August 30th, 2022
Woke up refreshed, sort of….we had been hoping for better sleep, nevertheless, we are excited. The buffet breakfast is surprisingly good with lots of choices and we stock up as it will be another longish travel day. It’s a 5-minute walk to the shuttle under grey skies, then a 10-minute ride, and voila we are at Terminal 2F … the robot is cooperative so with boarding passes in hand, we are good to go. More friendly Air France staff on board, some coffee and a madeleine (tasty), and 1.5 hours later we are in Nice on time!
Next up is to find the Renault office which ends up being about a 10-minute walk ….our car is ready and Olivier gives a shortish overview of the car’s functions….more on that later. Renault (and other French brands) offer a lease/buyback which has the effect of reducing the rental cost especially if you keep the car for several months….brand new vehicle (Captur: a mini SUV) with everything included in the set price >>> no haggling, upsells, etc.
Rather cautiously we set off towards Vence where we will spend 3 nights at an AIRBNB ….. after a short drive we arrive at our destination which is in the hills above Nice, incident-free.
The lock box opens and after the normal struggle with the key we are in…we feel like our trip now has truly started.
We drive into town as we need to drop in at BNP Paribas to sort out some issues with our credit card….very nice young lady with great English (so I don”t get to practice my “french”) ..seems like all is good, a bit of a tempest in a teacup….good news as that is our “go to” card for Europe. After buying some provisions and wine we head back to the hacienda for some well-deserved downtime.
Dinner chez nous, as we were tired and the weather looked threatening which was a good decision as thunder & lightning soon developed …..a good albeit hectic day !!
August 31st
A beautiful morning with a leisurely breakfast on our patio. Today’s objective is simple…a bit of a practise day of driving as we head towards Nice, Villefranche sur Mer, and. It is a pretty straightforward drive with our GPS co-pilot (Geeps) issuing instructions at virtually every turn in the road…it is a neat system and Geeps’ British accent is modestly appealing. The Boulevard des Anglais in Nice is a lovely introduction to the Mediterranean seaside, which we follow to the old port as we want to make sure of our route there when we take the ferry to Corsica.
Then through Villefranche sur Mer …
… and onwards around Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. This is a stunning area and home to many of the rich and famous…we stopped for a hike on the Chemin des Douaniers a truly enjoyable walk through the white rocks with magnificent ocean views…
Set in the heights above is the 4 Seasons with its Club Dauphin set just above the rocky beach and reached by a funicular :
We then started to head back stopping en route at a Carrefour Hypermarche….folks this was a serious store the breadth and width of the cheese, charcuterie, and fish sections was awesome never mind the wine area as for the prices well they seemed very reasonable compared to where we shop. We wanted to take a secondary road back to Vence and Geeps insisted on taking us back to Nice….so lesson learned, if you don’t program AI correctly it will do what it wants. Back on track, we circled back on twisty roads through some lovely villages: Gattieres, Saint Jeanette, and back to Vence.
Short rest and then time to walk into town … 20 minutes and dinner at Michel de L’Ange. Vence is set in the hills of the Alpes-Maritime within which, there is a medieval walled village and in one of the courtyards set between ancient trees was our restaurant:
….perfect temperature, pleasant waiter, and a pretty decent dinner well presented and though not gourmand, very satisfying: carpaccio tuna and avocado shrimp salad starters and mixed grill and steak tartare as mains…you gotta love raw meat !!
A leisurely walk through the village and 20 minutes later we are home …
… and another good day comes to an end.
Bonjour your incredible descriptions reminded me of my trip last December. My sister had a convention in Cannes.we were at a small hotel only one street from the Mediterranean! She worked and I visited Nice and a day in Monaco. We saw also my godfather who came to see us from St Paul de Vence. We spent two days at Sanary-sur-mer. Lovely souvenirs. Thank you for the lovely pictures. Joëlle
Merci …and glad you enjoyed them…Cheers, Mark