Vence, France…..a day trip to Saint Paul de Vence and Grasse then onward to Corsica

September 1 st, 2022

A beautiful morning 29 C and sunny, breakfast comme d habitude, on the patio… and we are off….easy drive to Saint Paul de Vence a preserved medieval village in the French Riviera and one of the most beautiful in France.

 

It is a rather simple but beautiful place to visit: parking no problem,  stroll the streets, the ramparts, a church, a cemetery and of course some nice shops with a minimum of “made in China” souvenirs…

 

A relaxing and pleasant several hours and we are off to Grasse which for all you ladies is the perfume capital of the world (it’s not only the Americans who are prone to hyperbole) nevertheless a nice town > no Annie did not purchase any perfume.

 

 

We found Grasse a bit underwhelming but after visiting Saint Paule de Vence most towns would be found wanting. Nice lunch on the main drag …

and then we drove back to Vence through some wonderful little villages in the Alpes Maritime.

Tired but pleased with the day we enjoyed supper at the AIRBNB. Early to bed as tomorrow’s wake -up call will come quickly.

September 2nd, 2022

Having spoken to the gatekeeper at Nice Port we were told to be at least 2 hours ahead of our scheduled departure time for Corsica….hmm, being cautious meant a wake-up call of 4:30, missing the ferry could NOT be an option. Bags packed and in the car, in bed by 21:30 and up by 4:00. A quick expresso, program Gyps and we are on our way…this is where plans go awry, or as Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth”, where Gyps insisted on using pay highways 2 days ago “she” now insisted on secondary roads…of course, you see the sign for A-8 but then you think Gyps knows better (actually not so much!)… all in all …no problem and we are at the port lined up at 5:15 …munch down on a ” pain au chocolate” and pass out in our seats along with several hundred other cars full of passengers.

We are on Corsica Lines with our destination L’Ile-Rousse, a port in northern Corsica …departure 08:00 and lo and behold the behemoth arrives on time, boarding is calm and super well organized and we are on our way with a scheduled arrival of 13:00.

Excitement is all around us as passengers are rushing about, taking selfies, etc. as we bid farewell to the French mainland…

Yes, those are folks in water at 08:oo they take beach time seriously in these parts!

 

Blustery conditions and we (who are experts in ferry travel in B.C.) suddenly realize that the ferry has no SEATS. Only cabins and Pullman seats at extra cost. We explore each deck, there are 7, and decide on the top deck….rather windy with some overspray…hmm , this should be fun! After about 30 minutes we notice the crew unlocking deck chairs and I rush over to grab 2 for us…a little bit of good old body checking comes in useful from time to time, and voila we have 2 chairs. The weather changes and for the next 4 hours, we doze in our chains in the sun…having brought sandwiches and water we are quite pleased. Others take advantage of the bar and down copious quantities of beer etc. Interestingly, we arrive ahead of schedule (yes B.C. Ferries that is possible!)

Again disembarking is smooth and within minutes we are on the road to Sant Florent in the northern part of Corsica. Originally a fishing port the town is located in the gulf of the same name, nowadays pleasure boats have largely taken the place of fishing vessels. It is a rather short drive through pretty terrain albeit with plenty of hairpin turns and precipitous drops as we arrive safely at St. Florent, home for the next 2 nights.

The Bay of Saint Florent below…