Cinque Terre...............June 10

Woke up to beautiful weather so we took the train from Levanto to Monterosso - the first of the 5 Cinque Terre villages. Took the ferry all the way down to Porto Venere and the trip round the three islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto - really enjoyed these as we had not been here before. Hopped off at Manarola for lunch at the restaurant we went to on our last trip with Peregrine - just as good. Decided to come back again tomorrow and revisit Santa Margherita and Portofino so we took the train back to Levanto and drove to Monterosso to spend the night. What a magical day!

Ann

Italy - tunnels and more tunnels...........June 9

Ciao

Stayed in a little place just outside of Nice for an early start on the A8 to Genoa - gorgeous scenery on the way despite the weather being overcast. Genoa is a huge city - we were driving through late on a Sunday morning and not a car space to be found - paid or otherwise - so we kept driving. Stopped in Rapallo for a spot of lunch when the skies opened with a crashing thunderstorm and this set the pattern for the rest of the day. Spent the night in Levanto and if the weather cleared overnight we would take the train to Cinque Terre - just have to go back to that beautiful part of the world. 

Arrivederci

Ann

Au revoir from France

Reluctantly we are leaving our little haven in the mountains - we have had a wonderful relaxing time here and met so many people giving us much advice on the rest of our trip through Italy. We will stay here till after lunch and then head down south (instead of our original north to avoid the snow) to Nice and take the motorway to Genoa. We saw Nice and Monaco in gorgeous weather in 2011 so sadly we will bypass them this time - there is always so much more to see.

Just a quick update - Gary was lazing by the pool while I was on the internet earlier today when the 3 local donkeys wandered into the village - smelt my fresh baguette - chased me for a few hundred metres when I escaped into the pool area. I wasn't aware at the time that they were friendly. The scene provided entertainment for everyone nearby - albeit at my expense!

  So it's "Au revoir" from me in France and it will be "ciao" from my next blog in Italy.

Ann

Puget Theniers - day of relaxation

Beautiful day today - a thunderstorm just missed us in the late afternoon. Gary swam and lazed by the pool while I replanned the next stage of our trip - I had us travelling towards Turin in the mountains but locals in the resort tell us there will be snow and it will not be passible without chains and that is something we are definitely not going to tackle. We will instead go south to Nice and take the motorway round the coast into Italy along the Italian Riveria to Genoa.

The pool at our camp site

 

One of the 3 donkeys in the surrounding mountains

- what a noise they make in the mornings! 

Our cute little neighbour - she is from Belgium

Ann

A beautiful drive in the mountains

Another beautiful day today - off to the mountains - the scenery changed dramitically from fields of poppies and lavender to winding roads, high mountains, aqua blue rivers and the first of many more to come - tunnels. We can add another first to our list of paragliding in Lima, hot air ballooning in Kenya, Icebar in Oslo - now a 5* naturist village in Puget Theniers in France just outside the gorgeous medieval village of Entrevaux. A truly beautiful setting tucked away in the mountains with wonderful views. We will stay here 2 nights  and go for short walks in the area.

  

Entrevaux

View from our motorhome site

A day of truly stunning mountain scenery.

Ann

Avignon - City of Popes.............Jun 5

Avignon has over 5000 years of history and we saw a tiny bit of it in a mere 4 hours today. Its famous bridge -Saint Benezet Bridge was built in the XIIth century and Avignon was the choice of the papacy in the XIVth century - it then became the capital of the Christian world, drawing the best architects and artists who left their indelible influence, changing the face of the city forever. We walked 2k to the cross river shuttle to take us to town - then up 200 steps to a beautiful Doms Gardens overlooking the town and the Rhone River. Had a lovely walk round town via the enormous Gothic Palace, Palace of the Popes. Had a bite of lunch in a little cafe off the Place de L'Horloge and wandered back to the boat to take us back home. Caught up on some overdue landry and headed out late afternoon - stayed in the village of Oppede only 40k away. We were surrounded by a family of cats - 6 in all - 3 of them tortoiseshell. We were popular - they could obviously smell our dinner of our prawns and calamari - Gary actually sacrified 2 calamari rings for them! Thinking of Dad - would have been 86 today - he would have enjoyed seeing our newfound family as well.

Ann

Pont du Gard to Avignon

Visited the famous Pont du Gard first thing this morning -  an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gardon River. It is part of the Nimes aqueduct, a 50 km-long structure built by the Romans to carry water from a spring at Uzes to the Roman colony. Built in the 1st century AD, the Pont du Gard is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and is the best preserved. The bridge has three tiers of arches, standing 48m high.An amazing site to see as close distance - we felt dwarfed by its size.

A Top Deck bus was in the carpark - had a talk to them to see if it was Susie's group - the young chap said he did his training with her last year and that Susie had left today for Paris at the start of a 50 day trip - good luck to her for a trip that long with 40+ 18-35 year olds!

These avenues of trees line many of the backroads

We only travelled a short distance today to Avignon but the scenery again was of vineyards and orchards - this time cerise (cherries to you Aussies) - bought some from a roadside stall - very tasty.

 

 

  

Tomorrow we are off to explore Avignon - its ancient streets, restored mediaeval ramparts and the immense Gothic architecture of the Palais des Papes (Palace of Popes—the papacy was based here in the 14th century).Will also be looking for a hairdresser - in desperate need of a trim (Karen I need you!)

Ann