the iron mask (who was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in a recent film).

Dinner at the Baie d'Amalfi

My parents had some visitors - Gunveig from Sweden and Majgret & Ken from Letchworth in England. We managed to find a gap in their busy schedule (and ours - what with Joel and Francoise still here) for an aperitif at our place, followed by an Italian meal in the Baie d'Amalfi, just around the corner from our flat.

Walking with Joel & Francoise

Joel and Francoise came over for a week to visit us, and to practice... They have decided to take on the Santiago de Compostella this year (all the way from Angers!) - quite a challenge I would say.

So their visit here to the Cote d'Azur wasn't what I would call a beach holiday. Fortunately I was working most of the time, so I had it easy ;-)



Saturday, we took Pete's old but trustworthy Corolla and drove up to Luceram - just 30 kilometres north of Nice but seemingly of another world... It's a very nice little perched village (yes, again...) in a valley surrounded by some pretty impressive mountains. We walked (after a stretching demonstration, pictured below, from Joel and Francoise) around the valley - passing Croix de la Plastra (at 977 meters), Grand Braus (1331 meters) and Col de l'Able (1149 meters). Afterwards we had some time to explore the town as well (where we found, among other things, a museum dedicated to cribs, which are pretty popular in this part of the world...).










For the Sunday I prepared a special picnic for Joel & Francoise (an unfulfilled promise from 2 years ago, something to do with games played at French weddings...). Foie gras, rillettes, muffins, taboulé, wine - the works!

Unfortunately, it rained (yes, it does happen in this part of the world as well, unfortunately) so we were forced to eat it indoors (I hope it still counts as a fulfilled promise!).



In the afternoon, it did clear up, so we drove to Villefranche sur Mer and walked up to Mont Alban - and the 16th century military fortress that sits right on top of the 222m hill. From there, we had some pretty spectacular views over Nice to the west and over Villefranche and Cap Ferrat to the east.



And the weekend finished in style at my parents' finally completely decorated and furnished flat in Antibes with a delicious dinner!