NICE & CANNES - FRENCH RIVIERA

Our apartment is close to the railway station at Juan Les Pins so we thought we would take advantage of being able to catch the train to nearby towns.  Nice was our first destination - Nice is very nice :-)  a large town with lots of unusual modern art in the parks & streets.

Not sure I like this piece

I prefer the old artwork & the old part of town - beautiful narrow streets with lots of restaurants

The water was the most incredible blue - maybe it's because there's no sand - only stones

If you don't want to lie on the stones, you can pay for a chair & umbrella at a cost of 15 Euros for half a day

We walked to Parc De La Colline Du Chateau (damn, more steps) This park had great views of Nice & also views of some pretty impressive yachts.

We thoroughly enjoyed Nice - tomorrow a visit to Cannes.

The Cannes Film Festival only finished the weekend we arrived, we hoped we would spot a movie star or two, but none were to be found. The closest we came to stars were the great big pictures hanging on buildings or across the streets

We walked through the old town to reach the Musee De La Castre - a great vantage point to view the town & Mediterranean sea.

We strolled through the marina - very few yachts - just extremely large cruisers which seemed to be never ending. 

A walk past the Carlton Hotel which was in the Hitchcock movie "To Catch a Thief"

 

After a day of walking around the town we decided (for some stupid reason) we would walk back from Cannes to Juan Les Pins - it was about 13 kms as we incorporated walking out to the point - we walked non stop -  if we stopped for a break we were unsure we would be able to get back up. We were absolutely exhausted. Tomorrow Cliff has decided we will only walk to Antibes :-(

ARRIVEDERCI LUCCA - FRENCH RIVIERA HERE WE COME

After 2 weeks in Lucca we were on our way to Juan Les Pins on the French Riviera. We had an overnight stop in Alba (home of Ferrero Rocher chocolates) -  after all the Italian food we've been eating, chocolate was definitely out of the question. AND who needs chocolate, in this town when you order a drink they bring you out a snack to go with it (this was a full size dinner plate)

As well as having the Ferrero Rocher chocolate factory,  Alba is also famous for white truffles

Next morning with Cliff behind the wheel, we made our way over the Alpes-Maritimes. It truly was a beautiful mountain range, unfortunately the drive down the mountain brought back childhood memories of car sickness.

 Just when I thought we had finished the windy road, the tom-tom directed us to take a very steep narrow road which climbed the side of another mountain. It was more like a private driveway - don't know what we would have done if we met a car coming the opposite way - scary drive for a back seat driver like me.  Safely back on the main road Cliff was in need a drink to calm his nerves - we came across a cafe/pub - the owners were cooking meat kebabs, fish & vegetables over hot coals. Lovely people with a very interesting little boy.

Their son "Oliver" was a shrewd little businessman - I couldn't get him to budge on the price of his homemade tart - so I ended up giving him more than he was asking (he was such a cutie)

FLORENCE

We couldn't visit Florence without paying a visit to Michelangelo's famous  "David" - Good thing we were told to prebook our tickets, as you can see from the queue, he's a very popular boy. 

Then a walk over Ponte Vecchio - it is one of the oldest & most photographed bridges in Florence (I thought the shops on the bridge looked like they were ready to topple into the Arno river)

As you pass over the bridge it is lined on both sides with jewellery shops

 Up to the Piazzale Michelangelo (lots of steps) for a great view of the city

Florence was incredibly crowded & full of people begging or trying to sell you their products of imitation brands - It is actually an offence in Florence to purchase imitation designer brands on the street - so remember - if caught, you will be charged.

Churches everywhere

Exhausted we made our way back to Lucca on a very slow train.

 

EXPLORING LUCCA

We climbed to the top of one of the many bell towers to view Lucca from above. 

This tower had trees growing on top of it.

The city was full of charm with friendly happy locals. One night after dinner, Cliff & I went for a walk and came across a street where everyone was dancing on the road (there is no room in the bars)  they were having such a great time. Now you need to understand - the roads are only wide enough for one car, so when a car wanted to pass they would all dance backwards towards the building, let the car through & then dance back to the centre of the road. 

We bought a vino & stood back to watch the fun

Everyone eats very late in Lucca  - we came across a group of children playing soccer at 10pm while mums & dads were eating at the local cafe.

"Husband day care centre" in the piazza - Cliff & Doug quite liked the sound of this one.

You could wander this city for days & not come across the same street twice.

Plenty of international entertainers coming to Lucca for the Summer Festival.

For lunch we decided to go back to our eclectic restaurant to celebrate the birth of our new grandson "Daniel Alexander Connor" - We were feeling very proud.

LUCCA

Lucca is the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini.  We went to a recital of some of his works in the San Giovanni church. The acoustics were incredible. It only went for 1 hour so Dougie & Cliff weren't too bored. 

Another day in Lucca but today was the biggest antique market in Tuscany and also the Mille Miglia (Thousand Mile) vintage car race across Italy which came through the centre of Lucca & straight through the piazza. 

We had a decision to make, we could either sit in our apartment & look out the window OR we could find one of the best tables in the piazza, order pizza, drink wine, beer & watch the show - which one do you thing we opted for?

"OMG" said Rob when she saw the size of the pizza!!

There were many show cars (Ferrari & Mercedes) to entertain the crowds before the race cars arrived

Finally the vintage cars made their way to the piazza - all 400 of them for the long procession

The Italians are vey relaxed - not too much crowd control in the streets - people casually walking with race cars trying to pass through the crowds.

After the excitement of the day  we dined at an eclectic trattoria  "Da Ubaldo " The owner was quite a character, he enjoyed toasting with us, he spoke Italian only (notice the wine bottles with his image)

What a great finish to the day. 

Now for a couple of days to explore Lucca before we hit Florence to check out David.