Day 143 to 147 - 22nd to 26th March - French Riviera

Point of departure: Rapallo

Point of arrival : Vileneuve Loubet, Nice

Accommodation: RCI exchange- Les Hauts de Vaugrenier

Km travelled this week: 465 km Cum: 26 212km(gravel 0km cum 4 649km)

Countries so far: 13/16

Where to next? Sisteron

No of photos: 124 (cum 6 665)

Arrivedeci Italia et bonjour la France! Today was a fairly straight forward day of travel with the only indication that we had crossed the "border" from Italy to France being the European Union "France" logo and road signage an directions now in French.

The road itself, however, was amazing, continually alternating between tunnels through the mountains and bridges over the valleys in between. The Italians are certainly master engineers and road builders… no mountain stands in their way, they just tunnel through!

We did miss the turnoff to Ventimiglia (the gateway to France), and gave ourselves an unscheduled tour of downtown Genoa, including the area of the ferry port (detour not recommended, but useful intelligence in case we ever want to use it at some time in the future). Arrival at our timeshare just outside Nice, and oh so nice, allowed us time for a bit of grocery shopping and relaxing and not much else as it was raining.

Day 144 - Tuesday - today we thought we would "pop in" and say hello to the Grimaldi's. So off we went to the Principaute de Monaco. This little country has been owned by the Grimaldis since the 13th century (they bought it from the Republic of Genoa). It's the second smallest country in the world (after the Vatican City) and is approximately the size of Hyde Park in London (about 2,5 square kilometres). Now we think we are reasonably well off but in this world famous haunt of the super-rich we felt like the poor cousins especially as you arrive in Monte Carlo and see the yachts anchored in the Marina. There was one the Lady Moura that even had a helipad on it. If the owner happens to stumble across this blog, please let us know who you are.

But let's start from the beginning; we drove out of Nice along the coastal road through Villefranche sur Mer (a beautiful village), Eze Bord de Mer (the medieval part situated high up on the mountain above), Cap d'Ali and into the Principality.

On our arrival in Monaco, John had to fulfil his dream of driving along the Formula One Grand Prix circuit with the Beast, and this we did. We started at Boulevard Albert I(the starting grid) and then along Avenue D'Ostende, up the Avenue de Monte Carlo hill, past the Monte Carlo Casino, down Avenue des Spelugues, through the tunnel (where the Beast picked up speed), along Boulevard Louis II, then onto Quai Albert I and past the swimming pool, round the Rascasse corner (there is a bar/restaurant called La Rascasse on this corner and we in fact stopped for a drink) and back along the "straight" of Boulevard Albert I… TWICE! Even allowing for the fact that the roads are completely cleared for the Grand Prix, and protective barriers in place, it is incredible to think that Michael Schumacher has the lap record of 1 minute 14 seconds, an average speed of the entire lap of nearly 160kmph.Work was already under way to prepare for this year's race in May.

With this out of our system, we parked the Beast and walked up to "Le Rocher" (The Rock), the historic core of the Principality and its capital built on a rocky peninsula 60m above the sea.Here we boarded a little tourist train and took a 30 minute tour of Monaco - which followed more or less the same route of the Grand Prix circuit but with the added advantage of audio footage of the history of Monaco and then back up to the Rock and our final stop at the Palais Princier (Prince's Palace). The Palace overlooks the Place du Palais square adorned with cannons presented by Louis XIV. We were not able to visit the Palace as it was not open to the public (open June to October), so we had to make alternative arrangements for lunch. We did however manage to visit the "family" Chapel - Monaco's Cathedral (also on the Rock) - a neo-Romanesque building where Prince Ranier and Princess Grace got married in 1956.

We took the "top" coastal road back via the medieval village of Eze- very quaint and perched precariously on the edge of the hill with breathtaking views.

Day 145 - Wednesday - not feeling too energetic today. Like we said, all this sightseeing and touring really takes its toll. After a fairly late start (Marina went in search of a wi fi signal), we went up to the local village of Villeneuve-Loubet with its little medieval village, bridge over the River Loup and its Wednesday market. The last is undoubtedly bigger in season but we did find a couple of things of interest to buy, then into Nice with a view of visiting the old town. We started off by finding a parking place for the Beast and then a promenade along the Promenade des Anglais, the sea front boulevard of Nice. To be quite honest, we did not do all that well in exploring the old city, but ended up on the Rue Massena, a pedestrian street full of restaurants, pavement cafes and boutiques. It was lunch time so we stopped at Le Quebec for a bite to eat, a bit of shopping and then back to the Beast and the apartment.

Day 146 - Thursday - today we took our star, the Beast, to the city of the stars…Cannes, famous for its film festival and multitude of other exhibitions and events. We were able to park on the Boulevard de la Croisette, up close to the famous Hotel Carlton and proceeded to promenade along the boulevard. We took out an extra mortgage on our home for the cappuccinos we had (5 euros each = R50) and then proceeded back towards Nice along the "bord de mer" via Juan le Pain, Cap d'Antibes and Antibes itself. A beautiful road with luxury hotels, apartments and villas, and the yachts, (in some cases "mini cruise" ships) moored in the marinas. Some of these yachts were really magnificent and almost surreal, but hey… we dream on. We also stopped to watch a bit of kite surfing/boarding in one of the more exposed beaches… the wind was really blowing in places, and this took us right back to day 4 of our trip in Luderitz, Namibia. Then back to Villeneuve-Loubet, bit of lunch, a bit of shopping and finally a bit of R and R back at our apartment.