I arrived in Nice Friday morning at 9:30a after taking the red eye flight from NY. Spending 2 days in NY prior to the trip definitely helped break up the long plane ride. I even managed to muscle through a woman with a baby sitting in her lap next to me. I honestly think that baby got more sleep than I did on the plane, but I did manage a few hours.Those hours came in handy after I picked up my rental car and headed to Nice. I suppose I knew I was in for a long day when I had to get the driver's manual (that was written in french) out to start the car. Nice was prettier than I remember, but it quickly lost it's charm as I tried to navigate the city's streets. I went through at least two red lights, drove in the bus lane for a while before realizing I wasn't allowed, and actually had a man on a motorcycle ask if I needed directions while I was in my car stopped at a red light reading the map.
I soon realized the best bet was to lose the car and hoof it. The city is definitely best seen on foot. The Place Messana is a series of great outdoor cafes on pedestrian only streets. Didn't see a lot of work going on, unless you count eating and drinking as work...and having spent a few days here now, I'd say they work hard at food and wine, which of course I respect.
I ate some lunch and managed to take a bus to the Matisse Museum. Small, but nice collection. I was told that it was an easy walk to the Chagall Museum from there, but that easy walk eventually led me navigating a small and twisty two lane road on foot. I made it back to the city, but never found Chagall. A little gelato picked me right up.
Nice used to be a part of Italy, but in 1850 they were given a choice between staying with a uniting Italy or joining France who was enjoying good times under Napoleon III, and well guess who they picked. You see a lot of the Italian influence in the food and architecture.
I picked Cheryl up at the airport around 7:30pm, and we ended up taking quite the scenic route to get to our first stop of Vence. We had a bit of trouble with the directions, darkness and tolls (getting lost on a toll road can be costly), but we found our hotel by 8:30, settled in, and walked to the charming town center. The town consisted of a large ring of galleries and shops with open air restaurants sitting right on the plaza. We picked one that was still bustling at 9p and had an amazing dinner of a fabulous salad (lots of meats, cheeses, pesto, lightly dressed) and the lightest ravioli you've ever tasted. It was like little puffs of air stuffed with perfectly flavored meat and a touch of tomato sauce. Of course there was fabulous wine and our waiter gave us a glass of limoncella to finish that was light and refreshing. I slept well that night.
We got up the next morning and headed to St.Paul de Vence. When I say head, what I really mean is to drive in circles the wrong way for about 15 minutes, go the opposite direction for 10 minutes, and then eventually find our location. St.Paul de Vence was a picture perfect small village with many art galleries, soap/lotion and gourmet food shops. All the stores were built out of stone and meander off a main, hilly stone walkway. There are views of mountains and countryside everywhere. After all the cuteness we could take, we "headed" the approximate 2 hours to Aix en Provence.
We made great, fairly non-circuitous time, and then we arrived in Aix. During their big market day. On a Saturday. When every man, woman and child were in the streets. The street to our hotel was closed. We tried another street and there was a car stopped in the middle with its hazards on. These streets can only fit 1 car at a time so now we were stuck beeping our horn behind a car that is parked. This is also the only street we believe we can take to get to our hotel. We soon exchanged fragmented french with an older woman who I believe was telling us to piss off and she would not be moving her car. During the exchange, a car came up behind us and all got out. Yes, we are now sandwiched in the alley. To make a long story longer, we did end up backing out of the alley, we did drive down the middle of many seemingly pedestrian only squares, we did reverse out into the middle of the busiest street in Aix and we did end up making it to our hotel by driving down a one way street the wrong way. We were desperate, but we made it and later (about 3 glasses of wine later), were very pleased about the great location of our hotel.
We walked into the fairly large and bustling town. Families, friends, everyone in Aix was out and about. More clothing stores, boutiques and restaurants. We found a great spot for lunch on an outdoor plaza which entertained us with good people watching. A carafe of rose has been the staple for us at lunch. Lunch was followed by street wandering and capped off by dinner. Yes, we've been quickly getting into the french lifestyle of eating and drinking most of the day. We tried out the French nightlife Sat. night, complete with local beer, Pastis, some pantomiming for conversation and a find of a random, underground late night dance club. Long, but late night, and fun way to kick off the trip.
We left Aix in the rain at the crack of Noon. We were then off-ish to the Luberon to see the countryside. We stopped in many cute towns on the way - Lourmarin, Saigon, St.Saturin les Apt and Apt (actually we ended up in Apt 3 times, which was about 3 times too many). All were fabulously, cute picturesque towns. It was a shame it rained all day, but it allowed us to avoid the crowds and drink our rose all the sooner. Sunday and Monday are also very quiet days when quite a few things are closed.
Cheryl and I, aka the thorough planners, left Sunday night open as far as a hotel booking because we didn't know how much ground we'd cover that day and where we'd want to end up. We got to Rousillon at the bewitching hour, which is the time around happy hour, before sunset, when we always want to be checked into a hotel and getting ready for an aperitif. So Rousillon was decided to be our stop for the night. We found a great hotel overlooking the countryside, but unfortunately, more rain and cloud cover filled the day.
An enormous deposit of ochre gives Rousillon and it's buildings a distinctive red color. The side of the mountains throughout the town are a deep red, and all of the houses and shops are also shades of the red. It's quite remarkable. We wandered through the town in the rain and slid into one of the 3 open cafes for our afternoon carafe of rose.
After we finished, we hit one of the other cafes for dinner. They denied us a full bottle of wine with our dinner suggesting the other size would still give us 4 glasses. As if. We finished our carafe, had nowhere else to go, and ended up in bed at 9:30.
Wish I could say we woke up bright and early, but we woke up to another rainy day around 8a. We headed to Gordes which is supposed to have some of the best views in town. Unfortunately the rain and cloud cover prevented many views.
We still snapped a few photos and then continued on to Fonataine de Vacluse (very quiet and mostly closed) and Isle sur la Sogue.Isle is the "Venice of Provence" with many cafes and water wheels on the River Sorgue. It's a cute Provencal town on the water, but most things were closed since it was Monday. Evidently you need to plan well on Saturday because you're homebound until Tuesday.
We drove north to Vaison la Romaine. Vaison is divided into two parts - the top is an old medieval town with cute, curved alleys with lots of homes and a couple of shops. There were beautiful views all around and especially at a fort at the top of the town that a paranoid man built to get away from it all. Joke was on him though as everyone followed him up. The lower section of town had souvenir shops, but a fantastic little crepe restaurant owned and operated by a cute, older french couple. Tres bien.
It was then time. Time to start sampling some wine. We drove to Rasteau and basically knocked on a door in a vineyard we read about, and a kindly older woman somewhat welcomed us, and we began our first wine tasting experience of the area. A lot of broken French and English are happening, but the good news is that wine is being poured. We had a fabulous Rose and I made my first purchase. This area is known for their Roses and we'd be into fabulous reds soon after. We blew through a few more cute, cobblestone towns - Sablet and Séguret. Yes, blew through. We were getting a little more confident in our navigating skills at this point, and the towns are starting to look the same...and we're in wine territory, so our priorities are shifting.
We then landed in Gigondas...home of the big bad red and our resting spot for the night. We ventured into the cute town center to the local caveau. Caveau's are a great opportunity to taste a lot of the local wines in one place. It can be difficult because you do need to ask for specific wines, and when you don't know any of them and don't have a huge command of the language, it can be challenging. Lucky for Cheryl and I, we're quick learners and learned quite a bit that afternoon.
We retired to our hotel just a little out of town. It was a fabulous place tucked into the side of a mountain, in the middle of hundreds of trees. We had what could be described as a one story walk up condo. We had long chaise lounge chairs and a little table out front, where we sat for a good two hours eating cheese and drinking wine as the sunset
over the trees and mountain. It was perfect. We had dinner in the dining room of our hotel as we heard it was very good. That it was. We have not been going hungry. There's usually an aperitif served with some sort of amuse bouche. That's flowed by an appetizer, entree, cheese course and then dessert. I probably don't even need to mention there's a bottle of wine with every meal. The portions are not small, and hence, Cheryl and I aren't either, but we couldn't be happier.
In the morning we set out for the vineyards after a nice breakfast at the hotel. We lucked into a very nice South African, English speaking woman at our first vineyard, Meffre, Long Toque. Poor thing had no idea on how many questions two people could ask, but she was equipped with many answers and our first serious Provence wine education. We came to find out the Winery also makes Fat Bastard in the US. They had great wines and we made some purchases and got some good recommendations from her for our future stops.
We were very excited to go to Domaine la Garrique, but when we arrived, it appeared to be closed. We sat, we whined, and then further translated and realized they were in fact open.
Things close ALL the time in France - usually between Noon and 2, but sometimes they just reopen after the owner has finished his wine with lunch. We walked into the tasting room at Garrique, or rather the tasting closet. We were in a tiny room with a younger girl who didn't speak much English, but together we tasted some of the best wines ever. Many purchases were made and the girl ended up GIVING us a bottle of wine from the vineyard. Yeah, a gift. We think she liked us. I should also mention that none of these fantastic wines were over 10 dollars. Uh, yeah, I think I'm going to be throwing some clothes away to make room for the wine.
Cheryl and I are on cloud nine now and can't imagine the day getting any better, but then we ventured to Vacqueras, another good wine growing area. We had some good wine in one cave, but then were trying to find another down the street. We struggled, went into places we weren't allowed, and then found a door, with stairs that led way down into a cellar. At the bottom of the stairs was a handsome man carrying boxes and asking if we wanted to taste some wine. The language skills were rough, but we were getting another great wine education from our new friend we nicknamed blue eyes. An hour later, we had many wines, exchanged fragmented stories, took pictures together, got a tour of the place, and then he hands us a 10 year old bottle of one of the bottles we had just purchased. His gift to us. We think he may have liked us as well. We're single handedly trying to improve French-American relations, one person at a time.
As only makes sense, we ended the day by sampling Muscat from Beaumes de Venise. I love sweet, dessert wine, but this was even a little too sweet for me. Very syrupy after taste, but refreshing nonetheless. Our wine tasting for the day was complete and the car was filled with a lot of wine and two happy, red mouth stained girls.
What to do do after a day like that? Drive to Chateau Neuf du Pape to stay overnight in a castle in the middle of the vineyards. We have about 18 pictures of it because it was truly a sight to see. As has become our tradition, we had wine and cheese on the patio before dinner.
We watched the sun set on the vineyards before heading inside to get ready for dinner in the castle. In the castle library of course. We had the castle's own wine too and it was excellent, as was the meal. We retired with our bottle to the library where we planned the next day.
The next day we had a tearful goodbye with the castle, but we were spending the day drinking in Chateau Neuf d Pape so all was not lost. CNP had more of a Napa, wine business feel than the down home hospitality we received in Gigondas and Vacqueras. The wines were all still wonderful, and people were cordial, but to me, it wasn't the love of a smaller, but still respected wine community. We did manage to enjoy ourselves, but then it was time to leave the vines.
Cheryl found a random location in a town called Velleron for us to stay that night. I was picking up our daily cheese and wine supplies in a tiny store in tiny Velleron when she came in laughing about the place we were staying. She said that we basically were staying at someone's small house and parking in their garage. It was very unassuming from the outside, but as it turns out, it opened up behind a gate into a nice garden with a beautiful patio where we ate that night. We had a fabulous home cooked Provencal meal with an unbelievable wine that I couldn't get the guy to sell to me to take home. There were 4 other couples dining with us that night. A nice, young couple from NY sat next to us, and by the end of the meal they had set me up with one of their friends and got Cheryl a new job when she comes back to the US. We exchanged information the next day and may see and talk to them again soon.
We had breakfast in the morning, and then left for Pont du Gard. Pont du Gard is an amazingly preserved aqueduct that supplied nine million gallons of water a day to Nimes, one of ancient Europe's largest cities. The Pont du Gard spans a canyon on a massive bridge. Cheryl and I hiked around some of the area surrounding it and you'll be seeing more than one photo of it.
Uzes is a few miles west of Pont du Gard and is a cute, less touristy little town. Of course there's a central square with lots of restaurants off it, where we ate an open faced grilled sandwich and had our lunchtime wine. Nice shops encircle the plaza, but most were closed as it was the Noon - 2ish closing hours. We then headed into Avignon, home of the Popes. Those Pope weren't too anxious to see us as they made it quite difficult for us to get in. The city is surrounded by a wall, and once within the wall, it's difficult to navigate- many one way roads, unmarked streets, crowds, etc...The other challenge is that the planners left this hotel night open as well. With no map, no address and no place to stay, we struggled a bit. We eventually found a place to lay our weary heads. It was a dump, but we were quickly revived with shoe purchases for each of us.
The only other pick me up that we needed was some wine. We found a nice little wine bar where we drank some of the local favor, while partaking in the local cheese. We wandered some more after that. Saw the Pope's place and were trying to find some city charm, but it seemed to elude us. We did find a nice off-the-beaten path place for dinner. Lovely scallops with wine, and we had to drink the authentic local drink of Pastis. It's pretty potent, but went well with our Profiteroles. We looked for two or more gathered for a little after dinner fun, but were hard pressed. We did find a cool, out of the way bar, behind the Pope's house. I'm guessing when the going got tough, the Pope would step out and throw one back here.
We woke up the next morning and swung by Les Halles, a large market for people to buy their everythings - cheese, meat, olives, etc...We were anxious to get out of Avignon, so we sped off to St.Remy, our next stop. We dropped the car at a wonderful Inn where Cheryl's parents had stayed many times before. Very cute garden and nice rooms, just outside of the downtown area.
We dropped our bags and walked into town, expecting a sleepy little day. We both ended up shopping til we dropped. St. Remy has dozens of unique boutiques at pretty reasonable prices. I actually bought quite the sassy little suit if I do say so myself. We had moules frites (mussels and fries) for lunch, with of course, some Rose. We had a great day and got some supplies for our late afternoon ritual. Back to our Inn, we had cheese and wine in the garden before our dinner.
The Inn ownder recommended an "off road" location for us to eat. We each had a wonderful dinner of a large plate of about 8 different items ranging from salmon in a cold creme sauce to pate to marinated meat to items that couldn't be named. Another wonderful wine and then we were off to see if two or more could be gathered in this small town. We wandered into a little bar where just two were gathered. A nice looking Frenchman sitting at the bar got to his feet, and walked behind the bar. He served us some wine and the 4 of us got to chatting. Turns out the French barman used to own a restaurant in LA where I have eaten and he has served me. Was a block from my old place. That fact made us all thick as thieves (and the fact that there was no one else around I'm guessing). The 4th in the contigent was a chef from Belgium and going to be cooking in the bar/restaurant the next night. Much wine was poured, stories exchanged, dancing, and Cheryl even took on the town drunk who wandered in US-Bush bashing. We went to leave around 2am with a few others who had gathered, but the barman said no, he drinks with "mes amies" once the bar closes. More wine is poured and there could have been a rooster crowing in the distance when somehow we had the wherewithall to stumble home. Good times, and more new French friends.
Morning came a bit too soon and we slid into breakfast at our inn 5 minutes before it was over.
We then reluctantly packed up and left one of our new favorite towns.
We toured the mental hospital that housed Van Gogh for 53 weeks. He painted 150 pictures during this time. It was a beautiful location, but his room, not so much. Luckily the man had some windows looking over beautiful fields, but now I understand all of those lonely chair pictures.
We then drove to Les Baux, which looked a lot like other little rocky type towns we had been in, but it sold the same souvenir-y type crap in each shop. We did find some nice ice cream to ease our weary heads.
We headed to Arles next and stayed at a nice hotel in town. We did more sight seeing and shopping, but the city lacked the charm of a St.Remy. We figured a second ice cream of the day might liven our step. Cheryl was surprising me with our final night's dinner together. We went to a little restaurant that was empty when we got there, but completely full within 30 minutes. We were told by the adorable waiter that we would be getting 17 small little courses. They would just keep "coming, coming, coming." D'accord. We were never given a menu, nor a wine list. He asked what kind of wine we liked, and luckily we had been doing quite a bit of local research. I described what we were looking for and he brought the perfect wine. He decanted each table's wine in a lovely glass container. Then for the next 3 hours, it just kept coming, coming, coming. I can't even tell you what half of it was. Truly gourmet items - soups, tapenades, fish, mouse, meat (some that was braised for 17 hours), cheese and literally 8 different desserts. It was truly remarkable, and all extremely enjoyable.The funny part to the dinner was that Cheryl was told she needed to call to confirm the reservation before we arrived, and when she did, she struggled a bit to get her best French out. She was stopped mid-French sentence, and the guy (presumably the chef) said stop, speak English, you must be Cheryl. I think the chef had 17 hours of braising to get through and no time for translation. And yes, we were the only English speaking people in the restaurant. C'est bon!
Sunday morning we had breakfast in the hotel and then it was time for Cheryl to head home. We drove through the Camarague on our way out, which I anticipated being our own little animal driving safari, but instead, we merely saw a few white horses, some random birds and a bull or two. The day was clinched by a bee stinging me. How rude.We stopped for lunch in a sea side town for the final meal, and then Cheryl was off. I was not only sad to see my friend go, but also sad and nervous to see my co-navigator leave. I knew how often the two of us got lost, I could only imagine the trouble I could get in on my own. And trouble indeed while trying to get to Cassis. I took more scenic routes than I planned. And these were all major toll roads so every mistake wasn't embarassing enough, I paid, and paid and paid for my mistakes.
I finally found Cassis, but then couldn't find my hotel. I asked a shop keeper and when that didn't work, I asked a man watering his driveway. He put the hose down (still running) and walked me down the path, and alas, I found my place. I was told the room was very, very small....by a Frenchman, so I believed him. I threw open the door and hit the shower...took a step, and fell onto my bed...but it was perfect. All I needed and a price I couldn't refuse.
Cassis is dubbed the poor man's St.Tropez, but also home to a fabulous white wine. I took a short stroll to the waterfront and thought it was beautiful. It has nice restaurants and shops along the waterfront, but good energy with people cheering in bars for the local sporting event. I had dinner outside and sampled the great local wine and whiled away the time. It was a really warm evening which made an evening stroll along the water perfect.
After a good night's sleep in my little room, I set out to take a boat tour of the local calanques, which are basically just big cliffs jutting straight out of the water. The further we went, the more beautiful they were. The water also turned an amazing blue green that accented the white rock and green trees coming out of them. Not sure the pictures do it justice.
I was a little sad to leave Cassis, but it was on to St.Tropez for the night. I had trouble finding a room in town as I learned there was a big yacht race in town. Indeed there was. When I arrived, I walked down to the water and couldn't take it all in. There was a line of enormous yachts all pulling into the harbor. They were huge with at least 15 crew members on each boat. It was quite a sight to see them all pull in and lined up next to each other. People were everywhere.
I finally had the local spicy soup that was similar to a tomato based crab soup, but it's mixed with many different "fruits de mer"- all pureed. It's served with croutons and cheese, which I played with for a while before knowing exactly what to with it. Quite delicious.
In the evening, there was pandomonium at the waterfront. Everyone was coming off the boats. There were bands playing in the streets. Drinks everywhere. It was a warm night so people were frolicking about. A fun night.
I woke up early enough in the morning to watch all the boats
launch. I didn't know how they were going to get all those boats out before dark because there's one way in and one way out of the harbor. They couldn't raise their sails until they were quite a ways out of the harbor, but I saw a lot of them as I was leaving town. It was really a fun time to be there. I liked St. Tropez much more than I imagined, but curious what the place is like without a boat race. I expected more glitz, but I found the glitz to primarily be on the water. Some of the boats are simply spectacular.The traffic was insane leaving St. Tropez. I heard it can be like that, because like the boats, there's one way in and out of town. I found another way out that took me on a much more scenic trip that I imagined, but I got out of town, and headed for Antibes.
I had thought I'd stop in Cannes for lunch, but after driving through, I didn't think it warranted getting out of the car, even if I could have found a place to park.
Antibes is described a bit like Cassis, a slower pace to St.Tropez and Nice. They have an old town and another area that's fun to go out. I'm staying in the cutest place in Cap d'Antibes. It's in walking distance to everything, but right next to a great beach. The owners have a boutique beach cottage thing going on. I have a porch with a table and 2 chairs where I sit in the morning anytime between 8:30-9:45 and they bring me breakfast. It overlooks a garden and the room is cute as pie. The only BUT, and I emphasize BUT, is that there's no toilet in the room. It has a shower and wash basin, but no toilet. It's not far, but not in the room. It was the last room left, and I couldn't pass the place up, so I went for it.
After I checked in, I wandered into the old town with dirty laudry in tow. You know when you can't stand the smell anymore when you're alone, it's time to do laundry. It may or may not be ready in the next 5 days. We'll see. 
I had a late lunch outside, but still managed to get my wine in. I watched an amazing sunset on the water and took a long walk around the walled city that ran along the water. At some point it was time for another meal and I found a great hidden Italian restaurant and had yet another great meal. After being overstuffed, I enjoyed a leisurely walk home along the water to my great little beach cottage.
I woke up in the morning refreshed and anxious for breakfast on my patio. After getting my sustenance for the day, I headed off to take a cliff walk I read about near Plage de la Garoupe. It was a 
beautiful day and I took an amazing walk along a rocky path, practically on top of the water. Not filled with enough sunshine yet, I figured I had to do as the French do, and go to a beach club. You pay a fee to sit on a nice patio chair with cushions on the waterfront. They even had a kids free zone, which you can imagine, I was all over. I had a great day sunning myself, reading and writing. And of course enjoyed a meal and some wine.
Not sure how it'd be possible to top that, but I read about a great spot to view the sunset. I climbed up this hill late in the day to find an absolutely amazing sunset over the South of France. I'm happy as can be, but it's getting time for dinner. About a 15 minute walk from my place is Juan le Pin, which has a hopping nightlife and lots of outdoor cafes. I ventured there and had a great meal outside. Performers were doing flips and acrobatics throughout the meal on the street the restaurant faced. Lots of lively bars and clubs everywhere, but I reached my maximum contentment and headed home to get ready for the next adventure.
I had my final meal on my patio and took a final walk along the water before bidding adieu to Antibes. It was time to drive to the final stop on the trip, Villefranche sur Mer. Naturally the trip included a few added stops to remind me that I was driving in a foreign country. I did eventually find the hotel and then went to
nearby Cap Ferrat - Plage de Passable for another amazing cliff walk along the water. It was a great walk, but it was then time to meet up with some friends who were joining me for the final leg of the journey.
Damian, a friend of mine from my England college program, met me for drinks at a wine bar right across from the water. We caught up before meeting up with Danika and her boyfriend Keith for dinner. We dined outside overlooking the water. Lots of friendly people around and a great meal. After dinner we went for a beer at a nearby bar and then said goodnight.
We met in our hotel for breakfast the next morning and planned our day's events. We drove the Middle Corniche (one of 3 picturesque roads that connects the end of the French coast) to Monaco. We stopped in Eze along the way. You can drive right by Eze and never know it, but if you find the path up a little hill off the road, there's almost a Disneylike enchanted village hidden away. There are cobblestone walkways that have cute shops and galleries shooting off in every direction. There's an absolutely stunning hotel here that we agree we must return to at some point in our lives.
We continued on to our final destination of Monaco. We wandered around all the amazing yachts and shops. You can see all the money in the area, but I honestly found the place pretty soul-less. The water is beautiful, but the buildings and city lacked any real character to me. Damian and I decided to go into the casino in Monte Carlo. They have pretty strict rules about attire and need to take you passport information when you enter. We did some gambling and I must say, I came out a big winner. First bottle of wine with dinner was on me.
Our final meal was at a nice restaurant right on the water, La Mere Germaine. We had a few drinks after dinner and then it was time to pack up and leave France.
I left the next day and was sad to leave such a beautiful place, but it was probably time to sober up and start fitting more comfortably into my clothes again. Au Revoir!
