Finnish visit from Norway

Jonas, a friend of mine from the old Grani school days, came over for the weekend all the way from Norway. Weather-wise, things didn't start off very well, with a fair bit of rain most of Friday. But apparently it was still an improvement over the Norwegian weather ;-). After a delicious and very filling dinner of crepes and cider at our place (as you may have guessed, I didn't do the cooking...), we headed off to explore the old town of Cagnes. The plan was to try out the local pub, which is (most originally) called La Taverne. Unfortunately it was closed, so we ended up going to the Black Cat, the best (and only) jazz bar in Cagnes. The place wasn’t exactly heaving when we arrived (I think apart from the musicians, we were the only people there), but a couple of mojitos later, when the music started, things got a bit more exciting. But we didn’t overdo it, since we thought Jonas might want to see something during daytime as well, and went home well by bed-time…


After a lazy French breakfast (with fresh baguette and croissants, of course), we jumped into the car and drove down to Sanremo, located on the Italian side of the Riviera. Sanremo is of course most famous for its music festival, but also for its casino and rally. Neither the rally nor the music festival were on, and it was a bit early for the casino, so we had a walk around the shopping streets and the old town instead. And a pleasant stroll it was (for some reason I liked Sanremo better the second time around), in spite of the uncharacteristically dodgy weather.


After a pizza for lunch, we headed back to France. We did the mandatory visit to Eze (a very pretty, but also very touristy, perched village east of Nice), and also made a stop in Villefranche-sur-Mer. Villefranche is one of the nicer seaside towns on the Riviera, a bit less overrun by the developers than some of the other towns, located in a very nice bay between Nice and Cap Ferrrat. After walking around for a bit, and watching the sunset over the harbour, we headed on to Nice.



The plan was to have dinner and then meet some mates in Ma Nolan’s (one of quite a few Irish pubs in Nice). After showing Jonas the old town for a while, we went for an apero in Cours Saleya, where we were joined by the man from Karunki (Sami). We decided to have the dinner in a real Nice institution, Chez Palmyre. It’s a small, family-run place on the edge of the old town. The dinner was definitely an experience (note the absence of the word culinary). The menu was handwritten (the menu changes every day), and the matron of the place is quite a character (she’s seen better days, but makes it up in spades with her personality). We were even treated to a duet of “Bella Nissa” during our meal, which means “beautiful Nice” in Nissard, the local dialect (or language more like, I thought they were singing in Italian!). We did eventually manage to eat as well, once me and Sami had finished arguing about who would get the last rabbit (Sami got the rabbit - but I got the last laugh as I ended up getting the last orange tart!).




After this “expérience Niçoise” we headed on to Ma Nolan’s, where we met up with Jari, who was back in Nice for the weekend (he worked here for about 6 months until he started missing Oulu so much that he just had to go back ;-). The beer flowed, predictably. Mindful of our duty to also show the day-time splendours of the Riviera to Jonas, we did take the last train back home, though.




We started Sunday with a hike near Tourettes-sur-Loup. It was a pleasant enough walk, which took us up from Tourettes-sur-Loup (which is at 400 meters) up to about 850 meters. Unfortunately, the weather was still a bit dodgy, but at least it didn’t rain. And it has to be said this isn’t one of the most scenic walks we’ve done so far. But still, it was nice to get out and about for a bit.
After the hike we walked around Tourettes a bit – it is one of the prettiest villages on the Riviera, in my humble opinion, with its dramatic location and paved streets.




In the evening, we went to Cannes. First, we ticked off the mandatory tourist activities, which include: posing on the red carpet outside the Palais des Festivals, gazing in amazement at the over-the-top yachts in the Vieux Port and watching the sun set from the top of the Suquet (the old town). After a long walk along the Croisette (the beach boulevard), taking in the Carlton (the poshest hotel in town), we headed to the old town for a nice dinner. A nice finish to a rewarding, if tiring, weekend!