Day 85 – Friday 1st June 2018
Not a cloud in the sky, after a bit of sitting about in the shade we motored to a little hilltop village we saw from the train going to Nice, Haut de Cagnes.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen more accidents involving scooters, this is what happens when you don’t ride defensively and you meet up with someone who isn’t giving the road ahead their full attention.
Haut de Cagnes turned out to be an absolutely stunning little village.
Haut d’cagnes with the bougainvilliea in flower
The Grimaldi museum
jasmine & bougainvilliea in Haut d’Cagnes
Day 86 – Saturday 2nd June 2018
I’m ill. Yesterday was a sneezey day, today I have a very sore throat and I ache all over; read in the shade and in bed by 9pm.
Day 87 – Sunday 3rd June 2018
Woke up feeling a little better but nothing like 100% so had a quiet morning. Took Zippy on a spin along the beautiful coast road to Juan Les Pines; humid as hell when we arrived there.
we spotted Julie’s favourite super yacht just of the Cap d’Antibes
Day 88 – Monday 4th June 2018
Woke up to heavy rain. Throat still sore but it felt better once, like an old consumptive, I’d spent 10 minutes hacking up all the phlegm.
Mixed weather all day, read a book and tried to sort out a data usage dispute with Three. I’m not having much success with them because they use an Indian call centre and they can’t understand my accent and I can’t understand theirs. They might as well not bother with a Customer Service dept. I think my time with them is over.
Day 89 – Tuesday 5th June 2018
Nice bright morning, woke up feeling much better, only took me two minutes to hack up all me phlegm today.
To Eze on the train. The Eze train station is at sea level, Eze the village is at 2,250ft so we had a bit of an insane bus journey getting there.
From the approach road Eze is a stunning medieval hilltop village…
Eze
… but once there you realise it exists nowadays just for tourist; it is ram jam full of artists galleries, craft shops, restaurants & hotels.
one of Eze’s many galleries
and another one
there must be close on 100 galleries in the town
a gallery with fridge magnets
fridge magnets are big business round here
I’ve seen this exact same decorated mirror for sale in Brighton
I know this is what the modern tourist – the Americans and the Japanese – want and I know Julie likes a look around these kinds of places but it’s not for me. I prefer to see proper working villages that cater for locals as well as tourists.
Once you’ve climbed past all the galleries there’s an exotic garden at the top of Eze with some great views of the Côte d’Azur.
the harbour in Eze sur Mer
the view towards Nice
Julie dropped her phone and broke her screen in the Jardin Exotique. She was none too happy.
Being an idiot I’d forgot to bring my lunch and as usual there wasn’t a single sandwich without Jambon or Poulet in the one and only Spar shop in town.
hungry idiot
We ended up sitting down to galettes.
mine was lovely
Julie’s iced coffee with leaf was about the same price as her galette
After another walk about it was time to head home. Julie took the bus back down to sea level, I yomped down a trail.
It was uneven, rock strewn and hurt my knees and ankles but I managed the 2km in 45 minutes.
dog rough
On my way down I passed a few people walking up, they all looked knackered. Towards the bottom there was even a Japanese family who looked dressed for the beach giving a go! I felt sorry for them. What could possibly made these people think they could walk up the mountain trail to Eze? At the bottom there was a sign saying it was only 1hr to the top!
The train home was crowded. The only seat left for me was opposite an Arab couple who were speaking with the guard. I sat down, passports and credit cards were out. They’d boarded the train without tickets and they chatted away in French while the guard billed them. Everything seemed amicable enough then they started speaking in Arabic and things got very loud and very heated very quickly and I was getting splattered with Arab spittle. Yuk! It looked like there was going to be a fight so I quickly excused myself. Arabic very definitely is not the language of love.
Day 90 – Wednesday 6th June 2018
Mixed weather; went into Antibes to see if I could get a French data SIM but you can’t get one unless you have a French bank account.
Got some estimates to fix Julie’s phone screen, about £40 less than the phone cost new!
Did find a British supermarket though and bought some baked beans.
A lazy afternoon under the awning.
Day 91 – Thursday 7th June 2018
Bright morning but the forecast is for rain. Julie discovered her phone screen is okay, it’s just the thin glass screen protector that’s cracked.
Sat around reading & dozing under the awning.
We have done this part of the Côte d’Azur and we’ve had a nice relaxing week. I’m waiting for a package to be delivered then it’s time to head north towards Norway. Hopefully by this time next week we’ll be out of France and in Germany. It’s been 35 years since I was last there and the only German I know I learnt from war films. It should be fun.