VERFEIL Tarn-et-Garonne South West France

We had a great week in Verfeil. The house swap Rob organised was wonderful, it overlooked the village which was only a 15 minute walk away.

Verfeil was small  & very quaint. The owner of the house, Linda, her partner Keith & Rupert (the french poodle) were lovely & suggested some of the best places to visit in the region. The weather was hot so it was great relaxing in the pool after a long day of exploring.

There were fantastic food markets in the town of Saint Antonin Noble Val.

Note the large bottle of red wine - Cliff was excited about being able to have it filled at the markets (Rupert in the background)

The village of Saint Antonin was like stepping back into the middle ages. The town hall was built in 1125 & apparently one of the earliest examples of civil architecture in France.

We spent another day visiting the City of Albi. The cathedral dates back to the 13th century & is one of the biggest brick building in the world. 

Time for lunch so we decided on this little out of the way restaurant "le papillon" where the chef was such a character. We enjoyed every minute & I think the chef did too.

The meals were rustic, extremely generous & tasty mmmmm

ANTIBES

We were staying in Juan Les Pins which was almost like Surfers Paradise (without the highrise buildings- of which I didn't take any photos) although Antibes on the other hand - was only a 30 minute walk from us - now this town had an old section full of charm &  character.

Antibes had great food markets & being a lover of olives, Cliff thought he was heaven.

We came across "The Australian Bar" where we met some nice Aussies from a cruise ship & an interesting NZ girl who had a job interview to work on a 90ft yacht.

We also had lunch at a cafe with traditional french food

 

The staff were very busy but friendly & liked to laugh - when we said we were Australian, we were introduced to the chef "Steve" from Sydney - a Wests supporter who moved to France in the early 1990's. 

mmm pork belly for Cliff & duck cooked with honey for me

Coastal walk with great views - this was a bit of a challenge, it was much longer than we thought.

The water was the most incredible blue

Our last day was spent swimming & relaxing -  finally I had a dip in the Mediterranean Sea.

Cliff found a great spot to sit, contemplate life & have a relaxing swim.

Our next stop is Verfeil (Tarn et Garonne) which is in the Midi Pyrenees region of France

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.