The way back home

So our stay in Mongolia had nearly come to an end. After our trip to the Gobi, we were again quite grateful for a bit of comfort (which for us meant a bed, shower and a decent meal). Unfortunately, we had both developed a bit of a diarrhoea (which didn’t stop us from trying a Mongolian BBQ in the evening though – brilliant!), and the next day (our last day in UB) thing got worse for me (I just felt really bad, as if a bad cold was coming on). But in spite of that we found the time to visit the National Museum of History, which actually turned out to be really interesting. It provided a lot of interesting information about Mongolia, kind of nice to put all our experiences into context against the information at the museum.

After a lunch of Korean noodles purchased at the State Department store (kind of like the Harrods of UB - a massive place selling pretty much everything available in Mongolia. Funny name for a chic shopping centre - probably an echo from the good ol' communist days), we decided to go to the cinema, of all things – I guess it felt like some kind of a step back towards “normal life”. We saw Kung-Fu Panda – it was really good fun actually (also good to hear the somehow “innocent” laughter of the Mongolian kids). Apart from a bit of last minute shopping, that was pretty much it – our trip to Mongolia was neatly wrapped up with a decent meal at an Italian restaurant (by now we’d had enough of Mongolian food…).

We took the same route back as we had when we came to Mongolia, that is to say we flew to Milan with a stopover in Moscow, from where we had a train ticket for Nice. We were a bit worried about the changeover in Moscow since we only had less than 2 hours for the transfer, but things went a bit more smoothly this time (well, everything it relative – we still didn’t have time to do any shopping!). Aeroflot once more surprised us with the quality of their food, so all in all the voyage to Milan was painless.

Arrival in Milan was a… relief. I guess the first thing we noticed was the bus ride to the centre – no bumps on the road! (the roads are bumpy even in UB) And it has to be said our hotel in Milan was a notch up from Khongor guesthouse (nice though it was). We had nearly all day to explore Milan, but needless to say, we weren’t too energetic, so we contented ourselves to walking around, and having a nice meal in the trattoria around the corner from the hotel.

The next day, we still had a few hours to kill before catching our train to Nice, so we decided to visit the Pinacoteca di Brera, a nice enough art gallery (we decided to take the audio guide for once, and it was actually pretty interesting. After a very tasty lunch of Prosciutto and Mozzarella, it was time to get the train back home…

So how to summarize our travels in Mongolia? For me it was a very fascinating and rewarding experience. Travelling around Mongolia is not easy or comfortable (be it eating, getting around, sleeping), but that is part of the charm, as the cliché goes. Once the roads and the infrastructure are improved, the country will change dramatically. Which is a shame, in a way (although I suppose it will improve the lot of the Mongolians). It’s not a place to appreciate man-made wonders (although there are impressive temples), or even necessarily for natural wonders (which is not to say the landscapes aren’t captivating – they are, but it’s just that you will find higher mountains, prettier lakes and bigger waterfalls elsewhere). Rather, it’s a place to appreciate for its culture, the way of life of its people and their hospitality. Maybe they could teach us a thing or two about sustainable development and living in harmony with nature as well?

More photos here.

Into the Gobi

Well, after 7 days of dust, bumps and shall we say monotonous food, it actually felt nice to be back in UB. We actually decided to stay at Khongor guesthouse, since they had a room available (and we had been very happy with their tour). We were quite keen to head back in to the countryside though, so put up some posted notes asking for people to join us on a trip to the Gobi. We ended up spending one day in UB, which allowed us plenty of time to do some souvenir shopping, rest, shower, and eat some food which didn’t contain mutton.

For the trip to the Gobi, we were joined by a cool French-speaking Belgian couple, Simon and France (never met a person called that before…) as well as our equally cool driver Gamba, and tour assistant Zaya. So off we headed in Gambas Korean Hyunday minivan, which is described by Mongolians as follows: “more comfortable than Russian minivan. No break down easy, but when break down stop. No go everywhere”. So basically, more comfy and modern, but not good for off-road conditions. And since it’s not Russian built, everything can’t be fixed with a hammer and a screwdriver. We were a bit nervous, as we were going to the Gobi, where the roads are rough and the facilities far in between…

We needn’t have worried – we were as impressed with Super-Gamba as with Super-Togoo (in fact, Gamba is best mates with Togoo’s big brother, apparently). The first day was a long drive, with very little in terms of scenery (that’s the thing about being in the desert, there ain’t much there…). The first lunch we had was a big surprise for us – I could actually choose anything from the menu (so I picked a steak and a beer, obviously!). (we were brought down to planet earth pretty quickly, we quickly went back to mutton again). We stopped for the day at Baga Gazrin Chuluu, a.k.a. flaming rocks. The scenery was nice enough – surrounded as we were by dramatic, reddish rock formations. We also observed that the ger camps are more basic in the Gobi compared to central Mongolia – no beds in the Gobi typically. (on the other hand it’s warmer at night so at least it’s not too cold to sleep on the ground).

The next day, we carried on through the arid desert, and noticed a couple of other things. First of all, there are VERY few people in the Gobi. You can driver 50 km there easily without seeing a soul. As a consequence, the towns are even farther apart – which presents some interesting challenges – such as refuelling (first you cross your fingers that there is some fuel, then you pray there isn’t a blackout – so they can operate the pumps). Also, the Gobi isn’t actually all sand (apparently, only 3% of the Gobi is sand dunes) – and most of it is covered by bushes and little patches of grass. There are also mountain ranges, valley and even a couple of lakes (which are dry for most of the year). Anyway, we eventually arrived at the destination for the day, which was near Bayanzag (more about that later). The ger camp for tonight was in a nice enough spot, near a river, where we watched camels fill up their humps at dusk, quite a sight… We even got to go for a ride – which was pretty nice (it may be my imagination, but Mongolian camels seem to be more even-tempered than Egyptian ones).

The following day we headed out to Bayanzag. An impressive place, reminds me of some of the scenery you see in the old westerns from monument valley – if a bit less grandiose maybe. Baynazag is actually famous because an American called Roy Chapman Andrews (apparently, Indiana Jones was based on this guy – well at least he also always seemed to wear a hat!) found dinosaur eggs and fossils (including 100 dinosaur skeletons) in the area in the 1920’s over a period of two years. Well, he must’ve found loads, since people were still selling fossils and eggs near around there. After a quick visit at the local museum, we carried on through the desert.

By this point we’d also been joined by a vanful of Koreans, also from Khongor guesthouse. Seems that their Korean minivan was a bit less reliable than ours (then again, they didn’t have Super-Gamba for a driver) – they had already lost two days due to flat tires, getting lost etc. Do together we headed towards the next stop of our journey, the Yol valley. We nearly got worried that Gamba may be lost, as we were driving in terrain most definitely unsuited for non-4WD vehicles (mind you, all of the Gobi is that!) – but he came through in the end. The Yol valley was quite revelation – it’s like an alpine, tree-covered valley, all set in the middle of the Gobi! What’s most amazing – some of it’s ice-covered. The hiking we did there was definitely a welcome change to the heat and dust of the rest of the Gobi. And what’s best – we saw an Ibex (in addition to all the cute rodents – whatever they are call – that were running all over the place). In the evening we played football and basket ball with the locals – hard work, I’ll tell you that (especially since we were at an altitude of 2000 meters). One of them gave us some dire news – apparently Chinggis Khaan will be reincarnated in UB this august (but apparently he will be head of some institute instead of conquering the world – so we may be safe after all). I also wrestled Gamba – we both won one round.

Then it was back on the road again – once our two vans managed to refuel and patch up the broken tires. The next stop on our journey was Khongoryn Eels – or Khonor sand dunes (like our guest house ;-). They are the biggest sand dunes in Mongolia – 12km wide and 100 km long (and 300 meters high as well!). Obviously they had to be climbed. And hard work it was actually, the sand was not very accommodating at all. Coming down was easier, and more fun! (basically, we rolled down). The dunes are also called the singing dues because of the sound sand makes – although I didn’t hear anything. We also made friends with the local camels – they were easier to befriend than the Koreans (it was a funny old group, they were all dressed with face masks, gloves, caps – it was over 30 degrees Celsius for god’s sake! And all armed with at least two cameras – I mean they were worse than me!).

From there the plan was to leave the Gobi and head towards Orkhon waterfall. Yes – we had already seen that, but our Belgian friends wanted to see it so we thought “why not” since it was kind of on the way back anyway. However, as it was too far to get there in one day, we had to stay the night in a town somewhere in the Gobi, the name of which I can’t recall. Nothing special, this town, really. We got to sample the joys of a Mongolian provincial hotel – and came to the conclusion that they are about as comfortable as Gers (which for a hotel room is not really a compliment), and a lot less cozy. The mattress felt about as hard as the bed, put it like that. But anyway, we did get to shower, and found a nice enough place to have a couple of beers and a decent meal.

So the next day, on we carried to the waterfalls. The road was not easy, as we started experiencing flat tyres as well – thankfully Gamba was quite adept at quickly patching them up. After a very extended lunch break in another non-descript town (during which the tyres were “properly patched up”), we got on the road again, and finally arrived at the waterfalls. It was nice to be back! The cooler weather and lush surroundings were a welcome change to the dust and toil of the Gobi. And this time we got to go horse riding – which was nice enough (except that my damn horse didn’t seem to give a damn where I wanted to go and at what pace – it went where it wanted to).

After a one of the coldest nights of my life (the warm nights of the Gobi had lulled me into a false sense of security – and I foolishly left my sleeping bag in my ruck sack, thinking the silk cover would be enough – how wrong was I…), we got up bright and early and hit the road again. After a stop at Erdene Zhuu Khiid (the temple we also visited on our other tour), we headed on to where we were planning to stay the night – a nomad family near Lun (~150 km west of UB). The setting was nice enough, near a river, but we were once more assaulted by flies to such a degree that we decided to hide in our ger. Once the sun set things got better, and we had the opportunity to observe a nomad family at work (I particularly enjoyed watching the granny milk the cows). For the evening were treated to a feast of grilled meat (mutton – but nice) prepared by Gamba. And, since this was the last night of our trip, some drinking games and Chinggis Khaan vodka was obviously called for!

Nothing much to say about the journey back to UB the next day – except that we could once more appreciate the relative comfort of UB after 8 days “in the wild”… But for all the dust, mutton and heat, those days were very enriching, and provided us with yet another insight into the unique lifestyle of the Mongolians. But I have to admit, I felt quite lucky to be born in western Europe rather than Mongolia, all in all…

More photos here.

Lakes, monasteries and a waterfall

After two days in Ulaanbaatar, we were eager to start exploring the Mongolian countryside. It’s not that we didn’t like UB, but to be honest, nobody comes to Mongolia for a city break ;-). We had managed to book ourselves on a tour via Khongor guesthouse, one of the most recommended guesthouses in UB. The plan was to head out for 7 days, and explore central Mongolia – with Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur being the culmination point of our voyage.

So off we set in our trusty Fourgon Russian minibus (Mongolians describe it as follows: “Russian minivan go anywhere. Break down easy, but easy to fix”.), with our driver Togoo (a cheerful chap, who actually comes from central Mongolia – and boy did he find his way around well) and lovely tour assistant Bogi (who comes from the Gobi – easy to remember eh ;-). That is the normal setup for the tours – one driver (who, this being Mongolia, also needs to be a pretty good mechanic), and a tour assistant who’s kind of like a combined guide/translator/cook. The translation bit is the most important – pretty much nobody in Mongolia speaks English outside UB. Our entourage was complemented by three lovely Taiwanese ladies (the formidable mother/daughter team of Miss Wang & Ann, as well as the always smiling Li Cheng) and a student from Hong Kong called Henning (never met a Chinese guy with a Nordic-sounding name before – well he was born in Germany so…).

Having been stuck in UB traffic jams for an hour or so (seems that there is only one road out of UB!), we made good progress toward our first destination – Kharkorin. Well, everything is relative. Roads in Mongolia are, shall we say, not up to western standards. In fact, even most of what Mongolians would refer to as roads are more like dirt tracks, and what Mongolians call dirt tracks are more like a couple of tyre tracks through the bush. And forget about signposts, obviously (we probably saw about 3 in all of Mongolia outside of UB). So the ride was somewhat bumpy ;-).

Kharkorin is an interesting place, in that it is built on top of the ruins of Kharakorum, the ancient capital of Chinggis Khaan’s empire. Pretty much nothing remains, Kharkorin is a modern town without much to see (you can say that for nearly all Mongolian towns) – interestingly some people even want to make it the capital of Mongolia! There is one major attraction though, which is Erdene Zhuu Khiid. After our first night (the first of many…) in a ger, we visited it the following morning. Erdene Zhuu Khiid was the first Buddhist monastery built in Mongolia, and also one of the biggest ones. It used to house between 60 and 100 temples, but sadly one 3 survived the communist purges of the 1930’s. Still, the place was definitely interesting (especially since it felt more like a real place of worship than some of the temples in UB). After the temple we took in some of the other sites around Kharkorin, including the Great Imperial Map Monument (a circular structure with maps depicting the Mongolian empire at various periods – they never got to Finland yihaa!) and the phallic rock (which faces the “Vaginal valley” – apparently it was put there to fight off the sexual urges of the horny monks of Erdene Zhuu Khiid).

After the most interesting visit, our journey took us further west (on even bumpier roads) down to the Orkhon waterfall, situated in the lovely and lush Orkhon valley. OK, the waterfalls ain’t got much on the Niagara falls, but they were nice nonetheless – and the setting really was lovely. After a hike up to one of the nearby hills and dinner, we were treated to a traditional Mongolian concert/contortionist show. The programme featured hauntingly beautiful Mongolian folk songs, the most impressive Mongolian throat singing (which sounds a bit like somebody playing a diggeridoo), Kazak dances, some amazing contortionist tricks (that poor girl must’ve been hurting for days afterwards, honest!) and something I suspect was Mongolian 80’s music, even (not the highlight of the show – it was as bad as everywhere else in the world).

After our tranquil stop, we set off bright ‘n early, our first stop being Tovkhon Khiid, another Buddhist monastery. I really take my hat off for super-Togoo for managing to get us up that muddy road… Even so, we had to hike the last part of the road. The temple itself wasn’t particularly impressive, but the setting was lovely, surrounded by forests and mountains. And there weren’t many tourists … We stopped for lunch at a nomadic family. At this point I must mention the Mongolian hospitality. Basically, Mongolians will welcome travellers in their Gers, providing they are not busy. If really stuck, they will even provide a bed for the night. All this is pretty much free – although it is of course polite to leave a gift. You don’t get that in the South of France, that’s for sure ;-). Anyway, our visit with the family ended up being a bit longer than planned – as a massive hail storm broke out during lunch. Kind of reminded me of Scotland! (another place where you can get all 4 seasons in one day). Well, we eventually managed to get underway, and continued our journey on the muddy tracks, eventually reaching our ger camp for the night. This time we were staying in a tourist ger, which was a good and a bad thing. On the upside, there were showers, and even some hot springs, and beer! On the downside, there were loads of people – some of whom decided to party all night, and keep everybody else awake as well…

The next day, the road took us to our final destination, Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur – which means great white lake in English. And what a lovely lake it is – in a lovely setting surrounded by mountains (some of them extinct volcanoes). We had no problem settling into our cozy ger camp either. First thing was first – of course being a Finn I had to go for a swim in the lake. Actually, in spite of the less-than-scorching hot temperature, the water was absolutely fine, no problems at all (although our Taiwanese friends seem to think I was mad to brave the waters). After a calm hike up around the hills surrounding our get camp, we thankfully went to bed quite early (not having slept much at all the night before…).
The next day the plan was to visit the Khorgo Uul volcano. Most of the group went by horse, whereas me & Mathilde decided to take the opportunity to do a bit of hiking. And what a lovely hike it was, with great views and many 4-legged friends to keep us company (mostly yaks). After a strenuous 3 hours of walking or so, we reached the rim of the crater. That wasn’t enough of course, down we had to go (or rather, slide…) to the bottom of the crater (our travelling companions thought we were mad again), and then all around the rim. But it was well worth it for the views and the fresh air. We finished off the day by getting some beer and Chinggis Khaan vodka (which is actually very good, a bit like Zubrowka from Poland) from the shop from the ger camp down the road, and having a bit of a party by the ger.

In spite of the slightly sore head, we got packed real quickly the next morning, and headed off – we were on a tight schedule. Our next destination was another lake, Ogii Nuur. On the way there we stopped by in the Arkhangai province capital, Tsetserleg, for lunch (Here is a description of a typical lunch in a small Mongolian town: There is a menu on the table, with loads of dishes, but it’s all in Mongolian – and written with Cyrillic letters. Then Bogi would explain to us: “there are three things: mutton with rice, mutton with rice and potatoes, and mutton with rice, potatoes and salad. And for drink, there is tea or coffee”). After a quick visit to the local museum (which was actually pretty interesting, basically it was housed in a monastery), we carried on towards the lake. We stopped on the way to pay a visit on Togoo’s uncle, who was kind enough to let us taste a Mongolian speciality called Airag (fermented mare’s milk – I guess one could say it’s an “acquired taste”). The plan was to stay with a nomad family by the lake, but unfortunately they didn’t have enough beds for all of us, so a bit of improvisation was called for. We eventually ended up staying at a half-finished ger camp on the other side of the lake. Ogii Nuur is not as famous as Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur – and I can see why (the main reason is not the fact that it’s less scenic – which it is. The main reason is that there are flies – I’m pretty sure I had never seen more flies in my life as I saw at that lake….!). Well, no matter, the plan for the night was anyway to have a party! The two bottles of Chinggis Khaan vodka was more than enough to lift our spirits. Both Togoo and Bogi impressed and moved us with their singing – and I was proud to beat everybody at the Mongolian drinking games they taught us. And we also learnt many words of Taiwanese and Cantonese (and naturally forgot them all by the next morning). All in all, a very nice finale for the last night of the trip.

A lot of driving remained for the following day – all credit to Togoo for his endurance in spite of previous night’s proceedings! His trusty Russian vehicle struggled a bit, clearly the Mongolian heat wave put undue strain on the radiator. So it was kind of slow going – and most of our drinking water went into that radiator, I reckon! But hey, that’s travelling in Mongolia for ya. Main thing is, we all made it in one piece back to UB!

More photos here.

Visiting Ulaanbaatar

Having checked into our hotel, we immediately set out to explore Ulaanbaatar – and a long day it would be (our flight arrived about 7 AM local time).

We started off by heading off to experience the Naadam festival. Naadam is the biggest event in Mongolia, a kind of mixture of sporting event (with horse-riding, archery and most importantly, wrestling), family day out, and religious event. We started by watching the wrestling competition.

After an opening ceremony by the wrestlers which resembled a somewhat strange mixture of an all-blacks Hakka and some kind of ballet performance, the competition itself began. It was all quite a zen-like affair, considering the nature of the sport, with both the contestants and the audience being remarkably calm throughout the matches. Basically the match consisted of 2 big blokes leaning against each others for a couple of minutes, until one of the guys made a move, which resulted in one of the chaps ending up in the grass. The winner would then execute the famous eagle dance. I’m sure there’s much more to it than that…

Anyway, we got bored quite quickly (the jet lag didn’t help) and headed off to watch the archery contest instead. It wasn’t all that exciting either, I have to admit, especially since we couldn’t even see the targets they were shooting at properly. So I guess you could say the Naadam was a bit of a disappointment – being the top sporting event in the Mongolian calendar and all. Having said that, it was kind of interesting.

We then headed back to town, and after a nice enough lunch at the Silk Road restaurant, we decided to visit the Monastery-museum of Choijin Lama, named after the state oracle and brother of Bogd Khan (more about him later – he was the 8th living Buddha of Mongolia). The monastery was built in 1904, but was closed in 1938 by the Communist regime. It would most likely have been destroyed, like most other temples in Mongolia, had the regime not decided to preserve it as a museum to demonstrate the “feudal, backward” ways of the past. It was reopened in 1990 as a museum. And a pretty interesting one at that, we particularly liked the souvenir shop (I’m pretty sure that’s one of the first times I’ve actually liked a souvenir shop!). After a quick pint at the Khan Brau bar (I only mention this since I later realised it was the most legendary bar in UB according to Lonely Planet where all the celebrities go – as if we’d know who they are anyway ? ;-) and spending some time trying to sort out a tour into the Mongolian wilderness, we headed back to the hotel.

The next day we made the tactical decision to cut our visit in UB short by one day, since we’d managed to find a trip heading to central Mongolia at a guesthouse. So we cancelled our last night at the hotel, and set about doing some serious sightseeing.

Our first stop was the Winter palace of the aforementioned Bogd Khan, which is a couple of kilometres outside the city centre. As I said before he was the 8th living Buddha of Mongolia, and the ruler and religious leader of Mongolia until 1921 (when the communists stripped him of power). He was a bit of a cheeky monkey, old Bogd Khan – not only was he an incurable alcoholic and sex mad (apparently he went blind by Syphilis), we also used to electrocute his ministers with wires attached to his car battery, apparently. For some unknown reason, this palace also escaped the religious purges of the communists (unlike the summer palace). It certainly made for a very interesting visit – the place was quite similar to the other temple/museum we visited, but a bit more impressive.

After this most interesting visit, we headed back downtown for some further exploration of U.B. It struck us as quite an ugly city, which is not say it’s uninteresting. It’s certainly a city of contradictions, and a real mixture of tradition and rampant modernisation. For example, I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many brand-new Lexus SUV’s in one place. Where do the Mongolians get the money for those? At the same time, there is hardly any street lighting, even in the city centre! And head out a bit outside the town centre, and you can see families living in gers (a.k.a. yurts, the traditional nomad tent-like dwelling). Well, I guess that's to be expected in a country where 40 % of the population are nomads, and the rest live in cities.

Our wanderings brought as, half by accident, to Gandantegchinlen Khiid (Gandan Khiid to foreigners and lazy Mongolians ;-), which is the main temple complex of U.B. It means, apparently, “the great place of complete joy”. Unfortunately most of the temples in the complex were destroyed by the Communists, but enough of them remain to make the place the one “must-see” attraction of U.B. Especially impressive was the magnificent Migjiid Janraisig Sum temple, with it’s massive 20 meter gold and bronze statue inside, representing Avalokitesvara (don’t ask me who the hell he is). It would’ve almost been worth paying the 10 bucks for the photography permit just to see that.

That brought our quick and exhausting tour of U.B. to an end. We finished off the day with a very nice, if by Mongolian standards overpriced, Chinese meal back at the hotel. So what where our impressions of U.B, then, you might ask? As I said before, it’s certainly won’t win any beauty contests, but does have a fair few interesting monasteries and museums. And it’s definitely an interesting place to observe a society which is rapidly changing.

More photos here.

Nice-Milan-Moscow-Ulaanbaatar

So, finally the day for our long-awaited holiday to Mongolia was upon us. And we had actually prepared pretty well for this one, for a change. Flights were booked, visas sorted out, all the equipment (tent, sleeping bags, torches, you name it) purchased, accommodation booked. We did have a bit of last minute panic the night before our departure, as we decided to do a bit of research on the ‘net about the guesthouse we had booked. Turns out the owner of the place is a bit of a dodgy character, so in a last-minute frenzy we tried to change for another hotel (since we hadn’t paid yet). Much to our relief, we managed to get a room confirmed at the Chinggis Khaan hotel, one of the swankiest addresses in Ulaanbaatar.

So that worry out of the way, we boarded the train for Milan on Thursday night. 5 hours later, we arrived in Milan, and even managed to find our hotel easily enough. Too tired to paint the town red, we went to sleep pretty much straight away.

After a nice enough Italian brekkie, we took the shuttle bus from the train station down to Malpesa airport. From there, our exciting journey continued with Aeroflot via Moscow to Ulaanbaatar. We landed on time, and figured that 2 hours and 40 minutes should surely be plenty for the changeover. But alas, it seems as if though plenty of red tape from the good old days of Socialism still remain, as it turned out (a couple of passport controls, at least 2 security checks, and a very slow terminal transfer later) we barely managed to catch our connecting flight.

Fortunately, there was no more drama, and we landed safely at Chinggis Khaan airport (not only is the airport named after that legendary warrior, but also our hotel, as well as the best vodka and beer brands in the country). The car we had ordered was even waiting for us, and whisked us to Chinggis Khaan hotel.

Gorbio

Well, this has certainly been a pretty quiet weekend. Too damn hot to do anything ;-). And then there is the upcoming trip to Mongolia, for which we actually decided to spend some time preparing the trip. But anyway, come Sunday, we figured it was about time to get off our backsides and do something.

The weather actually didn’t look very promising (for a change), but in spite of that we were hoping to do a walk near a pretty village near Nice called Gorbio. But as we arrived the clouds looked ominous enough for us to ditch the plan and just have a walk around the village instead. And a very pretty little corner of the world it is, with narrow cobble-stoned streets zigzagging between the traditional stone houses. It’s actually rather an old village – dating back to the 12th century (well, according to Wikipedia, anyway ;-), and belonged to Italy until it came under French rule together with Nice in 1860.

That was it for this weekend (I’m not going to say anything about the depressing Formula 1 race) – not much to tell, really ;-)