We Take a Hike in Villefranche

There was a lot of ruckus on our street late last night.  It was probably a garbage truck, and must have been about midnight.  We've noticed this before in Paris and Nice.  Late night trash pickup must be the norm, although we also see garbage trucks during the day.   Otherwise, this is a quiet neighborhood, with only the occasional motorbike roaring up the street. 

Now that we're only on the second floor, the boulangerie is just a minute away.  Rick went out to get croissants and a baguette, and was back in 4 minutes.  Yippee!  My ancestors owned a bakery, so I know my craving for fresh bread and pastries is in my genes.

There was a market in the square today, so we headed out to get some vegetables and whatever else looked good.  We bought cheese at one vendor's table, veggies from another vendor, and some fish at yet another.  The only bad part of this is that you need cash for each transaction.  Two pieces of cheese came to 21 euros, and 9 different kinds of produce came to 4.68 euros.  We think food is more expensive here, but we know it's grown or produced locally too.  Baguettes, on the other hand, fresh from the bakery, are less than a euro. 

Saturday farmers' market in Villefranche

We stopped at the butcher shop for some chicken, and at the little grocery store for wine, and we were set for a day or so.

I had read about some good walking paths in the area on the Southern Fried French blog, and wanted to see what they were all about.  In fact, Lynn McBride, the blogger, describes one of the walks around Cap Ferrat as the most beautiful walk in the world.  Rick Steves also mentions some of the walks in his "Provence and the French Riviera" book. 

We stopped at our local Tourist Information office and got the booklet showing all of the walks along the entire Riviera and describing them in French.  The group of walks near us are called the Sentiers du Littoral.  They had translated the directions into English for the local Villefranche walks, so we picked those up too. 

We thought we'd try one of the shorter, local walks called the Circuit de la Rade - Bay Circuit.  The directions described it as easy, 2.5 miles long, with an elevation gain of 330 feet.  It should take about 1-1/2 hours.  The directions were good, we had gorgeous views of the bay from above, and the return walk was along the beach. 

Bougainvillea in bloom along the path

We saw lots of trumpet flowers around town

Bay of Villefranche from the trail above

Zooming in to the waterfront

Another view of the bay

It might have taken a bit longer than described, if just because we stopped so often to take in the view.  It was a great way to see some of the area away from the town, and we vowed to try a few more walks over the next several days.

We'd used our baguette for lunch, so Rick had to go to the bakery again to get another one for dinner...just like the French people do!  He cooked the fish we bought at the market earlier with garlic, onion, tomato, zucchini, and some white wine.  I thought he did a better job than the restaurant the night before!

We shared a pastry from the bakery for dessert as the church bells chimed the hour in the background.