Sarah and Bruno visiting

The weekend is here again! Busy times again, as Sarah and Bruno came over for a visit from Paris. So we took off straight from work, and picked them up at the airport, and headed straight to Nice (no point to loose any time, eh?). I was given the task of parking the car (always a challenging task in Nice), whilst the others headed off on foot to explore Vieux Nice. Having finally managed to park, I joined the group just in time to have an ice-cream at the premier ice-cream parlour in Nice – Fenocchio. We followed this up with a beer to slacken our thirst. By the time we finished our drinks our stomachs (or at least mine) were grumbling, so we headed off to find a good place to eat.

We opted for La Merenda – a place where we’ve wanted to eat for a while now. La Meranda is a bit of a Nicois institution, run by the well-known chef Dominique Le Stanc (he used to work at the Negresco hotel, and helped them obtain their second Michelin star). La Merenda is a bit particular in that they’re closed Saturday evening, and in that they don’t take reservations. Luckily enough, we arrived early enough, and got a table. I really liked the place, for a place as famous as it is, it’s very unpretentious – and the food was great. And it didn’t break the bank either… We finished off the evening with a couple of drinks in the Thor bar (we actually had a French-speaking waitress serve us – I used to think not speaking French was a perquisite for being hired at the place ;-).

Saturday kicked off in sporty fashion – we decided to do a walk (what a surprise, eh?). This time we picked a walk we’d already done last year, to La Madone d’Utelle (we really liked it because of the great views, but had some pretty cloudy weather last year so we always wanted to try it on a clearer day). After a quick walk around the village (another typically pretty Provencal village – this one especially nice since it’s truly off the tourist track), we set off. Somehow the walk seemed a lot easier than last time (or maybe I was comparing to the half-marathon last weekend? :-) – but unfortunately the clouds crept in on us this time as well. Still it was a nice enough outing – and me and Bruno even got to chase some poor sheep around the hills (actually reminds me of the last time we did this walk as well).

In the evening we explored Haut-de-Cagnes, and then had ourselves a nice meal in one of the nice restaurants up there – this time we chose a place called Le Goutte d’Eau. Really nice place – a bit more down-to-earth than some of the other places next-doors. After that we had ambitious plans to party ‘til dawn – but alas it was not to be. The pub in the old town, imaginatively known as “Le Pub”, was closed (apparently due to a recent fire). We figured “Le Lounge Bar” downtown would be a fair bet – what with a swingy name like that – but no, it was closed too. So, resigned to our fate, we wandered back home and played “Buzz! : The Hollywood quiz” on my PS2 instead (with some 18-year old Talisker and some lethal Calvados distilled by Mathilde’s nan to keep us going)…

On Sunday we embarked upon the mandatory Cote d’Azur coastal drive. Our first stop was Roquebrune, which is yet another pretty perched village – this time more in the Italian than Provencal style (quite possibly due to its proximity to the Italian border). It’s a real gem, actually, with great views over the coast, and the typically narrow streets and almost over-the-top-cute houses in various pastel colours. We also checked in the famous 1000-years old Olive tree, apparently one of the oldest in the world (at least it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen!).

After a quick lunch, we had a walk around Cap-Martin. A tip should you ever wish to visit the Cote d’Azur – any place name starting with Cap means you will be surrounded by massive villas, which are almost always abandoned (because the owners most likely spend about 1 or 2 weeks per year there). And of course you normally need a bit of imagination to picture the villas (because of the high fences surrounding them). Anyway, it was a pleasant enough walk, with nice views over Menton and Monaco. After a last drink at Menton, it was unfortunately time to take Sarah and Bruno to the airport….

More photos here.