An adventurous lunch in Italy

We’ve been talking about having a lunch in Italy with our friends Stephane and Sandra for quite some time now (since we all love Italian cuisine, and Italy only being about 1 hour’s drive away, after all). So today we decided to finally go for it. Before heading off towards the land of pasta and pizza, however, I headed down to seaside to watch the Nice-Cannes marathon pass by. Two of my fellow Finns, Pete and Hannu, participated – and needed some cheering on obviously (unfortunately, I missed Hannu). Both of them made it to the goal, and did very well, if you ask me (making it to the goal is already “doing well” if you ask me…).

Sandra picked us up around 11AM in her Golf. After picking up Stephane and little Clelia, we hit the A8 towards Italy. Everything went smoothly, until we heard an ominous “clonk” sound. It signalled the fact that the driver side window fell down (apparently it was the third time it happen on their Golf)! After some deliberation we decided to carry on until our destination (Vallebona) driver-window-less. Half an hour or so later, we arrived, refreshed ;-).

Sandra & Steph had booked a nice restaurant called il Giardino for the occasion. I like the concept of the restaurant a lot – it’s sort of like an “eat-and-drink-as-much-as-you-can” buffet, but with waitresses bringing you the food (a bit more classy than a self-service buffet). And boy, did we eat… Things kicked off with eight antipasti (if memory serves me...). For primi piatti (starters) we were treated to three plates of pasta (gnocchi, followed by some ravioli and finally some pasta with pesto) - an absolute delight. And the secondi piatti were nothing to complain about either –four plates of meat with French fries. And all this food we washed down with a couple of bottles of local red wine (nothing fancy, but more than good enough for an unsophisticated northerner such as me…). The desert was perhaps less impressive than the preceding delicacies we’d had (still, I wasn’t complaining about the three pieces of cake on my plate), but to be honest there wasn’t much space in our stomachs left by the time the desert arrived… (still, I made an effort!). The meal finished off with some proper Italian coffee and a limoncello. This, if I may say so, is my kind of Sunday lunch :-) (and pretty good value for money at 30 euros each, too…).

Having stuffed ourselves to the brim, we decided to lighten our conscience a bit by taking a walk around the village. It was a pretty enough village, typical for this part of Italy. A bit less touristy perhaps than some of the other places around here, like Dolceacqua. The walk certainly did us some good, especially since there were plenty of steep streets to mount and descend :-)

The return journey turned out to be a bit of an adventure, as well. We hastily improvised a temporary cardboard replacement (acquired from the restaurant) for the disabled front window, which didn’t do wonders for the driver’s visibility to the left. So the drive back to the motorway was quite an exercise in teamwork (with me and Sandra trying to tell Stephane about what was happening on the left side of the car). Things went so well we thought we deserved a coffee in Ventimiglia for our efforts.

On the motorway, things got even more exciting, since our improvised cardboard window kept wanting to come off. But thanks to steady driving from Stephane, with heroic support from Sandra in the backseat to keep our improvised window in place (and just one stop at a service station to make “readjustments”), we eventually made it safe and sound back to Cagnes-sur-Mer…

So it had been quite an adventurous Sunday lunch, then ;-). And just to emphasize the amount of food we actually had – I didn’t have anything for dinner. Those of you who know me, realise THAT does not happen very often… (in fact, I wonder if I’ve ever missed dinner by design before?)

Sailing & Father's day's dinner

As you may have realised, dear reader, if you have been reading my blog, I’ve been doing a bit of sailing this fall. Me and Hannu decided to sign up for a 7-week basic catamaran sailing course. Today was our last session…

As often during these sessions, things started off just great with a bright blue sky and a frisky wind. And as always, much to our annoyance, we seemed to be going much slower than everbody else.

Marie, our no-nonsense instructor, assured as it had nothing to do with our (lack of) sailing skills, rather it was down to our considerable body mass; as she put it subtly: “vous êtes une équipe bien costaud” (English translation: “you need to lose weight”). In spite of this lack of speed, we had a nice morning session cruising back and forth between the ports of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer. It did get a bit chilly towards the end of the session, when the sun went into hiding behind the clouds (might be getting a bit late in the year to just wear a tee-shirt...).

After the sailing session and the unglamorous post-sailing routines (carrying the boats up from the beach, taking down the sails, undoing the rigging...), we got together for end-of-course picnic (bravely doing it outdoors inspite of the chilly weather). My contribution was somewhat meager (a bottle of cider, a bag of chips and some biscuits), but as always I made up for it by eating twice the amount anybody else did (just to be polite, of course)! That raspberry tiramisu was particularly delicious. It was good fun getting to know the other folks a bit more, especially since pretty much everybody in the group apart from me and Hannu is a local. I even enjoyed the sailing course enough to sign up for the next seven weeks (for level 2). Hopefully they'll give us bigger sails for the next lot of sessions, so we can hopefully get our speed up ;-)

For dinner, we’d been invited for an early Father's Day celebration at my parents’ place in Antibes. We were treated to a delicious fish dinner (together with my “favorite” veggie side dish of broccoli & cauliflower), accompanied by some quality Alsacian white wine. We were also brought up to date with the latest gossip amongst the local Finnish population, and heard an account of my dad's participation in a Nordic petanque competition (in spite of their best efforts, his team got beaten by a bunch of Swedes...)

Hiking in the Parc national du Mercantour

When I first moved to the Cote d’Azur, I was expecting a work of glamour, sun, beaches, the azur-blue sea and old people. And for sure, those things can be found in abundance. But one aspect of this region which we really love is the proximity of the mountains. One does not have to get far from the coastline in order to enjoy mountains of over 1000 meters.



But moreover, the Alps are just a bit more than one hour’s drive from Cagnes-sur-Mer. In fact, one of the 9 national parks of France, Mercantour, is located here. Me and Stephane, a colleague of Mathilde’s, have been talking about doing a hike over there for quite some time now. And this weekend, we finally decided to go for it – in spite of a none-too-promising weather forecast.

So off we set, bright ‘n early Sunday morning, driving up the Vallee de Vesubie, past St-Martin-Vesubie, all the way up to the parking from where we were planning to start our walk. The drive itself is pretty amazing, following the deep gorges of the Vesubie, the road taking us past some very picturesque villages indeed (especially St-Martin-Vesubie seems well worth a visit). The trek seemed rather challenging to me – with a steady ascent from an altitude of 1600 meters, up to the final destination; le Pas de Prefouns, at an altitude of 2615 meters.

On the weather-front, things looked very promising, with a blue sky and not a cloud in sight! We took up a brisk pace, and steadily progressed up through some stunning scenery, all the way to the Lac Nègre (which means “the black lake”). It’s quite a special little lake – it merits its name thanks to the dark-grey waters. At this point we were already at an altitude 2400 meter’s. We were also surrounded by snow, so at this point the going got a bit harder. Half an hour or so later of steady ascent, we arrived at the culminating point, Le Pas de Prefouns. Here we took a moment to contemplate the amazing views around us. Back from where we had come, we were greeted by the snow-covered landscape surrounding the lake. And the other way, we could see the mountainous scenery of Italian Piedmont. In fact, we were standing on the border between France and Italy (as drawn up in 1947).



In spite of the howling wind, we decided to stop for lunch here, whilst taking in the views. A ham sandwich, an apple, and a few cookies later, we were ready to carry on. So back we went, the way we had come, stopping to admire the lake again on the way back. A good three hours later, we were back at the car, happy and satisfied with our spectacular hike. All in all, we’d taken 7 hours to complete the 15 km hike, with an ascent of 1000 meters. Not too bad for two amateurs like us ;-). After a quick beer at a road-side bar, we drove back home… We were actually stuck in traffic for a lot of the way, reminds me of all those return journeys from the Mercantour ski stations (we were a bit surprised about the traffic jams, considering the time of year…).

All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday. A pity Mathilde, who was in Angers, couldn’t join us for this one. Well, next time! (perhaps with raquettes).

Halloween in Nice!

It’s that time of the year again – Halloween time! Time to dress up and trick &treat… Or perhaps I’m getting a wee bit too old for that?

Anyway, the plan was to meet up with the Finnish gang in Nice for some drinks & dining. A Halloween costume was mandatory, apparently ;-) After a quick tour around the shopping outlets of Cagnes-sur-Mer I came to realize I would struggle to find anything appropriate (the French just haven’t learnt to commercialize these occasions like the English , for example – although they are catching up slowly…). The closest thing to a costume was my silly Jimmy hat (you know, the Scottish tartan patterned hat with some ginger hair glued to it – looks ridiculous enough to require a certain level of intoxication to wear without shame).

After a quick coffee ‘n cake sessions at my parents’ place, I just had enough time to get back to catch a lift with Pete and Anne (and Jasmin, of course). They were clearly much better prepared than me (Jasmin dressed up as “petite diable”, Anne as a veritable black-haired femme fatale, and Pete with his red monster mask). Thankfully they were able to lend me a black cape to go with my not-very-fear-inspiring headgear…

We started off with an aperitif at a nice little bar on Cours Saleya, which had the appropriate décor (skulls, pumpkins and the like) for a nice Halloween party. Mikko and Marianne soon joined the merry-making (Mikko looking nearly as silly as me with his skull-decorated Viking helmet). After making fools of ourselves over some (for once) reasonably-priced cocktails, we carried on to our booked dinner venue, Delhi Belhi. Time for my first Curry in France, yihaa!

It wasn’t bad at all, actually, a bit different from what you get in the UK. I was a bit disappointed (but also relieved) not to find any Vindaloo or Phal on the menu. The merry-making and childish behavior continued over the tasty meal, accompanied by some Indian wine & beer (even the Kingfisher tasted different, I reckon…).

Our bellies filled, we carried on to Wayne’s, where they were well in the Halloween spirit (including the well costumed waiters). A couple of digestif’s later, it was time to hit the road! After all, there was a young lady to put to sleep, and I had to get up early the next morning!

But what a memorable Halloween it had been!

Cabris & culture in Grasse

For today, the plan was to go all cultural, and attend a theatre play in Grasse (the first one in French for me).

We decided it was a good occasion to explore the area around Grasse for a bit, since we’re not very familiar with it. So we crossed Grasse and continued to the nearby village of Cabris, where we made a stop. Cabris is yet another pretty Provencal village, quite dramatically perched on the edge of a cliff. The panorama which opens towards the sea is quite remarkable, affording views from Nice all the way to Massif d’Esterel (including Lac St-Cassien). But what’s most remarkable is that we finally saw Corsica! I say finally, since we’ve seen it indicated on several “tables d’orientations”, but never actually laid eyes on it so far (we had been starting to suspect Corsica was an imaginary place...).

The village itself wasn’t particularly remarkable, apart perhaps for the fact that Antoine de Saint Exupery’s mum used to live here. St Ex (as friends and fans sometimes call him) is a famous French aviator and writer - he wrote the “Little Prince”, which is actually the first book I read in French :-). The main square in town is named after him.

After our quick village visit, it was time to take the scenic mountainside road back to Grasse for our dose of culture. We saw “Des Gens” by Zabou Breitman. The play was based on two documentaries about patients and doctors in a psychiatric hospital. It was a very interesting idea, and I could even follow the dialogue pretty well, but for some reason the play just didn’t work for me.

Young Finnish ladies visiting

This week , we had some young visitors gracing us with their presence. Namely, my three teenage nieces. This nicely coincided with my parents returning to the cote d’Azur after their extended summer stay in the cold northern lands…

We decided to meet up on Saturday for a meal. We opted for a restaurant in Villeneuve-Loubet this time, called Le Chat Plume, which we’d heard and read good things about. The place is located in an old butcher’s workshop, and the name is evoked in the very cat-inspired decoration. This cozy little place is indeed very intimate – in fact they kind of struggled to fit all of us around their biggest table. Once the seating arrangements were sorted out, we could get down to business and order.

I must say I really enjoyed this little restaurant and its tasty-yet-reasonably-priced cuisine. Things kicked off with what were possibly the tastiest raviolis I’ve ever had (being stuffed with foie gras certainly helped here…). The main course was equally refined; duck with a mushroom and black truffle sauce. Yummie. And things culminated in a delicious selection of deserts… I think this is one place we may visit again!

The next day, I headed into Nice to meet the clan again. After a slightly dodgy and rainy Saturday night, the weather was thankfully back to its sunny normal again. After enjoying the sun on the beach, we walked for a bit on the Promenade des Anglais and Place Massena with its street artists out showing their stuff. We finished the day at a restaurant in Rue Massena, where my fellow clan members had a Turtiainenish late lunch (it was getting close to 4 o’clock in the afternoon - I had already eaten in my un-Turtiainenish manner and therefore contended myself with a milk shake) during which the girls briefed me on their fledgling studies and gave me a summary of their trip so far - the highlight had been Cap 3000, obviously ;-)

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?).