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Since we’ve been back I’ve been getting in a lot of biking while waiting for the ocean to warm up. The weather has been exceptionally cold in the evenings in Nice, so the ocean is especially cold for this time of the year. Even biking early in the morning it can be a little chilly so I’ve been going out with a sweater overtop of my biking outfit.
Continue reading “Bike Ride to the Grande Corniche Park”
After a couple of weeks in the Algarve, primarily the Carvoeiro region, we drove east to Seville, Spain, about two hours away. The old town of Seville is quite something, like a maze that at first can be quite intimidating as the streets are so narrow and windy that it is difficult to know where you are or if you are going in the direction you want to be. I highly recommend using GPS at first, as a map doesn’t help much as not all the streets are labelled. And, they seem to change their name every few hundred yards!
Continue reading “Weekend in Seville”
In the Algarve, our favorite area is around Carvoeiro, a bench of high land between the towns of Albufeira and Portomao, which offers rolling hills on a an elevated coastline, and an amazing oceanfront with spectacular cliffs, grottos, caves and picturesque beaches. In between the town of Carvoeiro and the beach of Marinha, there is a coastal path one could never tire from walking. We did it in stages, so that we could walk back to our car each time. The walk is posted as medium-difficult, stretches just under 12 km and to walk it all at once would take about six hours.
Continue reading “Carvoeiro Coastal Walk”
After a couple of visits to the Algarve this past fall, we began looking at real estate opportunities as we are considering a full-time move to Europe and the Algarve really has a lot to offer, at least for our lifestyle. It did not take us long to find a few properties we liked, two that were in the same development near Carvoeiro.
Continue reading “Real Estate in the Algarve”
After an amazing winter season in Mexico, (one of the best weather seasons we can remember), we are back in the south of France and quickly acquainting ourselves with the venues and activities we most enjoy here. For me it means getting back into biking, with trips to places like La Turbie, Roquebrune (which I’ve previously written about so won’t mention anymore about them), the Monte Carlo golf club up and above Monaco, and a new trip to La Revere.
Continue reading “Back to the Cote d’Azur…”
Someone once described Piemonte to me as being “Tuscany without the Tourists“. And, to a degree, that is true, they are similar in many ways and there are less tourists. But what people really enjoy about Tuscany – the rolling landscape, the meandering country roads, the wine, the food and the medieval villages – can be also be found in Piemonte, especially the region around Alba, and for a lot less money.
Continue reading “Weekend in Alba, Piemonte”
I’ve been enjoying getting out by bike and exploring some of the small villages up behind Nice. Last week was west to Cagnes sur Mer, and over the weekend I went north up to Peille.
Continue reading “Bike Ride to Peille”
In the early fall of this year we made two one-week trips down to southern Portugal, the “Algarve” as it is most commonly known, to become familiar with the region. We have close friends from Canada that are serious about buying down there and moving over for a few years, and so they wanted to find the area that was best suited for them, and then start house hunting. As those are two of our favorite past times, we joined in on the search. They did find a home, and we may just might have found one for ourselves as well, as we really enjoyed our time in the Algarve.
Continue reading “Exploring Southern Portugal”
In mid’ June we decided to drive north to the small town of Barcelonette, situated high in the French Alps, about a three-hour drive from Nice. Our decision was based primarily on the strong relationship this town, or region, has had with Mexico since the early 19th century. Many people from here immigrated to Mexico; there’s not a family that did not have someone who went, and those that did, many did extremely well, returning years later very affluent and building elaborate mansions on the outskirts of town.
Continue reading “Journey to Barcelonette”
Evora is a town which was once encircled by fortress walls, although little of it is visible now. In its place is a road, a “periferico”, around the town. It is not large, quite easily walkable throughout, through a maze of streets that can make it difficult to know exactly where you are at times. But small enough to quickly become easy to find your way around and back to the hotel.
Part IV of our Central Portugal Tour. (Part III is here)
Continue reading “Evora (Days 5-6 of Central Portugal Tour)”