Hike to Mont Bastide

This is one of the most accessible and flexible hikes around Nice. It allows for a short hike to a great viewpoint, or a more sportive three-hour hike, and a few hikes in between. Mont Bastide is the mountain that is just before Eze. When you pass over the bridge to Eze, your back is to Mont Bastide; the bridge joins Mont Bastide to Eze. Here’s the hikes that are possible to Mont Bastide.

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Roquebrune, Cote d’Azur

I have been trying to visit Roquebrune, (a hillside village above Cap Martin and overlooking Monaco) for some time, but every time we had gone the traffic, parking and crowds had been overwhelming so we chose to pass and try again another time. Well, it is November and there are usually not as many tourists around at this time of year, and as it was a beautiful day, I decided to give it another shot.

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Walks & Hikes of the Cote d’Azur

The Conseil General Alpes Maritimes publish a number of booklets (available online as well) that describe many of the walks and hikes that can be discovered enjoyed along the Cotes d’Azur. We’ve been enjoy many over the past few years, and below are some of our favorites. There are 60 in total in three books; Pays Cotier, Moyen Pays, Haut Pays. If I’ve written previously about it, a link is included. “A” means they are from the first book (closest to the coastline walks) and the number signifies the number of the hike in their book. They are rated as Easy, Medium, Difficult and Sportive.

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Historical Monaco Grand Prix

This may actually be a more fun event than the actual Grand Prix. Three days in May of watching old racing cars race on the actual Grand Prix track, a couple of weeks before the real event takes place. Races take place between old racing cars dating back to the 40s, racing against each other, and moving up into the late 70s. It is quite something to see how the styles of the cars, how they are driven and how then handle the course evolve over this 40 years period. And how the sound level evolves as well!

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Visit to Coaraze

Last week we rented a scooter at the port and headed north into the hills behind Nice. The weather was perfect with blue skies and still not cold, at least where the sun was shining. In the deep valleys it got quite cold and we were glad we decided to take our leather jackets with us. We headed up the valley from Nice on 2204 and took the D15 in the direction of Contes. Not much to see up to this point, gets more interesting after Coaraze.

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Sailing on the Manitou

In April of this year we had a very special opportunity when asked by our friends Argie and Pat to join them for a day on the bay of Cannes on Pat’s classic 64-foot racing sailing boat the Manitou. Each summer Pat and his partners enter the Manitou into about 14 classic boat sailing regattas that take place in different ports around the Mediterranean. This was to be a first cruise for the upcoming season, to see just how ready the boat was. Although sailing conditions were not ideal, it was great to be out on the bay on such a beautiful boat and to get a glimpse on just how the boat can perform. After sailing for awhile we anchored in between the island of Saint Marguerite and Saint Honorat for lunch and a little wine, before heading it back to port ahead of the incoming rains.

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Back to Auron

We returned to Auron in mid’ February of 2013, but this time to ski not just to visit. We arrived on a Monday and it had been snowing all the night before and continued all the way up. We took the bus, which was a good idea as there were a lot of cars along the side of the road, and we reached Auron in 2.5 hours. When it cleared up in the afternoon we had more than 15 cm. of new snow on the hill. We took an afternoon pass (US$20), and enjoyed fresh power and sunshine. The next day they opened the other side of the mountain; so more fresh powder and even more sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky by mid’ afternoon.

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