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.

A Village by the Sea

Tim and Linda were up at 4 to pack for their departure at 5:15.  They'd scheduled a taxi to pick them up at the end of our street.  Their flight from Nice to Paris left at 7:10, then a 4-hour layover in Paris.  They were flying to L.A. from there, had another 3-hour layover, then landed in Seattle at 9:40 p.m.  Getting through customs took a bit of time, and then the drive from SeaTac to their house was another 1-1/2 hours.  Total travel time for the day, 27 hours. 

Meanwhile, we'd be going to the next town over, Villefranche-sur-Mer, sipping a nice rosé, and looking at the blue, blue sea.  Sorry.  That's not very nice, is it?  But our travel day would come, and we'd have almost as much fun as they.

So we all departed our fun apartment in Nice.  It had been a great place to stay, and an exciting and interesting neighborhood. 

Rick and I had a gap between the checkout from the Nice apartment at 10:30 and the check-in to the next place at 2:00.  The rental office in Nice, Riviera Holiday Homes, let us stash our luggage at their office in between.  We walked around another part of Nice to kill some time, and caught a taxi over to our apartment.

I mentioned earlier that we'd checked out our neighborhood in Villefranche, and we weren't very impressed with it.  We might have even been a little concerned about it.  Though the outside of the building wasn't impressive, we loved our little place!  It was decorated with antiques, which I loved, and the terrace had such an amazing view we couldn't believe it.

We looked out over the bay in Villefranche-sur-Mer, to Cap Ferrat

The apartment was full of wicker and antiques

The kitchen was small but efficient

The town of Villefranche is between Nice and Monaco.  It's a small town, and feels like one.  But there are plenty of tourists in town, and plenty of restaurants.  The harbor is full of big sailboats, and cruise ships will be parked out there every few days.  The old part of town is just a jumble of narrow lanes, most that won't accommodate a car.  There isn't a supermarché or a department store, so we'll be living like the locals and shopping at the specialty shops.

A street in Villefranche

Lots of motorcycles in town

We ate at a sidewalk cafe and had a nice dinner of grilled dorad (a kind of fish caught locally).  The lights from the harbor and Cap Ferrat provided a magical nightlight in our apartment.

Lights from Cap Ferrat illuminate our apartment

A Grand Finale in the Grand Prix city

Today was Tim and Linda's last day in Nice, and we decided to go to Monaco.  We caught the train about 10, and arrived at the very large and sleek train station in Monaco about 10:30.  It is said that Monaco is so safe that you could walk to the train with your casino winnings in your pocket in the wee hours of the morning without risk of being robbed.  I wish we could have tested this theory with some casino winnings in our pockets!

We walked up to Monaco-Ville, which is the hill where the palace and the old part of town are located.  Looking over the walls we could see Monte Carlo, which is the area around the casinos.

It's hard to see the city for the yachts

Looking over the wall in Monaco-Ville down to the port and Monte Carlo beyond

On the other side of the old town hill is Fontvieille.  Yacht parking available with your apartment!

We walked around the hill, past the palace where Prince Albert resides.  The old town is a warren of little narrow streets. 

A street in Monaco-Ville

In the square in front of the palace are cannons and stacks of cannonballs. 

It looks like they're ready for anything!

We went into the cathedral where Prince Rainier and Princess Grace are buried.

Inside the Cathédrale de Monaco

A little farther down the road is the Musée Océanographique -  the Cousteau Aquarium.  The museum was built in 1910 by Prince Albert I, the father of Prince Rainier.  This was really a highlight for us.  The aquarium is impressive.  We were there before noon, and the place was almost empty.  As we were leaving there were big tour groups getting ready to enter.  For once we weren't part of the mob!

The big tank holding sharks, sea turtles, and other fearless fish

Eels.  Eek!

This guy just hovers along the bottom and blends in with his surroundings.

A whale skeleton in the museum.  The fire below it is part of a rotating exhibit.

We had lunch at the café on the top floor of the aquarium.  The view from the terrace was gorgeous.

We didn't go down to the casinos.  We didn't have any money to lose!

Back at the apartment we had another great boulliabaisse for our last dinner in Nice. 

We went down to the nearest square and had ice cream for dessert.  We strolled around the neighborhood one last time. 

Those 81 stairs got easier as the week went on, and we justified lots of eating and drinking because of them!

The view from the top

Rick, Tim and Linda went out shopping first thing this morning.  They stopped at a store selling pasta and gnocchi, and specializing in different kinds of ravioli.  The sales lady asked how many people would be eating the ravioli they were buying, and they indicated that there were 4 of us.  She sent them off with 32 little ravioli per person (and probably had a twinkle in her eye!)  When they got back to the apartment I asked if maybe she misunderstood them?  Did she think you said 14 people?  Ahh, tourists.

Rick and I decided to check on our next apartment, in the next village, Villefranche-sur-Mer.  We were trying to figure out the logistics of getting our stuff over there in a few days.

I know I said in the last post that the buses, trains and tram are a fast, convenient and inexpensive way to get around on the coast.  The cost of the bus is 1 euro to go one-way anywhere along the coast, and that includes the route from Nice to Monaco.  One euro is an amazing deal that everyone wants to take advantage of, so rain or shine, the popular bus routes are packed.  There was standing-room only for our trip from Nice to Villefranche, which is on the way to Monaco, so after that we vowed to avoid the bus and take the train when possible.  The train costs 1.7 euros for the trip to Villefranche - still a great deal, and we'd probably have a seat!

We scoped out the town, and located the neighborhood where we'd be staying.  It didn't look very promising.  You know how things can look so flashy on the Internet?  What if we'd been boonswoggled, bushwhacked, hoodwinked?  Would we be living like squatters in Morocco?  Only time would tell.

We stopped for lunch at La Belle Epoque in Villefranche, and had one of my favorite French specialities - moules frites.  That's mussels and fries.  They were served in a cute wooden boat. 

Rick with our boats of moules frites for lunch

Meanwhile, Tim and Linda were doing some sightseeing in Nice.  They walked up Castle Hill, which doesn't have a castle anymore, but does have amazing views of the city.

View of Vieux Nice on the way up to Castle Hill

View of the beach from Castle Hill

The old Jewish cemetery on Castle Hill

Rick and I were finally fed up with our lack of communication tools.  We got some advice from the kind folks at the Nice Pebbles office, where we rented our apartment, about how and where to secure a cell phone while we were here.  They said we could either go to the post office (?) or to the Bouygues Telecom store, one of many phone stores nearby.  They knew there were sales clerks at the store who spoke English.  We bought a little phone for 20 euros, and bought some minutes for another 15 euros, and life became ever so simple!  Our French phone number will expire in 6 months, and then we'll just get a new one when we're here next time.

On the way home we stopped to buy some bread at Espuno Boulangerie, voted the best bakery in France 30 years ago.  It was fun to see the wood stacked outside next to the oven.

Wood stacked outside the Espuno Boulangerie 

Dinner that night was the ravioli with bread and a salad.  Did we each eat 32 little ravioli?  No way!

Yachts of fun on the Riviera

Day 4 in Nice arrived with blue skies and sunshine.  We needed to do some grocery shopping first thing, so off to the fish market we went.  It was set up in one of the city's many small squares.  We bought some sole, prawns and calamari for tonight's dinner.

Fish vendor in Nice

The neighborhood was already lively and noisy at 10 when we left the apartment.

Then we were off to see Antibes, down the coast a bit.  Between the tram in Nice, and the coastal train, it's a quick and inexpensive trip, and took less than an hour, including a 20-minute wait at the train station. 

Antibes has an amazing harbor full of even more amazing yachts.  We strolled along the pier looking them over.

Yachts in the harbor at Antibes

Rick's favorite one - luckily it's for sale!

 We walked to the old part of town and decided to have lunch at a pizza place.  The restaurant was down some stairs, and when we got down there we were the only customers.  This goes against my better instincts about a restaurant.  Our lunch was great though.  Good salad Niçoise, good pizza, and a good rosé to drink.

Flower baskets in Antibes

The restaurant in a cave of brick and stone

Next stop was the Picasso museum.  It was a bit disappointing, after seeing the great Picasso exhibit in Seattle a year or so ago.  It didn't seem like this museum held many of his great works, and also had the work of other artists on display.

Tim and a statue by Picasso

At home we had calamari as an appetizer.  Again, it was delicious.  Dinner was fillet of sole with prawns in a tomato sauce.  We had some nice pastries from the nearest patisserie for dessert.

Calamari by Rick

Pastries from the neighborhood

After dinner we decided to walk through the old town and down to the harbor.  All of the squares were filled with tables from the restaurants.  Our dinner was over, but the locals were just getting started with theirs at 9:30.  Even young children were eating out this late, and it was a school night!

Outdoor seating at the restaurants in Vieux Nice

There were a few people sitting on the beach, and lots walking along the promenade.  Castle Hill was all lit up.  We looked at the photos in the windows of real estate offices on the way back to the apartment, and dreamt of having a place of our own in this beautiful place.

The view of Castle Hill from the beach in Nice with a full moon in the background.

Matisse in Nice

We awoke to church bells at 7, and a cloudy day.

OK, so it's raining, right?  And hundreds of tourists in Nice are looking for something to do inside, right?  And the Matisse Museum and Roman ruins are free, right?  So almost everyone decides to hop on bus #22 to head out there with us!  This I know how to say in French -  it's déjà vu! (see Clouds over Rue Cler post on Sept. 11.)

On the bus it was a mash of people - a crush of humanity.  Most of us were standing up and holding on for dear life, so as not to become too intimate with the riders around us as the bus sped around the corners. 

The Matisse Museum was a disappointment.  This is supposed to be the largest collection of his paintings anywhere.  It didn't seem like very many paintings, but lots of cutouts of designs glued onto white backgrounds, which represented his later works.  At least it was bright and colorful on this dreary day.
 
The museum is housed in a mansion set amid the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Cemenelum.  The ruins weren't very extensive, but at one time this was a military camp that had 20,000 inhabitants.

The Matisse Museum

Ruins of the city of Cemenelum in Nice

Rick in the ruins

We rode the bus back toward our neighborhood, luckily without the crush of other people.  We transferred to the great tram that would take us closer to home.

The tram, buses and trains in Nice and along the coast are great.  They're frequent and affordable.  That's why we thought we could get along easily without a car.  We would have had to pay to park the car in this neighborhood, and then consider the rental cost of the car, and the gas.  It was a better deal (for us) without the car. 

We had lunch at another good pizza restaurant in our neighborhood.  It was also cooked in a wood-fired oven.  I wonder if the neighbors have soot on their rooftop terrace too!

We did some shopping at the Monoprix, one of the big supermarché chains in France, on our way back to the apartment.

Dinner was a marinated pork tenderloin, fork-tender according to Linda's notes.  Potatoes Anna and a salad completed the meal.  If Rick wasn't so skilled at this, maybe he wouldn't have to cook all the time and we'd go out a bit more.  I guess he hasn't thought of that! 

Nice is nice

Our first day in Nice we were awakened by thunder and lightening at about 5 a.m.  We were hoping for better weather here, but alas, it rains on the Riviera sometimes too!  But by 8 the skies were clear, and it was in the low 70's.

Rick and I headed out to find some pain au chocolat - chocolate-filled croissants.  Our apartment is on the 5th floor, with no elevator, 81 steps up.  We figure we can eat as many croissants as we like!

A symphony of church bells began at about 9:45.  We were up so high in the building that the bells were very close.  We weren't sure of the timing of the bells, but we were very grateful that they didn't ring twice every hour, like they did in Sablet. 

After a little petite déjeuner we were off to the Nice market to buy some serious groceries.  There were dozens of stalls of produce, spices, olives and breads, and cases of meats, cheeses, sausages.  We stocked up on some supplies for a few meals.  A stop at the wine store on the way home and we rounded out our Mediterranean diet.

Linda checking out the flowers

Bulk spices

More spices

Rick and I buying some produce

On the way back to our apartment we walked by a square where an exhibit was going on.  It appeared to be all classic cars, with flower arrangements on the hoods, and models wearing hats with flowers that matched the arrangement on the hood of their respective cars.  There were about 8 cars in the whole thing, but very elaborate flowers involved in each display.  We had noticed a wedding cavalcade the day before, and seen flowers on the hood of the car carrying the bride and groom.  It looked kind of funereal to me, but it must be the custom in this part of the world.

I want that hat!

This one was a little too much.  The box was strapped to her head.

We sat out on our terrace and the bells began to ring again!  We are very close to heaven here.

We decided to go down to the busy street below and find lunch.  There was a pizza place right next to the door to our building.  There's lots of Italian food on the Riviera, since Italy is so close, and this part of France belonged to Italy for hundreds of years.

There are pros and cons to living next door to La Maison de la Pizza

The pizza is baked in a wood-fired oven, and is very tasty.  One of the other two details related to our pizza place right downstairs is that the shared wall with our entry hall is almost too hot to touch by the end of the evening.  The wood-fired oven is right there, on the other side!  We could imagine in the heat of summer the oven would increase the heat all the way up the stairway.  The other detail is that the wood-fired oven smokestack is right next to our terrace on the roof.  There seemed to be soot on the terrace all the time, and we figured that was the reason.  If we didn't take the furniture cushions in every night, they'd get a  little sooty. 

After lunch we walked along the Promenade des Anglais, along the beachfront.  Its name comes from a time when wealthy English tourists started visiting Nice during the cold and rainy months at home in England.  I guess that would be all year, then, wouldn't it?  Most of the private beaches along here were closed by this time of the year, but there were a few topless sightings among the scattering of sunbathers. 

The Promenade des Anglais

We walked around to the port side of the city, past the war memorial, and saw a sample of the huge yachts we'd be seeing in this area all week. 

The memorial to citizens of Nice lost in two world wars

The view of the beach from the promenade

Back at the apartment we had a simple but good dinner of roast chicken, polenta and salad.  We have baguettes with cheese every evening about 5, with our pre-dinner rosé, so by all accounts we don't really even need dinner sometimes!   We're trying to be European, and eating dinner later, but still!