A day at Villefranche-sur-Mer

After a pretty uneventful weekend (some sailing, a bit of DIY, movie at home on Saturday….) we decided it was time to get off our behinds on Sunday. Especially since the weather was looking very good indeed! We drew up a very ambitious plan which involved starting with a walk at Villefranche-sur-Mer, and then carrying on to Italy for a nice lunch followed by perhaps a touristy visit, or something along those lines…

We arrived in Villefranche well on schedule, and embarked on the rather unambitious walk. The hike basically took us up from the port at Villefranche; up to the Basse Corniche (there are three Corniches at various levels, which basically follow the dramatic coastline from Nice to the Italian border). We followed the Basse Corniche for a while, and then walked up along the interestingly named Chemin de Madone Noire (sounds almost scary…). All along the way, we had simply stunning views over the coastline, basking in sunshine… Absolutely amazing – once again we had to pinch ourselves to make sure this was in fact an October Sunday and not a dream…

The walk descended down to where Cap Ferrat starts. We contemplated whether we should carry on that way, but decided in the end to stick to the original plan and made our way back towards Villefranche. As we strolled along the beach, busy with people, we decided to modify our plan slightly and have lunch here instead. Felt a bit pointless not to make the most of the beautiful weather then and there. So we sat down for a light lunch (Italian salad for me and Italian sandwich for Mathilde), after which we decided to ditch the plan of going to Italy altogether. Instead we got our swimming gear from the car and continued enjoying the sun on the beach. What a perfect afternoon, with the cloudless, blue skies, crystal-clear water and beautiful views.

After a couple of hours of swimming, reading and sunbathing, we walked back to Villefranche for a bit of tourist action. Although we’ve been to Villefranche before, we’ve not really spent a lot of time visiting it, so this was an ample opportunity for it. It’s a very pretty little port town, architecturally very similar to some of the Italian towns in Liguria. Over the years, it has (nor surprisingly) welcomed some rather famous inhabitants; such as Jean Cocteau and Gregory Peck. Especially Cocteau was very fond of Villefranche.

To honour this famous poet-artist-director, we decided to visit the Chapelle-saint-Pierre. The interior of this small chapel was decorated by Cocteau in 1957. It’s a very beautiful and peaceful place, perhaps slightly less impressive than the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Jerusalem near Frejus, which was also decorated by Cocteau. Well worth a visit, both of these chapels!

After a relaxed non-alcoholic cocktail (what’s happening to me?) at one of the bars by the beach, it was time to call an end to a great Sunday. Hopefully the weather stays like this for just a few weeks more… (until the ski season, pretty please with sugar on top?).

Hiking and picknicking at Gourdon

For today, we’d been kindly invited to a picnic at Gourdon, by one of Mathilde’s colleagues. We figured that was a good opportunity for a nice hike, especially since there was a hike which starts at Gourdon we’d attempted once but were forced to abandon due to some uncharasterically bad weather.

We didn’t get up as early as we normally would, thanks to the great Tunisian party we had attended the night before, but did arrive in Gourdon well in time to execute the walk before the picnic. Our walk took us up through the “suburbs” of Gourdon (one could perhaps argue that a village with a population of 437 doesn’t really have suburbs) towards the Plateau de Cavillore, located at the lofty altitude of 1030 meters. It actually made for some pretty heavy going, as the footpath steadily climbed towards the plateau, and the heat didn’t help… But we made good progress, and eventually arrived at the plateau, out of breath but happy.

Once up there, we had some pretty amazing views towards the coast, as well as Gourdon. Gourdon is another pretty Provencal village, possibly the one in the Alpes-Maritimes occupying the most dramatic spot, perched on its cliff overlooking the Loup Valley. It’s a pretty small place, and unfortunately a very popular spot for tourists (so most of the houses either host tourist trinket shops, artisans or a restaurant).

It didn’t take us a long time to cross the barren plateau. During our walk we were treated to the sight of a bunch of people with huge backpacks. We were wondering for a while why their rucksacks were so bloody huge (it’s not as if though this was Mount Everest or anything, until we realised they were paragliders, preparing to off from the plateau. Apparently this is one of the prime spots on the Cote d’Azur for that particular sport… And today was obviously a great day for paragliding – I’ve never seen so many in the sky at the same time before!

The descent down to the village was a breeze, as we walked past yet more paragliders climbing up towards the plateau. The footpath took us past the Chapelle St-Vincent (nothing much to see, the place is in serious need of refurbishment) and back to Gourdon.

We arrived to the picnic fashionably late, just as our stomachs were starting to grumble. All the usual CIV suspects were there; including Stephane, Sandra and Clelia as well as Antoine (the man who writes incomprehensible text messages – can’t believe the man is a French teacher :-) and his army of children. It was all good family fun; one of the older chaps even treated us to some traditional music in Provencal (yes, there is such a language). A pity the weather got a bit cloudy – but I suppose one shouldn’t complain too much considering we were still wearing shorts on an October day (I later found out there had been some snowfall in parts of Finland ;-).

So a nice end to a great weekend, then!

Some sailing and a Tunisian birthday party

Me and my trusty co-worker, Hannu, have been talking about having a go at sailing for quite a while now. So a couple of weeks ago, we finally decided to act and signed up for a six-week catamaran sailing course. Today was the second session for me (I missed the last one due to our weekend in Provence).

After a short briefing by our strict instructor Marie, we prepared our Hobie Cat catamaran (raised the sails and all that...), and set out on the windy Med. The wind was pretty good in the beginning of the session, and we made good headway from the port (Cros de Cagnes) towards the aiport. It was all good fun, our u-turns and stopping manoeuvres were certainly more assured than last time. The wind slowed down towards lunch time, to the point where really we struggled to keep the boat moving, and were playing catch-up all day (Marie assured us our slowness was due to our body mass rather than lack of sailing skill – apparently our body mass should give us an advantage in heavy winds). Towards the end we even had to resort to paddling with our hands to get the bloody catamaran moving. All in all, we had great fun!

In the afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the great weather and go for a swim. On the way to the beach we ran into Stephane and Sandra (and little Clelia, of course), and decided to go for a coffee. Great to catch up with them again, I’d not seen them after our holidays. After our daily dose of caffeine, we carried on to the beach for the swim. Pretty fantastic, being able to have a swim in the sea in October. And the temperature is pretty much the same as it is in Finland at the height of summer ;-).

For the evening, we’d been invited to Hyam’s 30th birthday party at her sister’s flat in Antibes. Things kicked off with a traditional Tunisian dinner, cooked by Hyam’s mum (Hyam has Tunisian origins). And what a feast it was! After some delicious filled pastries called "bricks" for a starter, we were treated to a very tasty and filling couscous for a main course (I think I had three helpings...). And the desert was nothing to be ashamed of either, with a generous collection of oriental sweets, and two cakes if I can recall correctly(including of course the birthday cake). The generosity of our hosts reached a new level when Hyam actually handed out Tunisian souvenirs/presents to us, the guests!

The party was attended by a very nice group of people, including Hyam’s sisters, a couple of colleagues of hers and a Swedish couple (who work for Amadeus in Sophia-Antipolis, obviously!). There was an international flavour to the proceedings which was quite refreshing; Hyam is an English-teacher and her sisters also speak excellent English.

The highlight of the party came last, when Hyam’s treated us all to some oriental dancing. She takes courses in it, and definitely has the moves. What a great finish to a great party. Big thanks to Hyam and her family for organising such a great and unique celebration!

A weekend in the Alpes-de-Haut-Provence

My employer, in their generosity, gave me a smart-box as a pressie last Christmas. One of the options this smart-box offers is a free night in a “country-side hotel”. An option which we decided to take advantage of this weekend. We chose “Le Grand Logisson”, located in the tiny village of Brunet, in the Alpes-de-Haut-Provence department (sort of the northern part of Provence) for the occasion. It's a part of Provence neither of us was familiar with.

We hit the road early Saturday morning. Rather than following the lead of our trusty GPS, and take the motorway, we decided to follow the Route Napoleon instead (the road follows the route Napoleon took after his escape from his exile at Elba). It starts in Golf-Juan (between Antibes and Cannes), continues through Grasse, then snakes its way all the way to Grenoble, passing by the Gorges de Verdon. It’s a very scenic route indeed... We followed the road until Digne-les-Bains, our first stop for the weekend.

Digne is the capital of the Alpes de Haut Provence department, and a well-known spa town. It made for a nice lunch stop; we didn't have to look long until we found a nice brasserie where we decided to have a bite. Having filled our stomachs, we spent an hour or so strolling about typically Provencal streets of Digne. It’s a pleasant enough place, but doesn’t really have any sights that could be classified as “must-see”, so we rather quickly jumped back in the car and carried on.

A half an hour’s drive or so later, we arrived in Brunet, where we eventually found the Grand Logisson (we had to resort to outdated technology ie. the telephone, since our GPS was unable to locate the place). We were expecting a cosy rural hotel, but alas, ‘twas not to be. It’s a rather large place, a converted farm I suppose, which rents out apartments. We were also informed about a wedding which was taking place there tonight. The surroundings are very nice; the Grand Logisson is located on the pretty Plateau de Valensole. The plateau is famous for its Lavender fields – unfortunately we were a couple of months too late to catch them in bloom… Before setting out to explore the surrounding towns, we decided to have a walk around the fields surrounding the Logisson, in spite of the ominous clouds and thunderclaps. It made for quite an atmospheric walk; with the fields contrasted against the dark sky, occasionally lit up by a bolt of thunder. But the clouds approached, so we decided to head back to our apartment. And not a moment too early – almost out of nowhere the hails started coming down. After about half an hour, the storm stopped, and we could venture out once more…

We started our exploration by checking out Riez, just 10 kilometres or so from Brunet. Riez is one of the oldest settlements in Provence, with a history stretching back to Roman times (there are even some ruins left to testify to that heritage). The old town is typically Provencal; with its pretty fountains, cobble-stoned streets and pretty stone houses. There isn’t much in the way of sights in the old town, so we left it to check out Riez most famous sights (which are located just outside the town centre). The first of these is the Baptistery, which is apparently one of very few buildings in France dating back to the 5th century which is still standing. The other main sight are some Roman columns, dating back to the 1st century. Not exactly the colosseum, but interesting nonetheless.

After this interesting visit we carried on to Manosque; where we were planning to have dinner. Manosque is historically famous as the town of Jean Giono, a famous Provencal writer who spent all of his life here. Without further ado, we headed in through the imposing Port Saunerie to explore the old town. It’s a pleasant enough place to stroll around; big enough to feel like a real place (rather than just a collection of restaurants and tourist shops, like some of the villages in Provence are like), yet small enough to feel intimate. There was a book festival on, which added to the pleasant atmosphere (there was even a bookshelf of second hand books where one could help oneself for free at the end of the evening!). We found a nice, cosy restaurant in a quite square, where we enjoyed a very pleasant dinner. Our stomachs filled, we headed back to the hotel, after another short walk in the old town.

After a good night's sleep (undisturbed by the wedding celebrations), we got up the next day relatively early, eager to continue our exploration. We started the day with a walk along footpath taking in the surrounding area, good to burn off some of those calories we’d picked up during the day before… It was a pleasant enough stroll, with some views from the plateau over the surrounding scenery (although it has to be say the scenery is in general more impressive in our home department of Alpes Maritimes).

The Mandatory Exercise for the Weekend done, we jumped into the car and hit the road. We stopped briefly in Valensole. It's another typically pleasant Provencal village, known for its Saturday market. Nothing much to see there though, so after a quick look around we carried on, driving east towards the Gorges de Verdon. The landscaped got more and more impressive, until we reached our main destination of the day; Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. Moustiers occupies an absolutely stunning site, built on top of a kind of amphitheatre into the mountainside, with a gorge effectively splitting the village in two. In addition to its beauty and stunning location, Moustiers is one of the most famous producers of Faience (a kind of pottery) in France. We spent a good hour walking around this absolutely beautiful village – one of the prettiest ones I've seen in Provence. Pity about the rather heavy tourist presence (although there are certainly worse examples of this on the Cote d'Azur)... After a pizza for lunch, we decided to make the “pilgrimage” up to the Chapelle-Notre-Dame-de-Beauvoir. The chapel overlooks Moustieres, and a rather brisk walk is required to make it up there. Well, it was certainly worth the sweat, considering the stunning views over the village we were rewarded with…

We then carried on, very pleased with our time spent at Moustiers. The road took us past the very picturesque Lac Ste-Croix, just at the western end of the Gorges de Verdon. From there, the windy road (very popular with bikers, not surprisingly) took us into the Var department, towards the Haut Var valley. There, we decided to make one last stop, in Aups. Nothing much to say about Aups, based on our short visit; it’s yet another typical, pretty Provencal town. Worth the stop if you happen to pass by… I was treated to a bit of “French culture”, watching the local hunters drinking (post- or prehunt, I wonder?) beer and pastis in the local boozer. It gave me some flash backs from the film Deliverance…

All in all, yet another great weekend in the South of France!

A few days with Nick

We had an extra passanger on our way back to Cagnes-sur-Mer after Flore and Christian’s super house-warming party; Nick. Nick;, who is the only Welsh-Irish-English person I know, had decided to take a few days off to discover the Cote d’Azur.

On Monday, back in the office, I got a surprise call from our old friend Sami (who used to live in Nice but now resides in Oulu). Seems that he had decided to drive back to Nice together with Pete, who was coming back after a few weeks’ holiday in Finland?? Well, whatever the reason; after a dinner at our place we decided to meet up with Pete and Sami at the Villeneuve-Loubet Marina for a couple of beers. Good to catch up with Sami again, although we did meet up quite recently during our trip to Finland.

Unfortuantely we weren’t able to show Nick around during the few days he was here, since we were both working. But he did entertain us with stories of his adventures at dinner-time. I especially liked the episode where somebody tried to sell him a train ticket to Nice for 50 euros! But no ripping of a well-travelled chap like Nick with such cheap tricks!

He seemed to have had a nice few days, even though he brought the English weather with him. And he did manage to tick off quite a few museums we’ve not been to yet, as well…

House-warming party in the Alps

This weekend, it was time to head for the Alps. The occasion was Flore and Christian’s housewarming party in La Roche-sur-Foron. We hit the road straight away after work, since we had a 5-6 hour drive ahead of us. The drive probably would’ve been a very picturesque one, had it not been for the fact that it got dark by the way we entered Alpine scenery… But anyway, the trip was eventless, and we arrived sound and safe at Flore and Christian’s house.

We’d already had a sneak peek of the place a few months ago, at the end of our “French road trip”, so already knew what a lovely house they have. We were pretty nackered after the long drive, so hit the bed pretty early…

We started off the next day with a walk around La Roche. It’s a very picturesque little town, with a lot of well-preserved traditional buildings. A lot of towns in this area have obviously turned into ski resorts, but La Roche has the feel of a “real town”. After our refreshing little walk, we headed off to Annecy, to continue our Haut-Savoie tourist tour. Once there, the whole group was reunited, much to everybody’s delight. Most of us had made it; Nick, Sinhung, Chie, Olivier, Rafaelle, Nathalie and Patrick (I’m always impressed by the effort they make to take part in these proceedings, with their 3 kids and all).

Annecy is probably the most famous historic town in Haut-Savoie, ideally located on the shores of the beautiful Lac d’Annecy. It’s another very well-preserved town, architecturally speaking, and clearly more touristy than La Roche. After a very pleasant stroll around the old town, we headed to a local restaurant for a generous helping of Savoyard cuisine (although the place was actually run by Belgians…). Which suited me fine, I have a soft spot for Savoyard cuisine ;-). After the meal, we walked some more to burn off some calories, this time checking out the park by the lakeside. Some of us (including me) even went all infantile, and rented a paddle-boat for half an hour of extra calorie-burning. It was all good fun; we were surprised by how shallow Lac d’Annecy actually was (large parts of it seem to be less than 1 meter deep).

After this bit of touristy action, it was time to head back and get ready to PARTY. Things kicked off with aperitifs at there very spacious balcony. We were joined by some locals as well, including some relatives of Christian (who’s an authentic Savoyard) and some of the neighbours. As the atmosphere warmed up, Christian invited us to his garage for a bit of a concert – he’s got some pretty impressive audio equipment and instruments in there… Fortunately the neighbours were at the party – we might have had some “feedback” otherwise.

After this brilliant little concert piece, we eventually moved back indoors, where the going just got tougher. It really felt like the good old times ;-). Sinhung even entertained us with his performance of “Like a Virgin” – just a pity his performance partner (Philippe) was missing… Can’t even remember what time we hit the bed – must be because I had such good fun that I lost track of time!

After we’d finally crawled out of bed the next day, it was time to hit the road again, after many tearful good byes. This time we were joined by Nick, who was extending his trip with a few days on the Cote d’Azur. We drove back via Italy this time – through some amazing Alpine scenery, and even stopping for a very nice Italian lunch near Aosta.

Thanks to Flore and Christian for a brilliant party! And great too see everybody again.

Myriam's 30th birthday party

After a few days spent adjusting back to normal life after our grand road trip, it was once more time to hit the road. This time, the occasion was the 30th birthday party of a good friend of Mathilde’s, Myriam. Her boyfriend, Fabien, had decided to organise a surprise party in her honour. The venue was Myriam’s sister’s villa, near Brignoles in the Var department.

So off we set, Saturday afternoon, driving down the A8 motorway once more. Due to the large number of party participants, camping was on the cards again, so we packed our trusty Decathlon tent into our trunk. After some messing about with the GPS, we eventually found the place, just in time to welcome Myriam (who, thinking Fabian was out and about with his mates, was expecting to spend her birthday with her sister). Myriam seemed very much touched by the warm welcome, and the festivities could then start....

The venue; a typical Provencal villa, was certainly suited for the occasion, with its big garden, large terrace and big lounge. Things kicked off with great food, interesting conversation, and plenty of wine & beer. The partygoers was a nice mix of people from various walks of life; with a fair few teachers (Myriam is a former colleague of Mathilde’s from CIV) and engineers (Fabian is an engineer working in Sophia-Antipolis) – in fact the conversation nearly steered into work territory in my case a couple of times…

All in all, we had a great time – it was actually quite a long time ago since we’ve been to a proper party like this. We must be getting old or something? Many glasses of wine and beer (and in my case, vodka) later, in the early hours of the morning, we stumbled back to our tent (well, Mathilde walked and I stumbled), for a good night’s sleep…

After a nice, hangovery, and rather later breakfast, we drove back on the next day, after a great party. Thanks to Myriam & Fabien, and of course Myriam’s sis; for a great party!