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!
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!
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