Leaving JFK 27 September - off to the French Riviera and Beyond …
We landed at 10 AM, got the rental car and headed to the Imperial. Did not take any pix of the inside of the hotel, although it is very stunning, I figured I have been photographing this place for years and years.
However when I looked at some past travel logs (for instance 2007, 2014, and 2015) they each have an exterior picture, only 2007 seems to have an interior - the main dining room has a 20 foot ceiling, the entire palace (well it was a palace when the prince lived here) is marble, the windows are stained glass, I will post some pix tomorrow.
We walked down to the harbor, (about a half mile) a marina bordered by a few Cafés, one we visited back in 2015 and we went again.
Had a 3 hour lunch, mostly resting (jet lag) and drinking a couple carafes of the local Coté de Provence. Joan had a huge Salade Nicoise, I had spaghetti with vongole (tiny clams cooked with herbs and a touch of pastis) -
walking back to the hotel we stopped at the Girabaldi plaza for cocktails then back to the room to crash.
Pictures tomorrow - we are taking a tram ride around the town (less walking I hope). See some new things hopefully.
Friday 29 September 2017
I need to apologize, for some reason some of my old sites are not displaying the photos, will try to correct, anyway here are some of this years, hope that they publish okay - a couple from the hotel
this is the main staircase between the ground floor and the 1st floor, the stain glass window spanning two floors is over 30 foot tall
the walls and ceilings are all hand painted this is the corner abover the window:
and looking up the stairwell:
one last shot, this is one end of the parlor, you can spend the afternoon reading, a very nice room
but hey, you do not go to the French Riviera to sit in a parlor reading
A river cuts through Nice emptying into the Mediterranean sea, like the Seine in Paris it is not very wide (in Paris there are 37 bridges crossing from the left bank to the right and you can walk across any of them in a minute or 2, not like the Hudson or St Lawrence - narrow) anyway rather than build 37 bridges, Nice built a park over the river - over a kilometer long, mostly gardens but also a large plaza, with fountains and 2 large plazas that alternate between geysers and mist. The mist is kind of cool to walk through çause it helps with the heat. You would hardly believe the river is flowing under you ...
There are miles of beaches along the mediterranean seperated by a very busy avenue from the hotels, casinos, and museums. We stopped at he beach across from the opera (been there before, probably will again). Had a botte of local wine and watched the boats, some people were being towed by boats in the modified parachutes.
Looked cool, but I lean more towards wine and lunch. Joan had a molded salad with prawns, I had prawns flambé
Mine still hd their heads on, Joan has given up eating anything that looks back at her …
Then a long walk through the old town, the flower market had already shut down for the day, so we just meandered along. The house on the right (colors very typical of Provence) is where Henri Matisse lived - now a museum. The church on the left had very cool, colored tiles on the roof although it is hard to see in a photograph
We came across the old communal wash basin, some of these date back to Roman times, this is where you washed your cloths once upon a time …
Well that is it for pictures - made our way back to Garibaldi Plaza, sat at the same table as yesterday, drank a bit too much wine and split a cheese platter.
We were thinking that we didn’t need dinner after all that but - last night in town, what the hey.
Across from the Imperial is Le 111 - they are only open 4 days a week, and don’t open till 7:30 at night. We figure a front for something but none of our biz.
She just had a burger (Joan has a hard time going more than a few days without a burger). I ordered the Andouillette - sometimes described as eatting rubber bands that taste like guts; I heard Anthony Bourdain describe it as an asshole stuffed with chopped intestines - that’s about right. Very French - I order it often. They had no Calvados - almost no one does this far south; but they had no Congac or brandy at all - real disappointing
She is crashed out (a lot of walking today) - I am finishing this up for the night listening to Bark by Jefferson Airplane
and going to read a little; tomorrow we head into the foothills of the alps and (hopefully) cooler weather
Saturday 20 September 2017
not many pictures today, we were traveling to our next stop and although there were many sites, the camera was in the truck of the car in my suitcase. Spent the morning in the markets, the flower market in Nice is famous, and adjacent is the farmers market. Really good stuff if you live here and had a kitchen. We retrieved the car, a tiny KIA, only one suitcase fits in the trunk, and headed north west to the lower mountains. Stopped in Fayence, the largest town in these parts for lunch. After, Joan wanted to see the church so we walked over. A wedding going on so we sat in the square, had another drink or two and waited for the bride and groom to emerge.
Then on to the town of Seillans and the Hotel des Deux Rocs. Unpacked the luggage so I got three quick photos:
- looking down from our room to the fountain where they serve breakfast, weather permitting
- looking north from our room towards the mountains
- across the street, the rock formation on the left is one of the two that give the hotel its name
They used to have an amazing chef here when we first came, but he moved on a few years ago. Probably to some big restaurant in Paris. Last time we ate here it was some young chef, not traditional French but some bizarre neuvo dishes. Not sure what to expect this year.
Nice to be heading north …
part 2 - dinner was a big improvement over last time: a local Rosé, creme of mushroom soup with hazelnuts (nice touch), Joan had rabbit for the main course, I went with the roast pork. Dessert was a pear poached in red wine, espresso and Calvados
Sunday 01 October
Our hotel has a buffet breakfast but Joan never eats a big breakfast, and I can usually settle for a beer or two - we usually walk into the center of town and join the locals. So we walked down hill along the cobblestone alleys to the square
Our regular cafe was closed - no sign or anything?
but a few locals were hanging around the terrase of the boulangerie (bakery) so we joined them
Cafe au Lait and Heinekins - works for us
Trudging back up hill to retrieve the car we cut through the other good restaurant in town (we ate there once, drank there a few times) its name translates as “The glory of my father” which is taken from a French film by Yves Robert:
The restaurant has 3 dining rooms in two buildings with a great outdoor courtyard with a huge fountain and a staircase that makes a good short-cut
Drove for a while and started following signs to a town called Saint Paul en Forét - St Paul in the forest, never been there but worth checking out, has a good name.
Along the way we happened upon a small chapel in the woods, it reminded Joan of the chappel in Crete where Terry was married last year so we stopped.
Then onward to St Paul en Forét - a quaint village; first for Joan of course is the church
A big section of the public parking lot gets taken up on Sundays after mass just for hanging out it seemed. A woman selling local honey, fruit preserves, and olive oil. A farmer selling fresh vegetables, a food truck selling roasted chickens, fresh sausage, AND best of all - a booth selling coffee and drinks
Joan had rosé wine and I was drinking pastis - both only 2 euro a glass - at that price might as well have more than one …
the furniture is made from shipping pallets
Then back to the town of Fayence for lunch; same restuarant as yesterday she had a pizza (she didn’t finish it) and I had daube provençal - a beef stew marinated in red wine for two days then slow cooked with carrots, garlic, and herbs - very tender and served over pasta. We had a local wine again (always drink the local) and they sold us a bottle to go.
Then back to our hotel. Every one checked out today, the hotel is closing till Tuesday cause the owners had a private function to attend. The place is deserted, feels strange. We sat out by the fountain drinking our bottle of wine by ourselves and watching the cats. There is a society of women (mostly I think) who feed and care for the stray cats - there are many - everywhere - this is our hotel (nearby white building) from our fountain
A little after 5 it was getting chilly out so we headed inside, Nicholas the owner gave me the pass code for the front door keypad - we have the place to ourselves. We were going to walk down to the other restaurant for dinner but Joan is kinda beat, so she is resting and I am writing up the days events - the two of us alone in the whole hotel
Hhhmmm - only in France would they give you run of the place while they had other things to do - got to love it.
Tomorrow we continue west
Monday 02 October
Left Deux Rocs, had our regular coffee and beer at the town’s bakery, and hit the road. Nominally our next night was to be in the city of Aix-en-Provence; I programmed that into the GPS since I did not know the roads. That got us onto A8, a big highway - speed limit 130 kph (about 80 mph); madame was not happy. Turns out she wanted to tool around the country-side and especially see where Mary Magdeline is entombed (I had no idea). I got off the highway and we proceeded to the town of Brignoles - she thought that might be the right town. The streets were a medieval labyrinth which quickly got us lost on foot (several times). About 45 minutes later we finally found the cathedral - which was locked - wrong town. Back through the labyrinth to the car where some gypsies tried to rip us off (we knew better).
Back on the road to Saint-Maximin-la-Saint-Baume (right town this time). The Basilica of Mary Magdeline, or in French:
her reliques are in the catacombs beneath the alter. An old place nearly as old as Notre Dame de Paris. A bit rougher on the outside, but very nice inside
Then a simple lunch, she had salad, I had a croque, espresso and calvados, no dessert.
Across the street some archeologists were digging up old Roman ruins under the plaza and classes of school kids were brought there to see and talk to the workers, we took a quick peak
We continued on towards the city but decided to stay outside the city tonight - getting late to be hunting for a room, no where to park, bought two bottles of local wine, had some bread and cheese and grapes, and some macadamia nuts, and turned in early. Tomorrow is market day in Aix-en-Provence and we will pass through for that. Then head on to Arlés where Vincent Van Gogh painted over 200 paintings, also where many Roman structures still stand including the amphitheatre and outside of town a still standing aqueduct -
Tuesday 03 October
Got up and drove into the city of Aix-en-Provence. And promptly got lost, getting from city to city, maps and road signs could be enough for navigation but inside an unknown city maps are next to useless - more on that later. After driving around in circles for a half hour I cheated and turned on the GPS (how did people get around before satellites?) That steered us to where we wanted to be, the heart of the city, today was market day.
Joan says that the plaza at the center of town is called Place de Jeanne D’Arc; or Joan of Arc plaza, but we saw no sign of her around …
Sort of a cross between a farmers market and a flea market we wandered, the best thing in my opinion was the spice seller. The aroma was noticeable 10 feet away, several different curries, herbs, juniper berries, - tantalizing. Another guy had whole roasted pigs that he was carving up.
Back on the road we made an impromptu stop at another city, Salon-de-Provence about 30 miles north west. You need to be having lunch before 2 oçlock or you do not get lunch, everything closes down. We got to the cafe at 1:45, just made it. I reminded Joan that we had lunch in this city a few years ago; she didn’t remember until she saw the castle
last time we ate at an Irish pub across from the castle, today we ate at a small cafe: burger for her, Magret du Canard (seared duck breast) for me. No calvados to go with the coffee I settled for marc, like grappa, and raki, a sort of local moonshine - the back onto the road to Arlés.
Got to the city and found the tourist info center next to the Hotel Julius Ceasar - once a major (maybe THE major) hub of the Roman army, the town has lots of Roman history. The woman in the tourist center checked her computer for available rooms and suggested 3 places: one on the northeast side of town right on the Rhone river (sounded nice) and two on the southwest side a bit cheaper. I studied the map a few minutes trying to get my bearings and we set off. I thought I was heading northeast, but Joan was checking the map and street names and said I was going the wrong way, oh well. Started looking for one of the cheap hotels in the southwest and then in front of us was the Rhone, and the hotel that we wanted in the first place - dumb luck, no thanx to the maps and street signs.
The view from the room:
We decided to skip dinner and head out to check out the neighborhood - some real old houses on the back streets, lots of cats, and by the open plaza the office of the Communist Party of France - the sign reads “Assemble for Strength!” Joan couldn’t resist putting on an anti-establishment face
Had our nightcap and decided to stay in this town another day/night - too much to see. Tomorrow is market day in this town, and the Coliseum is supposed to be in better shape than the one in Rome, and maybe track down the house where Van Gogh lived and painted
Wednesday 04 October
Nice to get up and not be moving on somewhere - walked down the block to a patisserie for Joan’s pastry - then next door to a creperie for coffee and beer. The weekly market is just outside the ancient walls, built 1 century BC (hard to imagine a time before there was christianity) the wall no longer encircles the town, but there are sections, especially the northern part of town where we are:
we bought some cheese with truffles (trés cher) and a small baguette baked with olives, for dinner tonight. Then we walked to the coloseum - still used for town festivals and bull fights, but Camargue bull fights are different - they do not kill the bulls. They hang tassels from the bull’s horns and the bull fighter needs to grab the tassels - less brutal for sure.
right behind the coliseum is the old Roman theater - built a century before the coliseum it is not in as good a shape, but is still used for plays and concerts:
… and just behind that is the Jardins de Été - the summer gardens.
There are a number of odd sculptures including a 25 foot tall man in a high chair
Out the other side of the park is the town’s main boulevard we headed west looking for a cafe for lunch
There is this very strange modern building - Joan says Van Gogh must be turning over in his grave - when the light hits it just right the panels are all mirrors - like something out of a transformers movie - no straight walls, all angles and facing all directions at once
On the corner by our cafe is another ancient structure, a tower over 22 centries old - quite a contrast between the old and the new
A slow walk back to the river and a quiet night (all walked out)
bread and cheese and a bottle of rosé - the sunset went on for 45 minutes painting the sky, photographs do not do it justice
about ready to call it a night
this page is getting quite long so I will start a new page for the next week of our journey
I will put up a new link on my Lynx page (Le Road Trip week 2) and also link to it here (but tomorrow, not tonight)
Bon Nuit all …
