janT

Just thought you all might like to know we are back, and had a GREAT time! Here's a quick rundown of our doings while there, as well as impressions.

Of course, it was beautiful, as expected, but I must say, way too overcrowded for our taste. Had it not been for the fact that we had free points to stay at the Noga Hilton in Cannes (which was very nice, BTW), we never would have opted for Cannes as a base for our stay. We're much more inclined to stay at a quaint little spot in a village. This is just to let you know our mindset. But Cannes was certainly interesting! The people watching aspect of it almost made the daily fight with the traffic worthwhile! And we had some great meals, just all VERY expensive. Didn't help that the dollar value is so low right now.

Basically, we got the heck out of Dodge every day. First day we went into the Vence area, all the way around it (our favorite perched village visits that day were to St. Jeannet, le Broc and Bouyon), and ended up in St. Paul at the end of the day for dinner. We did not make a reservation for La Colombe d'Or, but lucked into a very nice waiter who seated us without one(we were about 20 minutes early for dinner, which I'm sure helped the luck factor), and celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in style...fabulous meal!

Next day we drove the Esterel all the way to Frejus where we saw some interesting Roman ruins and had a drink. Nice town. Although the drive had some beautiful spots, it was waaay too crowded with people and auto traffic for our taste. So the next day we hit the road towards Provence. We were going to go to Aix but decided against it. We went on to Orange instead. There are two fabulous Roman ruins there, if that interests you (which it does us), and we enjoyed that immensely. Not a pretty town, but it was worth the trip for the ruins. I must say, we were not particularly impressed with the countryside after all we'd heard about the beauty of Provence. We agreed that Tuscany has it all over Provence, no matter the time of year. Tuscany just seems to have more charm.

Then we hit the road for a day in the mountains above Monaco (which we opted to skip) at the Italian border. This was probably our favorite part of the trip. The villages of Breil-sur-Roya (fabulous), Fontan, and La Brigue were intriging as well as beautiful. They're remote enough to be untouched for the most part. And what territory! It made for a great (if hair-raising) auto ride! The church of Notre-Dame-des-Fontaines was one of the highlights of our trip.

Last day we spent driving through Juan-les-Pins and Antibes (where we had a great lunch), a stop at the Picasso museum in Vallauris, then on to the Molinard perfume factory in Grasse (which could certainly be better marked with direction signs), picked up some souvenirs and a little something for moi, and had wonderful service in their shop (we skipped the tour).

All in all, a great trip. And thank you to all the postings here. We incorporated bits and pieces of your offerings, and it was very helpful. Thank you all again!

AllyPally

Wow! Thanks for the report.. I'm going in 3 weeks - how was the weather? We also have a reservation at the Colombe D'Or so thanks for the thumbs up!!

Ally

jmv

Thanks for a great report. Nice idea to post it as a separate report and also put it as a response on the old thread where you asked questions and got responses from so many who thereby helped you plan it.

janT

Hi, AllyPally. Have a great time! It was basically very hot, and will probably be hotter by the time you get there. Getting up away from the coast and into the mountains helps. But we had nothing but dry, sunny weather, gorgeous blue skies, and my understanding from my readings is that this is typical for this time of year. Hot, dry, hardly any rain. Where are you staying?

AllyPally

Well, it's a toss up between Le Grimaldi or La Perouse in Nice. The advantage of La Perouse is that it has a sea view. But Le Grimaldi is soooo much cheaper and looks just as nice. I was torn between staying in Cannes, Nice or Monaco but opted for Nice since we won't be renting a car and I hear that Nice has good connections to everywhere. Also, I like art and want to visit some of the museums. I basically want some sea and sun plus culture and good food, all packed into 3 days...!

janT

AllyPally, I think you will get your wish. Have a great trip!

adrienne

Hi Jan,

I was so excited to read your trip report and find someone else who has been to Notre-Dame-des-Fontaines. Isn't it a fabulous chapel in the middle of nowhere with no other sightseers. I stayed in Peillon and had the opportunity to see another chapel, albeit a small one, frescoed by the same artists as Notre Dame.

I feel the true beauty of that area and the feel of France lies away from the coast, in the small towns that few explore.

So glad you had a great trip.

adrienne

RonZ

Last trip we took an enjoyable drive up to St Agnes...above Menton, it is the highest coastal village in Europe. Luckily there was a wine festival that day. Music was pumped throughout the village and people were dancing in the square.

Nice to hear about the guard rails from janT...careening down the side of a mountain in a mass of burning wreckage is not my idea of how to end a vacation.

janT

RonZ, I had so hoped we could fit in a trip to St. Agnes, since you had suggested it from my other post. Sounded wonderful. Maybe next time.

As for the guardrails, our point of comparison was the fact that the drive up the Cinque Terre provides one with absolutely NO guard, whatsoever, which was absolutely petrifying at times. Though much worse I think for the passenger than the driver, who must remain focused on the road (and the oncoming traffic on an often times one-laned passageway) and not the sheer drop beside them! The other fact about the road in France was that there was very little narrowing to one lane. It's a much wider road than the Cinque Terre, and frankly, many of the mountain pass roads in Italy. We surmised than the tourist dollar is so high in this area of France that it gets very adequate attention. But you'd think the same for that area of Italy, also.

Whatever the reason, we were just happy to have the guardrail, if for nothing more than psychological support!

BTilke

Did you drive around Sophia-Antipolis at all? I've just started reading Super Cannes, the potboiler that takes place in Sophia-Antipolis (it has a pseudonum in the book).

mp413

janT, I am thinking of visiting this area in August and had a few specific questions. I am eager to stay OUTSIDE of the larger cities (Nice, Cannes) and stay in villages, and was wondering if you remember any specific inns, or the names of nice towns with accomodations? Also, did you rent a car in France, and if so, could you give me some of the details (where you rented it, cost)? thanks so much!

capo

Re: "Then we hit the road for a day in the mountains above Monaco (which we opted to skip) at the Italian border. This was probably our favorite part of the trip. The villages of Breil-sur-Roya (fabulous), Fontan, and La Brigue were intriging as well as beautiful. They're remote enough to be untouched for the most part."

A few years ago, in October, I spent about a week driving to hilltowns in the mountains in the area from Nice to Menton. I think my favorite drive was going up the Roya river valley, through Breil-sur-Roya, to Saorge. There weren't a tremendous amount of fall colors but those that existed, such as on vine maples, were gorgeous. Unfortunately, I never made it La Brigue or Tende, two towns which sounded wonderful, but Saorge, an Italianesque amphitheater-like town hugging a mountainside, made up for that. Did you happen to stop there?

Another very nice river town, quite a bit west of the Roya valley, is Sospel.

janT

Let me try to respond to everyone. Yes, we loved Notre Dame des Fontaine, Adrienne. Quite a find. As for car rental, mp413, my husband had some free rental points with Hertz, so we got a nice little deisel BMW wagon that we picked up at the Nice airport, no problems. We've also rented (in Italy, though they are all over Europe) from Europcar. I did the whole thing online last year and got a great rate. Check them out. It went very smoothly. Speaking of driving, the A8, which is the main expressway through that area, has tolls every 10-20 miles. We probably accrued at least $50-75 worth of toll fees, but keep in mind we did a lot of traveling. Still, it adds up.

Also, as for names of hotels or inns in smaller areas, I'm sorry to say I did not write anything down, but we had an afternoon drink at a sweet little spot in St. Jeannet (near Vence) that we commented would be a great place to base out of. Sort of centrally located. If my husband remembers the name, I'll post it.

And yes, capo, we did hit Saorge, and it was gorgeous, though we only spent about 15 minutes there and did not walk up into the town. We also went to La Brigue where there is one large church and 2 chapels (15th and 17th century), which we thought pretty fascinating for such a small village. Those early Christians were serious! And we hit Sospel on our drive back. But by that point my husband was at the nervous wreck point (good thing we had a little wine left from lunch!), and I took over driving.

And Sophia-Antipolis? Don't recall that. Where is it, BTilke?

RonZ

Sophia-Antipolis is near Cannes, a little southeast of Valbonne.

cigalechanta

thanks jan! I was particularly interested in your dinner at the Colombe DÓr because I will be staying there and someone a few days ago didn't think the food was very good but now you, and others on a French forum have raved about the dinner which makes me happy.Did you get to look at the art?
Is César's thumb still there? And the Calder mobile?

capo

Thanks, Jan. Nice to hear you found Saorge as gorgeous as I did, and that you visited Sospel as well.

janT

No, we did not go through Sophia-Antipolis, though I now see where it is on the map. And no again, I'm sorry to say we did not get to see the paintings at Colombe d'Ore (it was so late by the time we finished dinner, we really needed to hit the road), but the thumb is most definitely still there!! .

RonZ

Nice about the thumb, but what about the menu?

janT

The food was fabulous, RonZ, but you pay the price for all that attention and ambience (which is abundant). My husband had a fresh fig, melon and proscuitto-type appetizer, which was great (special that night), and I ordered crudites, thinking that would be a nice, light appetizer. It became the joke of our trip. They brought me a large basket with cleaned, but not cut, fresh vegetables. Now maybe this is a common presentation in France, but I had never seen anything like it before. I actually had a raw baby artichoke, whole, in that basket...what do you do with a raw artichoke?? But the other items were very tasty, even if they did require a little manuevering to eat. It was actually pretty fun, even if it was labor-intensive, and certainly provided us great entertainment! (BTW, I wasn't alone as I saw several tables with said baskets...wonder what they all thought??)

As for the main course, we each had fish, which was perfectly prepared, and fileted tableside, and delicious. Don't recall exactly what. Dessert was mixed sorbet, fabulous. There were several tempting offerings on the menu, though I can't recall exactly what. Great fish options. Just ALL rather expensive. We walked away with a $200 plus tab (in dollars) and had had a glass of champagne each and a bottle and one half of wine, appetizers each, main course and dessert. Not cheap. But worth it.

luv2go

janT--I just booked a free room at the Noga Hilton, so we will use that as our base as well. How was the Hilton, BTW? I figure for free for 6 nights, even with some flaws, it can't be beat! I have heard it it somewhat tacky, but hey, its free. Did you do the drive the Orange all in one day? It seems rather far for a day trip.

Did you use the pool or beach at the Hilton? Besides a few days of 'touring' I want to hang out, relax and people watch, etc--Did they give you a yucky room since it was on a reward stay?

Thanks!