Nice

We caught the train from Biot to Nice, walking far too briskly to the station for my liking as the temperature had been creeping up the last couple of days. In Nice we wandered along the esplanade where the Tour de France stage had been two days before.

The old town in Nice has a great atmosphere; small alleyways and an abundance of restaurants and cafes. Old cathedrals and buildings also.

We stopped at a cafe that was supposed to be good and although they weren't serving 'French afternoon tea' as hoped the food was excellent.

To work off the calories we walked up Castle Hill, past the man made waterfall and up to the  lookout.

That's it for our France adventure (apart from our ferry from Calais to Dover next month). Next post will be on our first stopover in Italy; Savona.

Tour de France and Cannes

We walked down the road about 1km to the point where the Tour de France was to go past.  When Taryn asked how many cyclists there would be I said I didn’t know.  When she asked if it would be close to 1000, I knew she was about to be severely underwhelmed.  I fully expected the event to be over within 30 seconds and yet when it was, I still felt disappointed.  Was all the organisation, and police, and road closures, and marketing/publicity, and coverage, just for that short blitz of riders? Surely this must be the least live spectator friendly sport in the world. 

When it was all over we jumped on a train to Cannes.  The film festival was in May so I lowered my expectations of running into Natalie Portman.  

Big boats as usual around the marina. 

With nothing to do in particular we just had a look around and ended up catching a ferry out to Saint Marguerite island for a few hours in the late afternoon.  Did you know that at Fort Royal on the island, the man in the iron mask was held for 11 years?  Hmmmmm... me neither.

Fort Royal on Saint Marguerite Island

The view of Cannes from the ferry.

Taryn, contemplating life.

Wetlands on the island.

Nimes

Maison Carree

The Arena of Nîmes.  We couldn't go inside because bloddy Johnny Hallyday was playing.  Boooooo, Johnny Halliday.  (He even retired already.  France's Johnny Farnham!)

Tour Magne

The view from Tour Magne