Back to France via Tuscany

Today, it was time to leave Sorrento, and make our way to Pozzuoli (located west of Naples), where we were staying the next night. But on the way there, we had one more important stop to make. Of course it would be a pity to visit Campania without checking out that geological phenomenon that has shaped the landscape to such a degree. I am talking about Mount Vesuvius, of course.

The flames of Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum (amongst others), and still threatens the bay of Naples and it’s hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. We decided to drive up, since we were rather short of time. Well, the last few hundreds of meters have to be negotiated by foot. I guess that limits the tourist hordes to some degree – but in spite of that, the place is unfortunately a bit of a tourist trap, with quite a few shops selling tacky post cards and other un-memorable memorabilia. But the volcano itself with its caldera (the cauldron-shaped feature which is caused by the collapse of land following an eruption – in the case of Vesuvius the one that took place 79 AD) remains a very impressive sight, there’s no denying that. There are also pretty stunning sights over the Bay of Naples (unfortunately, the ugly urban sprawl that plagues the no doubt once-beautiful bay is very much in plain sight from here). We were unable to sport Herculaneum and Pompeii, unfortunately.

We then made our way to Pozzuoli, which is located in the famous Phlegraean Fields. The Phlegraean Fields are a wide caldera, situated just to the west of Naples. The area contains no less than 24 volcanoes and craters – all of them extinct I believe. The area is legendary – a lot of Roman and Greek stories have their roots here. Pozzuoli itself is a rather pleasant, if unremarkable town. There is a Roman temple located right in the town centre, next to which we had a rather disappointing lunch.

After walking around in the port area and exploring the seaside for a bit, we walked up to the main archeological sight in town – the Flavian Amphitheatre. It is the third largest of its kind in Italy (after Coliseum in Rome, and the one in Capua), and well impressive it is indeed. What impressed us the most were the underground structures; I can’t recall having seen any amphitheatre where one can walk around underneath the arena, like we could here. It actually gives a pretty good idea how an amphitheatre works (how those lions and other beasts are delivered up to pester the brave gladiators, for example). In short, it was a pretty cool place.

Before hitting the sack, we also had time to visit what is probably the main sight in the area – Solfatara. Solfatara is a shallow volcanic crater; and even though the volcano is extinct, it still emits jets of sulphurous steam. It’s a pretty cool place, since one can walk around the crater freely. It’s pretty funny to “bathe” in the sulphurous steams as well – a bit like a sauna bath, if you will. Solfatara is, quite understandably I think, also the source of many a legend. Apparently Vulcanus lives underneath Solfatara, for example.

Having had enough of the sulphorous smells, we made our way back to our hotel, which is actually located further up the hill from Solfatara. It’s a huge, modern hotel, which I’m sure is packed in summer. This time though, it was pretty much deserted, except for us and a Norwegian Nato officer (who had been sent to Pozzuoli because of the conflict in Libya) we chatted to during dinner.

The next day, it was time to leave Campania and make our way back towards France. We had a stop planned in Tuscany again; this time near Montepulciano (in Sant’ Albino). After a fire-hour driver or so, having checking into our charming hotel, we decided to explore the area a bit – we had all afternoon, after all. We started our little road trip with a visit of charming Montecchiello. It’s charming little fortified village, a little bit like Monteriggione, which we visited during our Tuscan holiday last summer. The contrast to Campania is pretty obvious – cute villages in Campania are lovely in a careless way, cute villages in Tuscany are lovely in a very meticulous way, I suppose one could say.

Our next stop was Bagni Vignoni, an ancient spa village. There were loads of people here, with bit parking lots full of cars, and for a long time we couldn’t figure out quite why? I mean it was a pleasant enough village, but so are pretty much all villages in Tuscany (and many of them more so than this one). In the end, we realized it was because of the volcanic-based hot water source that is located underneath the village. Well, we’d seen a couple of volcanoes already, so decided to push on, to nearby idyllic San Quirico d'Orcia. We really liked this pretty village, with its cobble-stoned streets, nice gardens and pretty churches. We even purchased a bit of local wine (the Orcia valley is known for its wine production).

We finished our scenic (and scenic it was – the landscapes around here are every bit as pretty and “Tuscan” as say Chianti) Tuscany mini-tour in Montepulciano. Montepulciano is a historic town, mostly known for its wine (the most famous being Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – one of the best red wines in Italy) and cuisine. It’s actually a very pretty town as well – kind of reminded me of Siena, but in smaller format, with its steep cobble-stones streets crisscrossing the town. It was already getting dark as we arrived, and our stomachs were growling, so we decided to try and track down one of the restaurants I’d noted off Tripadvisor before we left our hotel.

We ended up in “A Gambe di Gatto” (which is nr. 1 on Tripadvisor) – and were very happy indeed with our choice. It’s a very peculiar little place, with some very interesting items on the menu. It’s definitely not a place to have a quick snack at (now I know what the concept of “slow food” is all about) – but this is a case of the wait being well worth it. The owner/waiter is very passionate about his food and his wines (it’s the only restaurant I’ve been to so far where you can basically do a quick wine tasting session before selecting what you want to drink). It wasn’t one of the cheaper place we’d been to during our trip, but the food and the experience as a whole was well worth every Euro we paid… I even tried some of the famous Vino Nobile, and wasn’t disappointed.

What a perfect ending for a great holiday! The next day we drove straight down to Cagnes without making any stops, so as not to be stuck in any post-Eastern traffic jams. All in all, another great Italian holiday then. The more I go to Italy, the more I seem to like the place. Ritorniremo!

Naples, Pompeii, Capri...

The next day, we decided it was time to explore the urban chaos that is Naples. Naples is the biggest city of Southern Italy, and gets quite a lot of bad press. What often gets forgotten is that it also has an incredible artistic, historic and cultural heritage, rivaling that of Florence’s and Rome’s. But it’s true that it’s quite a crazy place.

Again, I was happy we came by train, and not by car. I would NOT want to drive in Naples – the only place I’ve been to with even more chaotic traffic is probably Cairo. Being a pedestrian, you have to be careful, but on the other hand, drivers are actually quite careful as well, and do watch out for pedestrians (I suppose since pedestrians cross roads wherever/whenever convenient, rather than at pedestrian crossings). The much talked about problems with Naples garbage collection obviously haven’t been resolved either. So to summarize, walking around Naples is a rather fascinating experience in many ways – but I don’t think I would like to live there.

I mentioned the cultural heritage of Naples – and it really is incredible. We visited quite a number of churches during this day, one more impressive than the other. I got the same feeling over overload I had in Florence. The churches of Naples are definitely less famous than those of Florence, but just as beautiful and impressive in my book. Well – that is on the inside. On the outside, they tend to be covered in graffiti, unfortunately (or I don’t know, maybe it could be said to be a Neapolitan touch?).

Naples is also famous for its pizza – and especially the Pizza Margherita, which was in fact invented here. So we decided to have lunch in the restaurant where it was invented – the Pizzeria Brandi. It was quite a nice place, with surprisingly few tourists around – and the pizzas were certainly good (although perhaps I wouldn’t go so far as to say I had the best pizza ever there).

Our rather long walk around Naples covered most of the old town, a bit of the seaside and port area, as well as the modern part of town with the royal castle, the new castle and so on. After another short stint in the old town, it was time to catch the train back to Sorrento.

On Wednesday, it was time for a bit of landscapes and scenery for a change – Capri. Capri is, I suppose, one of the most famous islands in Italy. It has been a holiday destination since Roman times (honest!), and continues to be very popular with tourists. This made us a bit wary – we’re not big fans of tourist traps. We booked a boat tour through our hotel (which we were a bit wary about as well – we don’t normally do that kind of thing), which basically took us around the island into the Marina Piccola. We needn’t have worried about Capri being too touristy – it is touristy, but it’s also stunningly beautiful. Our first stop was the Blue Grotto (the eerie blue colors for which the grotto are named for are produced by a whole just under the water-line) pretty cool if rather pricey at 10 Euros for a 5-minute visit.

The boat tour then continued around the island, along the beautiful coastline, to the Marina Piccola, a small picturesque marina. A rather steep walk (no easy option like taxi or minibus) from there took us up to Capri, the main town on the island. Now Capri town is touristy, no getting around it. IN fact, it’s overrun by tourists. But as with a lot of cute little towns in Italy, things get calm and quiet once you get out of the main tourist area. Also, I think the best thing about Capri is the beautiful nature and hiking to be had, whereas most people stay in the towns of the island.

After a quick walk around town, we decided to do a bit of a hike – to Villa Jovis, located at the Eastern end of the island. It was a really great hike, with great views over the island and the outskirts of Capri town. Villa Jovis is a palace from Roman times, from where Emperor Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire towards the end of his life. The ruins themselves are perhaps not that impressive (especially not since we’d been to Herculaneum just two days earlier), but again the views from the ruins are amazing…

We had a very pleasant lunch in a small cafeteria on the way back (a Caprese salad, what else) to Capri, from where we then took the bus up to Anacapri, the second, smaller village on the island. We only had time for a quick walk in this pretty little village, before it was time to make our way back to the boat. The way back to Sorrento was pretty nice as well, taking in the Villa Malaparte, an impressive example of modern Italian architecture, apparently (Godard’s Le Mepris was shot here, for the most part).

The next day, it was ripe time for one of THE major tourist attractions in Italy – Pompeii. There are a lot of Roman sites in Campania, so we’d decided to leave this one to the last – a sort of climax, if you will. I was a bit afraid to be disappointed – sometimes these ancient ruins leave a bit too much to the imagination. But Pompeii is of course different – it’s remarkably well-preserved, since the town was covered by a layer of frozen lava for centuries and centuries… So, to cut a long story short, I wasn’t disappointed. Pompeii really gives you an idea of what a Roman city was like, since so much of it remains so remarkably well preserved (even though all the statues and art-work have been moved to museums, of course).

It’s a pretty big area as well – it took us about 5 hours to make our way around the place! But it’s definitely one of those places that each person should visit at least once in their lifetime. The towering presence of Vesuvius makes the experience all the more “real”. What was the highlight, then? Well, there are several: the forum, the baths or perhaps the Villa dei Misteri? It’s hard to pick out a single one – I would say it’s just the experience as a whole…

Back in Sorrento, we decided to go on a bit of a splurge for dinner – and went to Il Buco. Quite a gastronomic experience it was, a bit expensive, but well worth the money. We later found out they have 1 Michelin star – well deserved I would say. One of those places where it’s worth paying a bit of extra for the exceptional service and food. We were also treated to some more Settimana Santa action while we dined…

On Friday, we decided to visit Naples again. I think a town of that grandeur merits at least two days. (more, in fact). We started off by walking around the old town yet more, and visiting yet more magnificent churches. I won’t list them all down (I’ve forgotten) – but one that sticks out in particular is Chiesa Santa Maria delle Anime Purgatorio Ad Arco. The church is home to a rather strange cult of the dead, which is still alive and well in Naples, where people basically bestow gifts upon children’s skulls as a way to keep in touch with absent loved ones (or something like that). Kind of creepily fascinating.

The plan was to have lunch in THE pizzeria in Naples – Da Michele. It is the best place to have a Pizza Margherita (well, they only serve two kinds of pizza so there isn’t a lot of choice, anyway – now that’s what I call purist!). Well, after checking out the queues of tourists and locals waiting for their pizza, we decided to give it a miss. We ended up in a nice enough local eatery, where we had our authentic pizzas (well, they were darn good, anyway!).

We spent the afternoon in the one museum that must be visited in Naples – the archeological museum. This is, of course, where all that artwork from Pompeii is stored. For sure, it’s a great museum, with loads of statues, murals and artwork to see (there is even a “secret chamber” for erotic art). But funnily enough, it’s smaller than I expected. I was expecting something like the British Museum – but this place is certainly smaller. Fair enough – thee hours looking at ancient art is plenty enough for me! My only complaint is that the museum was pretty badly organized (on the other hand, this being Naples, I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything else?), and the audio guide was a complete waste of time and money.

The evening, this being Good Friday, marked the highlight of the Settimana Santa, with a very impressive procession going through Sorrento town. The procession, which involves hundreds of people dressed in some more and less creepy outfits, reflects Madonna’s mourning as she finds her son, Jesus Christ, dead. It’s certainly a spectacular and impressive event, with the hooded monks and other believers chanting away in Latin through the dark streets, observed by the huge crowds.

Exploring Campania

Barely had I landed at Nice airport, when it was already time to hit the road again. For a very nice reason though – we were off to Campania in Southern Italy for a week and a bit of holidays.

We set off in the afternoon, with a plan to stay the night in Viareggio in Tuscany (Tuscany being quite conveniently located about half-way between Nice and Naples). Viareggio is quite a nice little sea-side town, quite popular with holidaymakers during the summer, apparently. This time of the year, it’s pretty quite. We didn’t have much of a chance to visit the place though, since we arrived quite late and pushed off towards Campania early in the morning.

The drive to Sorrento, where we were staying, was pretty eventless. I even survived the notorious roads of Campania without incidents, although the drive along the Sorrento Peninsula up to Sorrento was at times a bit hair-raising.

After checking in at our hotel, located just out of the historic town centre, we set out to explore town. It’s a quite pleasant place to walk around, and Sorrento definitely has its fair share of restaurants and shops to keep people busy, but it has to be said that it’s extremely touristy. It’s not the sort of place I would necessary go out of my way to visit either – in spite of the fact that there are a few pretty churches and a picturesque port, there’s nothing much of historic interest there. But it’s a very good base for exploring the region, with its excellent services and good location (all the main sights are easily reachable from there) – and I suppose it’s a less stressful place to stay than Naples, for example ;-). We finished a nice day of exploration with a nice dinner in a restaurant named after Henrik Ibsen (who was very keen on this part of the world apparently)!

On Sunday, it was time for some proper touristy action. So where to start? Naples? The Amalfi coast? Capri? Pompei? Vesuvius? Paestum? Plenty of choices, eh ? In the end, we decided to start with Herculaneum – a nice introduction to the Roman heritage of Campania. Herculaneum was destroyed (and also, as it turned out, preserved!) by the same volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii under a mountain of ash. It’s a much smaller site than Pompeii (as we would find out later), but very impressive as well, with several blocks of well-preserved Roman buildings, with the street layout clearly visible. A lot less imagination is required here than in a lot of other Roman sites, I’ll tell you that…!

What’s quite funny about Herculaneum (as with most of the Roman ruins here in Campania) is that the sites are located slam-bang in the middle of the suburbs of Naples. So quite interesting, contrasting the ancient Roman ruins to the not-so-state of the art architecture of Suburban Naples (sometimes I wondered which buildings where in better shape – the Roman-era ruins or the high-rises surrounding them).

We finished our visit of Herculaneum quite early, so decided to take the Circumvesuviana (the ever-reliable commuter train which goes from Sorrento via the Bay of Naples, finishing in downtown Naples) over to nearby Torre Annunziata for a bit more Roman ruins. Torre Annunziata (which is where a rather good Italian film called “Fortapàsc” about the Camorra we saw recently took place) is home to the Villa of Poppaea – Poppaea was the scheming wife of Nero (who died because Nero kicked her too hard during one of his moments of madness). The Villa is very impressive indeed, very well preserved, with some very impressive mosaics still on display. Again, I’ve seen Roman villas before, but none as well-preserved as this one. That was enough Roman ruins for one day, so after our visit we made our way back to Sorrento…

The next day, we decided to take the bus along the Amalfi coast. Amalfi is, I suppose, one of the most famous pieces of coastlines of Europe, and with good reason. I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen such a scenic and dramatic piece of coastline before in my file (I suppose the fjords of Norway could compete). It’s quite a drive, hair-rising at times, but with absolutely stunning views, from Sorrento to Amalfi, the main town on the Amalfi coast. I am full of respect for the bus drivers who take on the narrow roads of the Amalfi coast – they earn every penny of their salaries (and probably all deserve a big pay-rise!) I reckon. I was quite happy we took the bus and not the car, put it like that ;-).

Amalfi was a rather pretty town to visit, with its cobble-stone streets and white-washed houses. It is naturally very touristy, but once you get off the main drags and the area near the main square, it gets pretty quiet (that does mean a fair bit of hiking up and down steep streets though – as is often the case in Italy!). From Amalfi, we too another bus up to Ravello, another pretty little village a bit higher up in the cliffs overlooking Amalfi. It’s a very picturesque little place, famous for its Villa Rufolo, with its nice gardens.

After visiting the villa, we made our way back to Amalfi by foot. Probably a good idea to lose some of these calories brought on by the tasty Italian food, no doubt, but a bit hard on my poor knees I’m afraid! (damn those staircases are steep!). From Amalfi we took the bus back towards Sorrento, but made a stopover at Positano, another very picturesque little Amalfi coast village (possibly the most popular one). It’s probably a very picturesque little place as well, but by now we were getting a bit tired of walking up and down steep cobble-stoned streets, so we didn’t stay very long before catching the bus back to Sorrento.

We finished the night in a very nice little restaurant which specializes in Buffalo meat and Mozzarella (Mozzarella being of course made from Buffalo milk) – local specialties. It was an absolute delight! On the way back to the hotel, we were treated to some “Settimana Santa” (Easter week) festivities – Easter is a very important festivity in Italy in general, and especially so in Sorrento apparently! The processions of cloaked priests and monks were very impressive and solemn indeed…

A week in England

It’s been nearly 3 months since my last visit to the misty Island of England, so ‘twas about time to pay my team a visit again… My arrival was untroubled (I’m rather impressed with Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, seems that my flights are nearly as often on time as they are delayed – a considerable improvement over past years!)

Since my last hotel stay wasn’t a very memorable experience (I stayed at the Lismoyne hotel – which has been in some trouble lately – not very surprised about that!), I decided to go for a bit of class and stay at the Aviator – which is definitely the best hotel I’ve ever stayed at in the UK. I was so impressed with my room or suite rather, that I seriously considered just staying there the first evening. However, I eventually decided to go for a bit of Chinese with Sinhung instead (during which our company’s woes and troubles were dissected over a few drinks as always…).

On Tuesday night, I decided to organize a bit of a team meal at Fleet, as tradition would have it. As usual, most of the people who showed up were actually outside my team, but hey, as they say in France “c’est la vie”. We started off at the Prince Arthur with a few pints of proper English ale; myself, Esa and Jarno (who was visiting Southwood all the way from northern Tampere) being the 1st to show up (Finns are always on time, right?). Later we were joined by a fairly good bunch of people, and headed off for dinner at the Oatsheaf (where the woes and troubles of our company were dissected over drinks by even more people). All in all, a great night out! Although I have to say I wasn’t overly impressed by the food at the Oatsheaf.

My usual “South-East of England business trip” tour continued Wednesday night with a night out in Guildford (for this particular night the luxury of the Aviator was exchanged for the more cozy charms of Phil’s Guilford flat living room). I was actually running a bit early for my dinner appointment, so decided to have a walk around Guildford to check in the old sights again… It really is quite a quaint little town, Guildford, especially when the weather is nice, as it was on this particular spring evening. The cobble-stoned high street, the castle with its well-tended gardens, ah the memories…



‘nuff nostalgia and bring on the food though, I say! So off I set to the Cote, a well-rated French restaurant just off High Street, where I was meeting Phil, Nick and Emmanuelle. Very nice to see the lads again, but especially nice to see Emmanuelle, whom I’ve not seen since her birthday party 2 years ago (she’s moved to Essex since, which is kind of inconvenient to reach from Farnborough). The food was very nice indeed – I was positively surprised since French food is often overpriced and –rated in the UK. Me, Nick and Phil then headed on to the King’s Head for a few pints to finish off a very nice evening.

Thursday night, the grand finale then, took place in Fleet again. This time the line-up was I, Jarno and a couple of Danish collaborators. We started off with a most excellent Nepalese meal in Gurkha Square (I’d forgotten how good the food was there), after which we finished off with a few pints in the Emporium. Feeling rather old, all of us, watching the teen agers queuing up to get into Jaxx across the street – Jaxx being the coolest (and also only) night club in town.

All that socializing would’ve deserved me some rest back in France, but alas, ‘twas not to be since our holiday was starting the very next day, upon my return to France… More about that later!

Yann Tiersen @ Nice

My parents were visiting Cagnes-sur-Mer together with Karita (who’s been visiting my parents for the past couple of weeks) and Tutta, so we figured it’d be a good opportunity to invite them over for a coffee. Of course, having a coffee the “Finnish way” also inevitable involves something to eat as well –heh. The fondant au chocolat I made last weekend was rather tasty, and easy to make, so we decided to try that again. Or rather, Mathilde made it while I went voting (parliamentary elections coming up in Finland…). I think the fondant went down quite well with our Finnish guests…

Barely had we said bye to our guests after a pleasant afternoon, that it was time to head off to Nice, where we had a concert to go to. The venue was in L’Ariane, the real banlieue of Nice (you know, those places you read about in the papers where they do horrible stuff like burn cars), at the Lino Ventura Theatre.

The artist was Yann Tiersen – he’s not very well known abroad, perhaps apart from the fact that he’s behind the music in that rather popular French movie Amelie. The guy is, it has to be said, a bit of a genius. He’s incredible versatile, apparently capable of playing just about any instrument you hand to him (during this concert, he played mostly guitar and violin). The music style is quite varied and versatile as well, rock with influences of classical and folk music I suppose you could call it if you really wanted to put it into some kind of category.

We loved it anyway, great gig! Much to our relief, the car was still at the parking, un-burnt ;-)

Tete de Chien

The good weather has finally arrived on the Cote d’Azur, so we figured it was time for a hike – it’s been a while since the last one, so… (if we leave out our raquettes adventure in the Quyeras!). After some deliberation, we decided upon a walk from Cap d’Ail up to the Tete de Chien. Tete de Chien, kind of appropriate, considering we ate Merda di Can last night ;-).

We arrived in Cap d’Ail at a relatively early hour, and set off towards the “Dog’s head”. It’s quite an impressive little hilltop – looking higher than its 550 meters, due to a rather dramatic ascent and its proximity to the sea. As if though the ascent wasn’t steep enough, we went a bit off-piste after a wrong turn, and ended up climbing through some pretty thick bush up to the Moyenne Corniche. And to make matters worse, we even had to re-descend to rejoin the main hiking path. Oh well, we do this hiking stuff to get fit, right? So no harm in a bit of extra exercise ;-).


As we climbed further up, we passed by a “modelism race track” (a bit small to replace the Monaco Grand Prix perhaps, but quite a funny sight, perched as it is on the edge of a cliff – unforgiving one might say?) and quite a few rock climbers – no wonder considering the dramatic cliffs of the Tete de Chien. Much to our dismay, there was a big parking lot near the top of the hike (I suppose to make life easier for all those rock climbers) – all that hiking for nothing eh? Up at the top, it was time to enjoy our picnick and take in the stunning views. And stunning they are… Towards Nice, the panorama takes in the rugged coast all the way to Cap Ferrat and Villefranche-sur-Mer.

And the view the other way is equally, if not more, stunning, with glamorous Monaco and its old port just beneath the hilltop. I would almost go as far as to say it’s the best view of Monaco I’ve had.

Having taken in the views (and, I must admit, a fair few photos in my case), we carried on with the walk. The footpath took us rapidly downwards towards Monaco, from where we then headed back towards Cap d’Ail. Again, amazing views, all the way to Italy, with a prime spot to take in Monaco. The memory card was rapidly filling up…

All in all, I must say this was a really great walk. Scenery-wise, possible the nicest coastal walk I’ve done so far… And this being the Cote d’Azur, that’s saying something! We really must get back into the habit of doing these walks more often, we’ve been a bit lazy in that department over the last few months…

La Fete de l'Olivier

Today Cagnes hosts one of its yearly feasts – Le fete de l’Olivier. It’s taking place in one of the most prestigious locations in Cagnes-sur-Mer – Le Domaine Renoir, or The Domaine des Collettes. It’s where Pierre-Auguste Renoir used to live and paint, when he lived on the Cote d’Azur (from 1907 until his death in 1919).

The Domaine des Collettes, which these days houses a museum, is a very nice place to visit indeed, especially when the weather is nice, as it was today. The vast gardens, full of Olive trees (probably explains why the fete de l’Olivier is being held here!), are a perfect place to while a way a nice sunny day. Today though, there was a lot of action, with seemingly half of Cagnes-sur-Mer there to check out the proceedings. And what’s not to like? There was traditional dance on display, an orchestra, some chefs there to show their cooking (and to cook reasonable priced meals – we were really gutted at not having come here for lunch).

And naturally there were plenty of olive-related goodies on sale. There was naturally olive oil (of which we purchased a liter), but also tapenade (a nice little aperitif “pasty” made of anchovies, olive oil, garlic and capers), pistou (the Provencal version of Pesto – but made without the parmesan cheese and pine nuts), just plain olives, and even olive chocolate from Marseille (we couldn’t resist the temptation here and got a few packs of it).

The live entertainment was pretty good as well, with some young locals showing the French version of Morris dancing (?). All in all, a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon, especially as we were blessed with some great weather!

One of the things we saw at the fete was a demonstration of how to make Merda di Can. Now, I don’t know if a translation is really necessary here – so let me just give you a rather non-subtle hint (Merda di Can is Provencal – and the equivalent of the Italian expression “Merda di Cane”. If you still don’t geddit, look it up on the internet or something ;-). Anyway, we were sufficiently inspired by what we saw to take the brave decision to make it for dinner.

Basically, Merda di Can are green Gnocchi (the green color comes from Chard, which is a bit like spinach). Gnocchi being Italian pasta/dumplings made of potatoes and wheat. Thankfully, the name of this very typical Nicois dish comes from the shape of the dumplings, rather than their taste ;-).




Preparing Merda di Can is quite hard work, even though the ingredients are simple enough (wheat, potatoes, Chard basically_ What’s hard work is to get the right consistency to the pasty – and then there’s a fair bit of work to cut up the pasty and form the individual dumplings by hand. For dessert, I prepared a moelleux au chocolat – a most French dessert. (multi-tasking Mathilde also prepared a cheese cake for Sunday – what a sweetheart!)

The end result was rather good – the merda were rather tasty, although perhaps we should’ve cooked them a little bit longer. And I am extremely pleased with my moelleux – although perhaps it could’ve benefitted from perhaps 5 more minutes in the oven as well. All in all, a perfect ending for a great day on the Cote d’Azur – a real immersion in local culinary traditions!

Night out in Nice

It’s been a while since we’ve been to Nice for socializing, so we decided to organize a dinner with some friends to celebrate, well, the arrival of the weekend, I suppose. We sent out an invitation to a diverse bunch of people, and in the end we had quite a good mix of people show up.

Things kicked off with some aperitifs at Bar Karr, on Rue Alphones Karr (obviously!), as suggested by Naim. Apart from Naim, we were also joined by Marie, feeling peckish after a spot of shopping on Avenue Jean Medecin. It’s a pretty cool place for aperitifs, with a good selection of drinks – and best of all, they bring some munchies to go along with the drinks. We spent a relaxing hour or so there, catching up and checking out Marie’s purchases.

I’d booked a restaurant called l’Atelier for the occasion, more or less randomly – had some good reviews on the web, and the location was pretty convenient, and rather importantly, they could welcome a party of 12. In the end, there were a few cancellations – but we ended up being a pretty good crowd – with Mikko, Marianne, Henna, Aki and Petri joining us there.

I liked the concept of the place – their speciality is Socca, but with a twist. Socca is, of course, one of the most popular culinary specialties of Nice. A socca is basically a pancake made of chickpea flour. It’s made and eaten along the Ligurian sea coast, but is called farinata or cecina on the Italian side of the border. It’s nothing too sophisticated – more like a snack.

The concept of this restaurant was to turn socca into something sophisticated – they proposed Socca with a wide variety of “fillings” to go with it. I had one of them tasty soccas, followed by a café gourmand, all washed down with some nice red wine (selected by our enolog, Marianne).

All in all, it was a nice culinary experience (although the fillings kind of covered the taste of the socca itself), and a great night out! Unfortunately there was no time for post-dinner drinks, since we had our last train to catch… (turned out to be a replacement bus service in the end).