Stopover in the Gers

I barely had time to touch down at Nice airport, before it was time to hit the road again. This time we had a week of camping in the Vendee planned. Since the Vendee is on the other side of France (on the west coast, just south of Nantes), we decided to make a couple of stops on the way.

Our first stop was at Arles, just west of Marseilles (a suitable distance to drive during an evening). The idea was to get up really early Saturday morning, and clear the area around Montpellier before the main crowds arrived (today is the worst day of the year in France traffic wise – and the area around Montpellier is one of the worst places as half of Paris heads down to the Mediterranean beaches). Things went pretty well – we didn’t suffer from any bad traffic on the way to Arles, and had a very nice dinner at our hotel, as an extra bonus. And our plan to hit the road early in the morning worked out pretty well too – we made it to our next destination (the Gers) without much hassle at all.

The Gers is a very charming bit of French countryside located between Toulouse and Bordeaux, known for its tasty, if not very light cuisine (think duck and foie gras). The historic regions of Gascony and Armagnac are located here. Our first stop in the Gers was Condom. And what’s best is that the river Baise runs through it (if your French isn’t up to the job – look it up in a “rude dictionary” or something) – ‘nough said methinks! Condom, apart from having a funny name, has a rather impressive cathedral, and obviously has some kind of a connection with the Three Musketeers, since there is a statue of them in front of the cathedral. It’s rather a nice town, actually, so we decided to have lunch there, on a nice little square near the cathedral. I went all out foie gras – foie gras for starters and Steak Rossini as a main (an entrecote with foie gras). Yummi – I can confirm that I do very much like the local cuisine. We resisted the temptation to visit the Musée du preservatif (yes, there is one in Condom…), and headed on!

The plan was to spend the night at a nearby village call Larressingle, but before making our way there, we decided to do a short tour of the surrounding area. Our first stop was at an old village called Mouchin, which has a nice little Romanesque church (we also came across a little waterfall during our short hike). After checking out another nice Romanesque church in a nearby village, we made our way to check the Pont d'Artigue, a medieval bridge which is actually Unesco-listed, it being a very well-preserved example on a bridge used by the pilgrims on the Santiago de Compostella (which passes through the neighborhood).


After checking out yet another charming Gers village (this one endowed with a water tower, which had been rather creatively decorated by a local artist), we arrived at Seviac, which is famous for its Roman villa, discovered by the local parish priest in 1868. It’s quite a well-preserved site, the highlight definitely being the well-preserved mosaics (apparently this is one of the best sites in France for Roman mosaics). The guide who took us around the site also impressed not only with her knowledge of the subject matter but also with her dedication (I think her uncle was one of the guys who excavated the site or something). All in all, a nice little detour.

We finished our little Gers tour at Larressingle, where we were staying the night. Larressingle is apparently one of the most perfect examples of a Bastide type village (bastide signifies a kind of frontier village, often fortified, common in the South of France), my Lonely Planet goes as far as to say that it is “probably France’s cutest fortified village”.


I think that’s perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, and there isn’t much to see to be honest (the village only has a population of about 200, and most of those live outside the fortified bit of the village) but nonetheless it was quite a nice place to have an aperitif (one of the well-preserved buildings within the bastide’s fortified walls contains a bar). We then made our way back to our hotel for dinner (there is actually a great view towards the fortified village from the hotel garden, which is pretty cool…).

That brought an end to our brief exploration of the Gers department, as we headed on towards the Vendee. It was definitely a worthwhile stopover – what’s great about France is that pretty much any part of the country has some pretty countryside to enjoy, a pretty village or two to visit and a local dish or two to try out.

A couple of days in Ulm

After my “wild night in Bonson” it was time to head out to Ulm for a change. My flight was at about 7 in the morning, so I was a bit groggy in the plain, flying to Munich, from where I drove up to Ulm in my rental car (a Chevrolet Spark - not the kind of car Chevy has made their name producing – but good enough to make it from A to B I suppose).

After a day at the office, I met up with the usual crew from our UK office (we decided to unofficially call ourselves “Southwood’s finest” from now on – not sure whether that describes our achievements in the office or in the bierstube…); Sinhung, Cliff and Steve – this time reinforced by David. We made our way into Ulm town centre, and decided to show David (who hadn’t been to Ulm before) the sights before engaging in the obligatory beer drinking. So we showed him the old fisherman’s quarter (Fischerviertel) with its half-timber houses and canals as well as the imposing cathedral.

The obligatory “touristy stuff” out of the way, we made our way to Barfüßer (a nice little microbrewery that’s becoming a bit of a favorite haunt of ours). Matthias joined us as well for the feast – we all had the usual Swabian fare (which is basically pork and potato in various forms – it is indeed not very varied but hey, I like it!). All washed down with a couple of hefe weisses, and followed by an apfelstrudel for dessert, of course! We finished off with a couple of final drinks at the Piano bar in the Maritim hotel.

The next evening proceeded more or less the same way, other than the fact that we ended up in Drei Kannen this time, instead of Barfüßer. The concept is pretty similar, though, beer, pork and potatoes (so right down our alley then). This time the concept was all about sharing – the food was brought on a big platter (sharing food apparently usually means I end up with more than most others?) and the beer was served from big bottles. Naturally, we had a superb time, and definitely ate and drank more than was good for us. It’s a good thing we didn’t find the rock bar Sami took us to last time we were visiting, otherwise it would’ve been a hard day at the office…

The next day, ‘twas time to head back to France – driving back directly to Munich airport followed by a direct flight to Nice. Ulm had once more left a good impression on me – it’s a pretty little town, with very friendly people (not your American “how do you do sir” kind of friendliness, more a hearty straightforward attitude I like). The food, from what we’ve experienced so far, doesn’t seem terribly varied, but perhaps that is since we tend to go to “traditional Bavarian/Swabian” places. There are plenty of Italian restaurants to choose from, too, from what we’ve seen…

Last night at Bonson

Tonight was a very special night in the small but very charming village of Bonson (where our dear friends Valerie and Gilles live with their children Celian and Hector). First of all, it was Gilles’ birthday today, and secondly it was kind of like a leaving do, since the whole family is moving to San Francisco in a couple of weeks’ time. So it was a happy occasion, but also a bit wistful.

It was all a bit improvised, since Valerie and Gilles have a fair bit to do still before heading off, but hey, the most important thing was that we all got together one more time for a few glasses of pastis and wine. Most of the usual suspects were there; Marie, JayJay, Aurelien, Julie and Maite, as well as a few other colleagues and friends.

Best of luck to Valerie and Gilles for their new life on the other side of the “pond” – we will for sure pay them a visit over there sometime next year!

Exploring Provence with Marie and JayJay

Jay Jay, our good friend and super nature guide during our holiday to Mexico last February, is spending the summer on the Cote d’Azur. So when Marie suggested a weekend in the Var, to introduce him to the “real Provence”, we jumped at the opportunity. It’s a part of Provence we are not very familiar with, so we were quite happy to join.

We headed off Friday afternoon, down the A8, to the small Provencal village of Castellet. It’s located in the foothills just up from Bandol, a busy seaside resort which is also famous for its Rose wines. Marie had booked a lovely little Bed and Breakfast for us, at a very reasonable price indeed (accommodation prices in this part of France can be ridiculous during the summer). The village itself is very charming indeed, and most certainly Provencal – no wonder they shot most of Marcel Pagnol’s “La Femme du Boulanger” at this place (Marcel Pagnol is a writer and movie director, loved for his Provencal wit). The views overlooking the Bandol vineyards are fantastic as well, especially during the setting sun…

For dinner, we decided to follow our BnB hosts’ recommendation, and were most certainly not disappointed. The food was local, fresh and very tasty indeed; and quite reasonably priced to boot. And the service was impeccable. A real gem of a place. So impressed were we with the gastronomy of Castellet, that we decided to have a crepe at another restaurant after dinner! (apparently there are a lot of Bretons who run creperies in the Bandol area, for some reason).

After a good night’s sleep, and a delicious breakfast (and a bit of local poetry; seems that an old guy – the BnB lady’s dad perhaps – has, or at least thinks he has, that Pagnol touch) we headed out for more exploration of the streets of Castellet. It’s actually a pretty touristy place, with a lot of shops. But the shops are quite original actually, selling some funny Provencal memorabilia, great pastries (at a place aptly named “La Femme du Boulanger”!) among other things. The coolest shop we found was a place specializing in Absinth and Pastis, though. After half an hour of “degustation” and lectures about how to drink Absinth and Pastis, we left the places, a few bottles richer and quite a few euros cheaper…

Our next stop was lunch at La Ciotta (actually, based on the recommendation of the guy who served us at the restaurant the night before), a port next to Bandol. It was quite a nice place, located in a very picturesque little bay outside the city. The food was simple, but pretty good.

Our stomachs filled, we made our way towards our next stop on the circuit – the Calanques. The calanques are a collection of dramatic bays/coves located between Cassis and Marseille. The idea was to do a bit of hiking along one of them, but unfortunately the footpaths which follows the calanques was basically closed due to forest fire warnings. But we did get to check out Port-Miou, which is the 1st Calanque after Cassis. It’s a kind of fjord, which is used as a marina these days. We did have quick walk around there, taking in the beautiful views over the Med’.

We then made our way to a beach we’d been recommended, located east of Cassis. Actually the beach is quite rocky, in many ways similar to a calanque, and due to the very big waves indeed (and rocky terrain), it wasn’t perfect for swimming. But me and JayJay gave it a go anyway, and had a very good time indeed, in spite of the rather chilly water (17 degrees apparently – the Mistral has been stirring up some cold water it seems!). Not the kind of beach action we had counted on for the weekend, but at least we managed to avoid the usual Cote d’Azur crowds ;-)

After our swim, it was dinner-time. We decided to stop by at one of the coastal resorts between Cassis and Hyeres (where we were staying the night) – and eventually ended up in Saint-Sanary sur Mer (we initially stopped in Bandol, but decided to move on since the seafront wasn’t very inspiring…). Sanary is a pretty picturesque little port/seaside resort, even if it is very touristy. There were even a few authentic-looking fishing boats in the harbour (not just yachts like in a lot of ports on the Riviera). We struggled seriously to find a decent restaurant – actually failed miserably. Getting a table with outside seating was a challenge, so I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that the one place where we did get a table was a real dive. (especially poor Marie’s Aioli). And the service was miserable as well – even by the not-always-lofty standards of “mass tourism Riviera”. We put it down to the fact that it was a Corsican restaurant (Corsicans have a bit of a reputation for not being the friendliest people).

We arrived rather late in Hyeres, and basically went to sleep straight away. The next morning, we got up early to catch the boat to Port-Cros, were we were planning to spend Sunday. Port-Cros is one of the Iles d’Hyeres (the other ones being Porquerolles and Levant) – with the particularity that it’s a kind of natural reserve. Hence it’s a brilliant place, apparently, for snorkelling, diving and hiking. So pretty much the perfect place to visit with Jay Jay, then.

Unfortunately, our plans to go diving were spoilt by the weather – the Mistral was blowing up seriously again, meaning bad visibility. What’s worse, most hiking paths were also closed due to the risk of forest fires. But not to worry, the coastal path following the Northern shoreline was open. The hike was a very pleasant one, with great views over the sea and the rugged coastline. Port-Cros is actually really very natural, since very little construction has been allowed outside the port area (which isn’t exactly bristling with services either – there is a hotel, a couple of restaurant, a couple of bars and a dive shop – that’s about it). Apparently it’s one of the best places in France to appreciate the Mediterrean flora and fauna as it was before most of the coastline was taken over by massive hotels and apartment blocks…

The beaches at Port-Cros are also fantastic. The first one we stopped as, Port Palud, is known for its “underwater path”. It’s a serious of buoys heading out to some rocks a couple of hundred meters from the beach, with some underwater signs and explanations about the underwater flora and fauna. Me and JayJay actually tried to complete it, since we had brought our snorkelling gear, in spite of the rather poor visibility. We quite quickly aborted our activity though, due to some rather nasty medusas which stung us both… We tried again at the next beach we stopped as, further along the coastline, and were not disappointed. We had fantastic visibility (around 50 meters I would say), and were treated to some fantastic underwater scenery. There was a fair bit of underwater fauna as well to check out.

We had to get out of the water quite quickly, unfortunately, to catch the ferry back to the mainland. Me and JayJay wowed to be back for diving one day – hopefully we can find a suitable timeslot soon. After making it back to Hyeres, it was time to drive back to Nice. We did stop by to show the Massif d’Esterel to JayJay, though, before stopping at Mougins for a last dinner. We went to a place Marie had been to a few weeks earlier and really liked, called L’Amandier. A very good choice indeed – the perfect way, pretty much, to finish off a great weekend. Good food, kind of haut-cuisine, but at a reasonable price tag – a hard combination to beat, especially at Mougins (a village known for it’s gastronomy and fancy restaurants).

Exploring Rhodes

After seeing off Maria and Vangelis, we still had a few days left on Rhodos (and a flat to stay in!). We spent the Thursday doing pretty much the same thing as on the previous days – lying on the beach. I repeat what I wrote in my last entry – too damn hot to do anything else. This time we chose the main beach in Rhodes town. Like ae other beaches we'd been to, it was great - especially considering it's a city beach. I’ve got to say that the beaches of Rhodes are probably the best ones I’ve been to in Europe (not that I’m an expert or anything!).

We also spent a bit more time exploring the old town, and I think it’s fair to say we grew quite fond of it. It’s true that it’s extremely touristy, but like with a lot of places, you only need to walk a couple of blocks away from the main drag to see a bit of local life and colour. Actually, the medieval streets reminded me a bit of medinas in Arabic cities… We also checked out the acropolis of Rhodes town, located on a hill near the town centre. Not much remains, apart from a restored stadium and theatre, and a few pillars of an old temple. But the views are quite nice up there, and it was quite a relaxing place to wonder about (surprisingly few tourists about….)

We finished the relaxing day with another rather interesting restaurant. The concept is that they basically cook a load of food, really home style food. When you order, you basically go into the kitchen and select your dish(es) from the various pots. A great concept if you ask me, and at least that way you know you are getting real food and not some ready-made meal heated up in a microwave oven ;-).

For the next day, we’d booked tickets for the boat taking us to one of the small islands near Rhodes, Symi. The first stop of our cruise was at the Panormitis monastery, on the southern side of the island. It’s for sure a very picturesque little place, and the small church was rather impressively decorated, but the tourist hordes did ruin the experience a little bit, it has to be said. But, it’s true that it’s a beautiful place, and the setting (in a beautiful bay) is pretty cool…

From the monastery, we made our way to the main town, predictably called Symi town. Now Symi made a big impression in me – it’s just a ridiculously picturesque little town, with its colourful neo-classic houses (built by the Italians, who possessed these islands for a few decades), and its stunning setting.

OK, it’s also a very touristy place, but we were again quite happy to roast on the beach and swim in the amazingly transparent waters of the Mediterranean… After another little walk around town, it was time to take the boat back to the mainland… All in all, a day trip well worth the price, even if we felt a bit overwhelmed by the crowds at times.

For the next two days, we’d rented a car, to allow us to explore Rhodes a bit more. For the Saturday, the plan was to explore the east coast of the island. Our first stop on the way was Lindos, which is possibly the most popular tourist destination, after Rhodos town. The history of Lindos goes well back in time; it was founded by the Dorians during the 10th century BC. The main attraction is the Acropolis, which is rather dramatically situated on a hilltop, which overlooks the picturesque village with its white houses. Actually, not that much remains from the ancient Greek era, since a medieval castle was built on top of the medieval remains by the Knights of Saint-John. But the views from the castle/ruins are undeniably stunning.

The village itself looks quite picturesque from afar, but is a real tourist trap based on what we saw. I suppose there are parts that haven’t been overwhelmed by souvenir shops, bars and restaurants, but we didn’t find those… Basically the overwhelming heat “forced” us down to beach again. Not a bad beach, actually, with ancient Lindos looming above us, as we enjoyed the Chrystal-clear waters (and the shade offered by the parasol).

From Lindos, we carried on towards the southern side of the island. The views from the road were pretty stunning, and the further south we made it, the fewer tourists we saw, thankfully. We drove all the way to the southern tip of Rhodes, Prassonissi. Unsurprisingly, it’s basically a big beach, very popular with wind- and kitesurfers, thanks to the heavy winds that prevail there. It was also very windy when we were there, so we were treated to quite a spectacle

On the way back, we stopped by at an interesting place called Kallitheas spa. It’s a kind of fake-oriental spa, built by the Italians in the 1920’s (Rhodes was under Italian rule from 1912 to 1947 – apparently some of the old locals still speak Italian) – when Mussolini wanted to revive the “ancient times”. It was renovated a few years ago, and is now a combined beach, spa, bar, conference centre – very popular for weddings too, apparently. We stopped by for a drink at the snazzy bar, overlooking the picturesque bay. A nice aperitif, I would say ;-).

The next day, we decided to drive up the western coast of the island. The west side is a lot winder than the east side, and is therefore perhaps slightly less touristy, and has fewer beaches. But the scenery is magnificent… We started our day with a visit to Kameiros, which is one of the three oldest (one of the other one being Lindos) cities on the island. The ruins here are much more well-preserved than at Lindos, and there were a lot fewer tourists here as well, so we quite liked the place. The ruins give quite a good overview of the layout of a town from the ancient Greek era. And the surrounding scenery was pretty cool as well…

From there, we carried on towards the coastline, stopping by at a couple of medieval castles (Kastello and Monolithos). There wasn’t much to see, actually, at either of the castles, but the views from their hilltop sites are just amazing. We also found a nice little beach, where had a refreshing bath.

We had lunch in a nice mountain village called Embonas, which had been recommended to us by Maria. The food to have there is grilled meat, and we were indeed not disappointed. I had some grilled goat (something I believe I’d not tried before), and Mathilde had some grilled lamb. Simple, cheap and delicious. Good combination, that! After a bit more chilling out at a beach, we headed back towards Rhodes. For dinner, we headed back into Rhodes old town, where we found a nice fish restaurant, a bit hidden away from the worst tourist areas.

The last day in Rhodes was a pretty relaxed one. We walked around a bit in the modern part of town (I was again amazed by the number of Finns and Swedes crossed our path), and spent a couple of hours at the beach again. We also spent some more time in the old town, soaking in the atmosphere of the cobble-stoned medieval streets (with a souvenir shop here and there to bring us back to reality). For dinner, we decided upon one of the swankiest restaurants in Rhodes old town – Ta Kioupia. The restaurant used to be located in one of the villages near Rhodes until recently, and was apparently ranked as one of the world’s top 10 restaurants a few years ago by the Guardian newspaper. So expectations were high. And, it would be unfair to say we were disappointed, the food was indeed good (very Greek, but with a sophisticated touch, let’s say), and the service was equally good. But, at the same time, it wasn’t THAT special, and the bill was pretty salty compared to what we’d gotten used to on Rhodes. Still, a very nice way to end our holiday!

So the next day, it was time to catch our flight back to Bergamo then. All in all, it had been a very relaxing week indeed, just what the doctor ordered, so to speak. Not the sort of destination we would normally choose for our holidays, but I would say in the end we were both positively surprised. Sure, it’s extremely touristy, but with its gorgeous beaches, beautiful scenery, and friendly people, why wouldn’t it be? And at the end of the day, like at a lot of these places, if you make a bit of an effort, you can always avoid the tourists. And of course it was great to see Maria again – hopefully we will see her soon again. Perhaps in Kos? ;-)

Rhodes introduction by Maria

We got up very early for our Ryanair flight, and made our way to the airport. Normally, I try to avoid flying Ryanair since they are, in my mind, taking the low-cost concept way too far… But, this time, Ryanair was just so much cheaper than the other options, that we decided to go for it. So, off we went, with our highly optimized luggage. Actually, the Ryanair experience was pretty painless this time, and we arrived in Rhodes, ahead of schedule!

We were greeted at the airport by our dear friend Maria (Mathilde used to study with her during her Erasmus exchange in Perugia) and her friend Vangelis (who was temporarily staying in Maria’s flat). Maria and Vangelis both work as teachers in Rhodes (there are worse places to be based, I suppose!). After dropping off our things at Maria’s place, we headed off to the beach. What else – it was too darn hot to do anything else!

We headed down to a very nice beach south or Rhodes town, on the east coast, called Charaki. It was just what the doctor ordered, a bit of relaxation, and swimming. Not only were we blessed with crystal-clear water (clearer than what we get on the Cote d’Azur, that’s for sure), the views were also great (the beach being overlooked by a medieval castle). After chilling out for a few hours, we made our way back, stopping by at another beautiful beanch called Anthony Quinn Cove (so named, I suppose, since Guns of Navarone, which starred Mr. Quinn, was shot there), where Maria treated us to a delicious, home-cooked Greek meal. Yummie!

After the meal, we made our way to Rhodes old town, which was quite a revelation – both in a positive and negative sense. Positive, since the old town is very well preserved, a true medieval labyrinth of winding, cobble-stoned streets and charming stone houses (surrounded by some very sturdy walls, with watchtowers ‘n all). Negative, since it’s one of the most touristy places I’ve come across – and shockingly the place seems to be positively overrun by Nordic people (especially Finns – never have I seen so many menus in Finnish outside my home country!). But the final impression remained positive – especially after a couple of beers (at rather more reasonable prices than on the Cote d’Azur). After the old town, we made our way to the new town, where we crossed a street that was totally overrun by drunken Swedes (wow, they are nearly as bad as us Finns!).

The next day, after a good night’s sleep, it was time to hit the beach again (again, it was too hot to do anything else!). This time, our hosts had selected a beach closer to Rhodes, a sandy one this time. What followed was yet more chilling out, enjoying the gorgeous beach and sea. It’s not the sort of thing we normally do a lot of during our holidays – we tend to be rather active. But I have to say, it was all very relaxing, and well-needed.

For the evening, we were in for a real treat. We made our way into a small mountain village just north of Rhodes town, where Maria and Vangelis took us to a very nice little tavern, run by a friendly and very busy chap called Napoleunicus (or something like that). The concept is simple – you order the drinks, and he brings the food. This being Greece, and a place for locals (rather unusual in Rhoders, that!), we ordered tzippuro. The food he heaped on us was simple, but delicious, mostly meat from the grill. We absolutely loved the place – the atmosphere was just great and laid back. And nice to see a few locals as well (even the local priest was there!), apart from just Finns and Swedes ;-). We finished off the evening with a couple of cold drinks in the old town.

The next day, it was unfortunately time for Maria and Vangelis to take off to Thessaloniki, which was a real pity. We’d have loved to spend a few more days with them. Oh well, such is life. Perhaps we’ll see Maria in Kos next time (she’s transferring to teach there this autumn).

Lago Iseo and Bergamo

Finally, time for a week of well-deserved holiday! After contemplating various options, we had finally opted for Rhodes. Not our typical holiday destination, the main reason for that choice was that our dear friend Maria is living there.

Getting cheap flights to Rhodos turned out to be a bit of a challenge, though, so we ended up booking a Ryanair flight from Bergamo (near Milan), from Tuesday to Tuesday. Due to this somewhat unusual arrangement, we decided to spend a couple of days around Bergamo, seeing as we are quite fond of Italy (as you have no doubt noticed, if you belong to the small group of people who read this blog regularly). After some contemplation, we booked two nights at Lago Iseo, and one night at Bergamo.

Lago Iseo is one of the smaller and less famous lakes located in Northern Italy (the more famous ones being Como, Maggiore and Garda), but it still measures a not-to-be-frowned-upon 25 kilometres in length. Our hotel was located in the rather charming town of Sarnico, a typically cute little Northern Italian town. We spent the evening walking around the place, finishing off our exploration with dinner in a restaurant overlooking the lake (having fish from the lake, naturally!). A good start to our vacation, I would say!

The next day, we decided to head out to Montisola, the biggest island on the lake (and indeed, the biggest lake on an island in south/central Europe, apparently!). We arrived on the southern shore of the island, at the small fishing village of Peschiera Maraglio. From there, we decided to hike up to a monastery occupying the highest point of the island. It was kind of hard work, with the scorching sun overlooking us. The church itself wasn’t that interesting, but the views over the island and the lake made our efforts well worth it!

From the monastery we continued our hike to the other side of the island, finishing in the main village, Carzano. It was a typically picturesque place one finds in Italy, with nice cobble-stoned streets and pastel-coloured houses. After a quick tour of the village, we decided to head for the beach that had been recommended to us at the tourist office, to have a swim. “Beach” is quite a generous term for the place we found – actually it was more of a lawn, where people were catching a few sunrays. The swimming possibilities were also somewhat limited; there was basically just a jetty for boats from where to take a dip. We had a quick one anyway…

We caught the boat back in the evening, once more taking in the beautiful lakeside views. We finished a very success day with a romantic dinner in a cosy restaurant off the main square of Sarnico.

The next day, it was time to hit the road for Bergamo, where we were spending one last night before catching our flight to Greece Tuesday morning. A quick 30 minutes’ drive later, we arrived at the town centre. After a quick visit to the tourist office in the modern part of time, we headed towards the old town, or Citta Alta (the “high city”, located on a kind of plateau (makes for quite a dramatic sight, actually). After a quick tour around the charming streets of Bergamo, it was time for a spot of lunch. After consulting our guidebook, we ended up in a very nice little eatery called “Circolino Cooperativa Citta Alta”, a kind of big canteen with a very nice garden, with outdoors seating. We really liked the concept – like a mixture between a canteen and a restaurant, with very reasonable prices for very decent food indeed (the clientele was a mixture of students, workers on their lunch breaks, and a few tourists).

Having filled our stomachs, we continued our exploration of Bergamo. It’s a very impressive, very well preserved medieval gem of a town – we really liked the place. The highlight, if one has to choose one, would probably be the 12th century Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, housing the stunning Colleoni Chapel. But as often in Italy, the best way to appreciate what the town has to offer is to just have a walk around and enjoy the atmosphere.

Definitely a place we will have to visit again at some point! After our little tour of the Citta Alta, we made our way back down to the modern part of town (which is pretty nice as well, actually), and then drove back to our hotel (which was located at the outskirts of town). In the evening, we walked around the modern town for a bit more, before having a very nice little aperitif on a nice square. In fact, we had so much to eat during the aperitif that we decided not to have dinner at all – so after an ice cream for dessert, we made our way back to the hotel…

All in all, a very nice little mini-break to kick off our holidays!

A busy week on the Cote d'Azur!

The summer is usually, unsurprisingly, a pretty busy time on the Cote d’Azur. With the nice weather ‘n all, there are a lot of dinner parties and other “evening events” to attend to… This particular week turned out to be a rather busy one socially speaking.

On Tuesday, we were invited to Naim’s place for dinner. He had prepared quite a feast for us – in traditional Pakistanese style, apparently. Naim’s flat is rather ideally located one street up from Place Magenta, the rather happening little square on Nice’s pedestrianized Rue Massena. His balcony, where we enjoyed the apero, is pretty much the perfect place to watch the world walk by in this rather busy part of Nice…. The meal itself was quite a revelation , ‘twas composed of some very tender chicken meat, some succulent spices, and just the right amount of chilli. After the meal, I was quite happy to raid Naim’s DVD collection for a few cool movies I’ve never had the opportunity to see…

The next evening, it was time for a bit of a Finnish reunion. Hannu, my colleague who’d left back for Finland about a year back, was back on the Riviera with his family, enjoying their holidays. As a matter of coincidence, another Finnish friend of ours, Pete (whose flat is these days occupied my auntie Tutta), was also there, visiting us from faraway, exotic Singapore with his daughter. We were also joined by Mikko and Marianne. So pretty much the whole “old gang” (apart from Sami, who’s currently working in Dublin) was present. We ended up meeting up at a place on Cours Saleya which we hadn’t tried before. And turns out it was a pretty good choice, the food was pretty decent. Great to catch up with our old friends again as well, and nice for me to practice my Finnish a bit!

On Thursday, it was “French teacher party night”. We had been invited over to Anne-Sophie’s villa at Roquefort-Les-Pins, a nice little village located not far from Grasse. It was a bit of a leaving do, since Anne-Sophie is moving to Toulouse to follow her husband, who moved there a year ago. Impressive Villa, I must say, with swimming pool and all! It was a pretty good night out as well, with a nice mix of strangers and people I know – nice to see that Stephane made it as well as Gilles and Valerie (who are, happily for them, but sadly for us their friends, relocating to San Francisco).

The socially rather busy week ended up with a soiree at Maite’s place near Valbonne, to celebrate the end of the school year (I suppose). All the usual suspects (Aurelien, Julie, Marie, JJ, Antoine, Claire, Gilles, Valerie and children) were all present. I suppose the night could be considered yet another leaving do for Gilles and Valerie, who as I said are off to America soon. All in all, we had a great time – Aurelien and Antoine (the artistic souls…) had even composed a couple of nice songs for Gilles and Valerie as a kind of “leaving present”.
Quite a busy week then, all in all!

More summer in Turku

After a few great days spent in Helsinki, it was time to head west, to our summer cottage in Parainen. But actually, as things turned out, I ended up in Turku… My plan was to go out for a few beers with my cousin Rasmus and an old mate, Jocke, Friday night. And as our departure from Helsinki was slightly delayed, I ended up going directly to Turku.

I met up with the gang at one of my favourite watering holes in Turku, called Koulu. Koulu is a micro-brewery located in an old rather charming school building (Koulu is Finnish for school), and they do indeed have a very nice selection of beers. Other than Rasse and Jocke, we were also joined by a French colleague of Rasse’s and Jocke’s, as well as Rasse’s wife Yang and his young son. It turned out to be a really good night out, actually. After Koulu, me and Jocke ended downing a few beers more at a nice beer garden on Yliopistonkatu. We then made our way to Rasse’s office, where he had a bottle of Polish vodka stowed away. Rather an unusual way to finish off a night out, but hey, that’s life as they say… ;-) By now it was waaay too late to catch a bus back to Parainen, so I ended up crashing at Rasse’s and Yang’s place instead.

The next day I had planned to spend in Turku anyway with my parents and my brother Tomi, so I decided to wait for them there, instead of making my way back to Parainen. I took the opportunity to re-familliarize myself with Turku. They revamped parts of the city (especially the riverside) due to the fact that Turku is the European Capital of Culture for 2011. I especially like the job they’ve done with the riverside – they’ve really spruced up the place, and it’s now a pretty happening place with loads of cafés, restaurants etc. I also checked out the medieval market, which was very touristy, but still pretty cool.

Eventually my parents and Tomi came over, and we continued our exploration of Turku, followed by a nice spot of Italian for lunch (during which we watched the ongoing Paavo Nurmi marathon, rather happy to be sheltered from the blistering sun on the terrace, rather than running…). Our stomachs filled, we did a boat tour of the river Aura, which crosses Turku. It was pretty interesting; our guide seemed to be extremely knowledgeable. We finished off a very nice day indeed by going to Samppalinna for a Finnish musical interpretation of “Legally Blonde”. I have to say it was a bit of a disappointment. The film, although no classic, is actually not too bad. But this musical revamp was pretty crap, if you ask me. But, Samppalinna, an outdoor “summer theatre” with a revolving scene, is a pretty nice place. After the theatre, it was then time to head back to Parainen…

The Sunday turned out to be a bit of a rain-out, it was really pissing down. So, I can’t say that I enjoyed my stay as much as I usually do at our summer cottage in Parainen. But, I did still have a swim in our swimming pool, and of course spending some time with the family (including Tomi again, who came over for lunch), is always nice! When the weather cleared up a bit in the evening, it was time for some chainsaw action with my dad (cutting down some un-aesthetic trees by the swimming pool) – always nice to do a bit of honest physical work for a change ;-).

After a lunch with Maikki on Monday near the airport, it was time to head back to sunny France! All in all, it had been a very nice week of Finnish summer. For the most part, the weather was great, and in those circumstances I absolutely love Finland. And it was great to rediscover Helsinki and Turku as summer cities as well.

Enjoying the Finnish summer in Helsinki

It’s been a while since my last visit to Finland, so I was rather looking forward to spending a week there (unfortunately, Mathilde couldn’t make it this time, though…). I started off proceedings in Finland, where I was working for a couple of days.

For Tuesday night, I was meeting up with Frank, a fellow Finnish-speaking Swede who like me used to work in England. The plan was to meet up for dinner, and perhaps a beer or two. Our quest for a decent restaurant turned out to be a rather challenging task, in spite of the trial version of Ovi Maps Frank had installed on his N8 ;) (which is supposed to, and did, find restaurants around the user’s present location).

Since we were blessed with excellent Finnish summer weather, we naturally wanted to stay on a terrace. But, that turned out to be hard – seems that most places only serve drinks, not food, outside. Which is a bit of a pity. We walked as far as past Kaivopuisto, to try to get to Ravintola Saari (a very nice place located on an island – you need to get there by boat). Unfortunately, bookings were required… Anyway, to cut a long story short, we eventually ended up in a Spanish restaurant (!?) two hours, and several “planning beers” later… All in all, we had a great time, even though we didn’t get to eat outside in the end ;-).

The next day, the plan was to meet up with Janne and Katja for dinner, after another hard day at the office. Again, we struggled a bit. Seems that it would’ve been a good idea to make a table booking – seems that pretty much all good places in the town centre were full. We ended up in Kynsilaukka in the end – a pretty original restaurant, in that they specialize in garlic-based dishes (they even have garlic ice cream). It used to be a pretty trendy place a few years ago (hmm, maybe more than 10 years ago actually, I’ve been away a LOONG time…). Unfortunately, we were quite disappointed this time. I paid 35 euros for my main course (reindeer steak), and it just wasn’t very good, unfortunately. But it was of course nice to catch up with Katja and Janne of course…

The next day, I was on holidays, so figured a bit of Helsinki sightseeing was in order. I didn’t get very far though, since I got a call from Riitta, to meet up. Riitta is a Finnish friend of mine who lives in England – in fact she was my Scuba diving instructor (well, dive master actually) back in England (many a dive in the murky waters of England we have done…). We ended up in Kappeli, having cappuccinos and catching up on “the latest” (a lot of it to be done, actually, since we haven’t seen each other for about 10 years). She’s still a photographer it seems, and hasn’t much changed over the years (I suppose she is probably the most Bohemian person I know – perhaps not surprising considering most of my friends are engineers!).






For the evening, the plan was to meet up for a “saunailta” (Sauna evening) at Riku’s place. All the usual suspects (Jani, Janne, Aki and Riku) were present. And one unusual suspect as well – Jani’s cousin Stephen from NJ, USA. The activities were the usual at these types of events, serious male talk in the sauna, beer drinking, eating chicken wings, and playing Grand Tourismo 5 on Playstation 3. What could be cooler than that, eh? No but seriously speaking, it really was great to catch up with the “dudes” again, hopefully the guys can make it down to the south of France at some point…

Me, Jani and Stephen continued the male bonding in Helsinki town centre (Riku threw us out before his girlfriend, who is actually expecting his first child, came back from work ;) ). We started at Vltava, a Czech pub next to the Helsinki train station (we had to give Stephen some cultural education – he was most surprised when we informed him that Budweisser originates from the Czech republic - and we naturally decided he absolutely needed to try some Budovar – the original and far superior product). From there, we continued our Helsinki by night exploration at Zetor – another Finnish institution and almost a tourist attraction in its own right (I mean c’mon, what other bar have you heard of that has a real authentic tractor as part of their interior design?). The good thing about Zetor was that we didn’t have to queue for our beer – the bad thing was that the reason for that was that we were pretty much the only customers. So we decided to head on to Teatteri (which I didn’t enjoy too much, it seems to be full of people who are a bit too full of themselves for their own good), after which we finally ended up in Kaivopiha, where the mood was rather festive. All in all, quite a memorable night (well, what I can remember of it, anyway!)

The next day, ‘twas time to head west. I did have time to catch up with Jani and Jocke for lunch at the Sello shopping mall in Leppävaara. We ended up in Chico’s, where I had a rather disappointing burger…

All in all, I had a great few days in Helsinki. It’s gotta be said, when the weather is as good as it was when I was there, it’s one of the best places around, honest. I just wish the weather was this good more often…