Have just spent a glorious week in Toulon on the Cote D'zur. We never planned to go there but as we are discovering this blog site has been well named and a chance meeting sent us to Toulon instead of our intended destination.
Having sold our semis tickets last weekend we decided to go to the park behind the Eiffel Tower with about 100,000 other people to watch the game on the big screen and join in the party atmosphere. On our way to the park we met a couple in a bar and ended up chatting and sharing a beer with them. She was an Aussie and he was from South Africa and they had been travelling as well away from their home town of 8 years in Dublin. We mentioned that we were getting out of Paris and wanted to go to Marsielle it was at their suggestion we skip it and try further along the coast. Hence we ended up purchasing return tickets on the TGV to Toulon and were so pleased that we had.
Toulon is about 30 mins from Aix en Provence which is a glorious town with fantastic local markets and also about 45 mins from Nice etc so it was a good central location and we had thought we would do some sight seeing, we didn't though.
Toulon for you Rugby heads is home of the RFCT or the Rugby team that will be home to Tana Umunga, Anton Oliver, George Gregan and Victor Matlock. They already have Andrew Mertons playing for them. So its a real rugby town and Tana is the local hero. There are posters of him everywhere and Chris couldn't resist buying the locals teams jersey as a souvenir.
The weather was unbelievable and not to rub it in but we had clear blue skies and mid to high 20s everyday.
Its a naval port and a fishing town so the food, scenery, harbour and atmosphere was perfectly conducive to lying in the sun, swimming and drinking cold beers. All of which we achieved in our week.
We stayed for 3 nights in a central city hotel but for one night managed to go to the sea side area called Le Mourllion about a 10 minute bus trip from the Centre Ville. This is where the plages or main beaches are located and we found a beautiful hotel overlooking the marina for the night.
The day we spent there we ended up walking along the coastal walkway which was built a couple of hundred years ago and used by customs officers to look out for smugglers and pirates. Its is about a 10km round trip but I convinced Chris that all of the guide books recommended it to find some beautiful scenery and stunning private bays to swim in.
It was little more than a goat track in places and fairly heavy going in the heat but after promising, jokingly, that I would buy the first beer when we eventually stopped, out of nowhere and I mean nowhere we stumbled across a tiny village perched over a little bay that had a small cafe and tavern. Chris got his beer and we also got some amazing photos.
Feeling slightly refreshed we continued walking along the coast looking for a place to swim. We found one and both went swimming in the clear waters of the Mediterranean. We also got an eyeful of the local scenery as we had to walk past the locals basking in the sun and in all their glory. And overall tans were the order of the day in this part of the world. Not only were we the whitest on the beach but also the most over dressed.
So Toulon turned out to be a real highlight, the food was fab in local restaurants right on the water and the town was friendly. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Nice & Lyon
After a blissful few days in the tiny village of St Jeannet, we headed for the big city of Nice,negotiated our way to Nice airport (3rd biggest in France) to pick up Michelle & Zane who flew in from London to spend the week with us.
The weather here is superb, around 25°c and the beach was only a 5 min walk from our hotel.Everyday here is market day and the stalls are amazing, you can buy just about anything here.We found an ice-cream parlour called Finnochios which has 99 flavours of sorbet and ice cream.It was heaven on a hot day- although the cactus flavour sorbet was not the greatest taste experience.
So many great restaurants and cafes to go to made for a very cruisey day and evening.
A day trip to Monaco and further on to Menton was a real eye-opener. The money in Monaco spent on the super-yachts alone was enough to buy several small countries. None of us really liked it there as the city had no "heart"and it was all about looking good. The beaches there are great and Zane & I went swimming, with the locals having to don extra heavy duty sunglasses for glare of the kiwi boys with no tans.
Menton was less like Monaco, although very pretty and a real tourist town.
Back to reasonable reality in Nice Annie & I were in need of rest so spent the next day chilling out and doing something close to nothing. That night,well rested and rearing to go went wandering the city for food and entertainment. There were street artists everywhere but two proved to be exceptional and captured the attention of most passerby.One was a classical guitarist dressed in a bright coloured robe and wearing a venetian mask- who played the most amazing appegio (Spanish style) music. the other was a painter who used spray cans and torn cardboard,newspaper & plastic disks to create fantastic, surreal landscape portraits. We got there just as he was setting up, so got in early to order a painting that he made for us while we had a drink.
What a way to finish our stay in Nice.
Next day our journey continued north toward Paris, stopping in Aix en Provence (called Axe by the locals) for lunch. Ax is a beautiful little town, and like most french cities, steeped in history, but with little time to explore, had lunch wandered the markets and continued north. From here it was all A-roads (130 kph)to Lyon where we would stay the night. This was 4hrs of cruising at 130+ only stopping for the odd toll booth. All of a sudden the 130kph traffic would slow to 110 and the lanes would disappear with up to 20 tollbooths, some open some not, some reserved some not. It was like a free-for-all and the airport runway with cars, trucks & buses ducking & diving for their respective tollbooth. No-one in France seems to know how they charge at the tollbooths, so cost at each one is a complete mystery. One the other side the free-for-all starts again, much like a grand prix start, except no one wants to get behind a truck-or anyone else for that matter, so the sprint is for the outside lane 130kph ASAP. The little diesel Peugeot got bit of a workout here and gave some BMW's something to consider.
At a truckstop while getting diesel a couple tour buses came in loaded with very quiet Kiwis. Most still traumatised from their experience in Wales. As one guy said "it was an edge of your seat game... but I really didn't need that shit..."All in all they were in pretty good shape, bearing up to the rest of their tour.
The weather here is superb, around 25°c and the beach was only a 5 min walk from our hotel.Everyday here is market day and the stalls are amazing, you can buy just about anything here.We found an ice-cream parlour called Finnochios which has 99 flavours of sorbet and ice cream.It was heaven on a hot day- although the cactus flavour sorbet was not the greatest taste experience.
So many great restaurants and cafes to go to made for a very cruisey day and evening.
A day trip to Monaco and further on to Menton was a real eye-opener. The money in Monaco spent on the super-yachts alone was enough to buy several small countries. None of us really liked it there as the city had no "heart"and it was all about looking good. The beaches there are great and Zane & I went swimming, with the locals having to don extra heavy duty sunglasses for glare of the kiwi boys with no tans.
Menton was less like Monaco, although very pretty and a real tourist town.
Back to reasonable reality in Nice Annie & I were in need of rest so spent the next day chilling out and doing something close to nothing. That night,well rested and rearing to go went wandering the city for food and entertainment. There were street artists everywhere but two proved to be exceptional and captured the attention of most passerby.One was a classical guitarist dressed in a bright coloured robe and wearing a venetian mask- who played the most amazing appegio (Spanish style) music. the other was a painter who used spray cans and torn cardboard,newspaper & plastic disks to create fantastic, surreal landscape portraits. We got there just as he was setting up, so got in early to order a painting that he made for us while we had a drink.
What a way to finish our stay in Nice.
Next day our journey continued north toward Paris, stopping in Aix en Provence (called Axe by the locals) for lunch. Ax is a beautiful little town, and like most french cities, steeped in history, but with little time to explore, had lunch wandered the markets and continued north. From here it was all A-roads (130 kph)to Lyon where we would stay the night. This was 4hrs of cruising at 130+ only stopping for the odd toll booth. All of a sudden the 130kph traffic would slow to 110 and the lanes would disappear with up to 20 tollbooths, some open some not, some reserved some not. It was like a free-for-all and the airport runway with cars, trucks & buses ducking & diving for their respective tollbooth. No-one in France seems to know how they charge at the tollbooths, so cost at each one is a complete mystery. One the other side the free-for-all starts again, much like a grand prix start, except no one wants to get behind a truck-or anyone else for that matter, so the sprint is for the outside lane 130kph ASAP. The little diesel Peugeot got bit of a workout here and gave some BMW's something to consider.
At a truckstop while getting diesel a couple tour buses came in loaded with very quiet Kiwis. Most still traumatised from their experience in Wales. As one guy said "it was an edge of your seat game... but I really didn't need that shit..."All in all they were in pretty good shape, bearing up to the rest of their tour.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Saint Jeannet
We are so far behind with this blog we may have to do some fast forwarding especially since we leave Paris tomorrow and in the meantime have been to Aix en Provence, Lyon, Nice, Monaco, Menton and of course here in Paris for the non event semi final that NZ didn't play in!!! Just so you know we sold our tickets for a healthy profit and have been using the funds to enjoy the city of lights.
It is worth retracking though and describing our stay in St Jeannet the small B and B that Chris arranged for us before we left NZ; called the Frogs House or L Auberge it was a " day and night stay in a small village about 30 minutes from Nice and much nicer than the detour one. The village has about 1500 people living in the area but only about 200 living in the actual village confines. It is hundreds of years old and truly beautiful set high on a hillside over looking the valley and on a clear day you Can see the Mediterranean and the Mountains in 2 directions. Our stay with Corrine and Benoit our French hosts was truly memorable. They looked after us from the minute we arrived and we would recommend this place to anyone looking for a taste of real village living of course with all the perks of being waited on hand and foot!
They took us to local producers so we could see how things were still being done after hundreds of years so we sampled a local market where the growers come to sell their goods. Chris had the best honey he has ever tried. We also drunk local wine, our photo shows how it is stored in 50 glass bottles in the sun. This is the cleansing process no artificial filters here!
We visited a local olive press and tasted their products as well, good but not as tasty as the vino. Went mountain climbing only to stop at the summit and enjoy some local wine again, yes there is a theme and some bagette, fromage and jambon supplied by our hosts.
Chris also sampled Roquefort blue cheese and believe it or not goat and donkey meat! We improved our French hugely staying with our hosts and a number of other french speakers but were made to feel so welcome. They even commiserated with us when the french beat us. No they did really but only after we agreed to support France.
It is worth retracking though and describing our stay in St Jeannet the small B and B that Chris arranged for us before we left NZ; called the Frogs House or L Auberge it was a " day and night stay in a small village about 30 minutes from Nice and much nicer than the detour one. The village has about 1500 people living in the area but only about 200 living in the actual village confines. It is hundreds of years old and truly beautiful set high on a hillside over looking the valley and on a clear day you Can see the Mediterranean and the Mountains in 2 directions. Our stay with Corrine and Benoit our French hosts was truly memorable. They looked after us from the minute we arrived and we would recommend this place to anyone looking for a taste of real village living of course with all the perks of being waited on hand and foot!
They took us to local producers so we could see how things were still being done after hundreds of years so we sampled a local market where the growers come to sell their goods. Chris had the best honey he has ever tried. We also drunk local wine, our photo shows how it is stored in 50 glass bottles in the sun. This is the cleansing process no artificial filters here!
We visited a local olive press and tasted their products as well, good but not as tasty as the vino. Went mountain climbing only to stop at the summit and enjoy some local wine again, yes there is a theme and some bagette, fromage and jambon supplied by our hosts.
Chris also sampled Roquefort blue cheese and believe it or not goat and donkey meat! We improved our French hugely staying with our hosts and a number of other french speakers but were made to feel so welcome. They even commiserated with us when the french beat us. No they did really but only after we agreed to support France.
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