06 - Wouldn't it be Nice...

If there were fewer tourists? Ok so we had it coming when we decided to do our trip over summer, and of course we are tourists, but I have never seen a beach so full! Even when we were walking home from dinner the stones would be crawling with people, but you can’t blame them. The water is absolutely beautiful. You know when you have a good pair of sunglasses that make water seem really really clear but then you take your sunglasses off and realise that it’s just regular sea blue and nothing special? Not here. I kept pulling my sunglasses off to check but it was just as crystal clear every time.

We arrived at our Airbnb in Nice and by this point, James had spent a total of one and a half weeks out of London which meant he was seriously missing some British food, so we cooked up some bangers and mash and called it an early night. 

When we woke up the next day it was low 20s and raining. It cleared around lunch time so we decided to go on a walk to Villefranche-sur-Mer, the next town along the riviera. Given it was coolish outside, I chose to wear jeans. This choice was a mistake. The short walk turned into two hours and the temperature quickly got up to 30 degrees when the sun was out. We came back, cooled off with a dip in the Med and went for a lovely dinner in the centre of Nice. 

We decided we needed to practice for when our blog becomes so big it is made into a Paramount film and we’re invited to the film festival in May, so we took ourselves off to Cannes the next day. We had a swim, ate Nutella crepes and I walked along the promenade in an oversized hat. We’re ready when you are, Paramount. 

It was soon time to leave Nice and the French Riviera but not without a coffee stop in Eze which is a beautiful little town on a hill with rambling cobblestone streets. James and I had both been to Monaco before but had never driven it, so we did several laps of Monte Carlo before we finally got on the Grand Prix Route (half a tank of petrol later) and James did his hair pin turn, slowly and carefully. This seemed exciting for him, though I think Trevor felt a bit inferior to the Ferrari’s and Maserati’s we kept passing. 

We drove along the highway which runs across many bridges and through many tunnels in the North-West of Italy and past the bridge in Genoa that had collapsed a few days earlier which was sad to see. Our last stop with Trevor was Portofino for lunch which has consistently consisted of bread, meat and cheese at some idyllic location since we arrived and doesn't show any signs of changing soon.

As I write this we’re sitting on a train to the Cinque Terre having left Trevor at a station in La Spezia. We’ll miss him but I think James is pleased to have a few days of well deserved rest from driving. 

J&M

Aix-en-Provence to Nice via Saint Tropez for lunch