Category: Europe

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San Remo-San Lorenzo Bike Path

Along the Ligurian coastline of Italy, just east of Nice, there’s a wonderful oceanside bike route that has been created from a previously removed train track path. This old coastal railway track operated in the nineteenth century and linked the Riviera to northern Europe, from Genoa to Ventimiglia, but was abandoned in 2001 and moved further inland. It currently runs 24 km from San Remo to San Lorenzo however it is a work in progress and when finished it will provide 70 km of great biking riding. For those who enjoy casual bike rides on flat surfaces, it’s a great excursion for everyone in the family.

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Sunday in Ventimiglia, Italy

It’s become a bit of a tradition now, when in Nice on a Friday and not much else is planned, to take the train over to Ventimiglia, an Italian town on the coast just on the other side of the border and about a 1/2 hour from Nice. It is quite a large market that meanders along the coastal boardwalk, featuring clothing, leather goods, scarfs and shoes at one and food booths at the other. We usually always stock up on parmesan cheese (try the samples to get the one that you like best) and wonderful salami sausages. I think it’s a decent market and enjoy going. But do avoid it in the summer months, there’s just way too many people.

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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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A visit to Torino, Italy

Torino (or Turin) is surrounded by the Alps by 300 degrees, situated in the large valley of Piedmonte with the river Po runs through the middle of it. Whereas Paris and even more so in Rome, it’s easy to get lost in the streets, or find yourself walking in circles, not so in Torino. The terrain is flat and the streets are laid out in a grid, broken up by magnificent plazas ordained by beautiful buildings, and a few diagonal streets leading off from the Madama Palace. This makes it very easy to get around and certainly not get lost. There is little in the way of greenery in the central part of Torino – a lot of rock, marble and brick. It is a clean city, with numerous pedestrian streets, especially via Roma, the main street of Torino.

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Road Trip: Nice to Torino, Italy

We had three trips planned for the second week of November, each depending on what the weather was going to be like. Either we’d fly to Naples (cheap EasyJet flights out of Nice) and explore the Amalfi Coast, drive east along the Liturgia Coast, or go northeast to Piedmonte in Northern Italy. On Monday morning the weather looked best for Piedmonte so we rented a car, booked the hotel rooms and were off early Tuesday morning. We had already done our homework for all three destinations so we knew what we wanted to see and do.

NOTE: The Col de Tende road tunnel may be currently closed due to construction work, scheduled to open again in 2025.

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Bretagne: Part IV (Fougeres & Vitré)

Fougeres

Our travels today took us from Dol de Bretagne southeast to Fougeres and Vitré. Both are towns with chateaus and medieval castles, and some of the best examples of them in France. They are two of our favorites. It’s so difficult to have favorites in France, as there are so many wonderful French villages, but these two rank up at the top.

Fourgeres is divided into two, with a lower part encompassing a medieval castle and town, and the upper, more modern town of Fougeres. A good way to start is in the upper part of town and then work your way downwards to the castle. You can walk through the public gardens of Place aux Arbres, which features terrific views of the castle medieval town below, and features hundred different versions of ferns (Figueres translates to fern). As you go walk through the gardens by way of a footpath you’ll make your way to the lower part of town (actually more scenic as most of the upper town had burned down in a fire in the 18th century) and the castle. As always, grab a map at the tourism office.

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Ultimate Room Service at Manoir de la Begaudiere, Brittany

Room at Manoir de la Beguadiere

Our special in-room dinner service began with a wonderful massage for both of us, which was just what we needed after a long day of exploring medieval chateaus and towns in Brittany. It was followed by a fire lit in the large fireplace in our room, served with a demi-bouteille of champagne and appetizers. As the last sips of the champagne went down, the Manoir staff re-appeared to set up our table with salad plates, a bottle of Bordeaux and a wooden cutting board with a large raw coté de Boef steak and aluminum wrapped baked potatoes. They then set up a special grill in the fireplace and left us with instructions that when we were ready, to grill the steak five minutes each side and reheat the already baked potatoes. We followed the instructions shortly after and the end result was a fantastic dinner for two by the fire in our room. Quite something. Oh yes, almost forgot. Dessert were to small pots, individual-sized with an apple crisp topped with chocolate chunks. A few minutes on the grill and we had hot dessert to finish off an unforgettable dining experience at the Manoir de la Begaudiere.

Cooking dinner at Manoir de la Beguadiere

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Tuscany One-Week Tour

Piazza (Plaza) della Signora, Florence, Tuscany

In October of 2011 we visited Tuscany, first flying into Vienna for a few days and then taking the train over to Florence. We stayed in Florence for a couple of nights, then rented a car and drove down to Sienna on Highway SR222. This a beautiful drive with a number of places worth visiting along the way. From Siena we did side trip visits to Monteriggioni, Colle di Val d’Elsa, San Gimignano and Volterra. After a couple of days in Siena we drove down to Montepulciano, staying at a chateau just outside of the town, called Dionora. From here we visited Montepulciano, Pienza, San Quirico and Montalcino. A week was just about right, with three days in Florence, two days in Siena and two days near Montepulciano, to become quite familiar with Tuscany and discover which places we like best to come back for a longer visit. Here’s some of the things we recommend.

 

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Venice, Italy

We started our 2011 Tuscany trip with first a visit to Venice and ended it by driving down to Rome.

Venice is Venice. Nothing quite like it anywhere else and it should be on everyone’s bucket list. The problem with it being on everyone’s list is that it can be terribly crowded, and there isn’t a lot of room on some of those streets. Or I guess they aren’t streets but actually sidewalks and promenades.

If you go there, try to go when it is off-season, or as much off-season as Venice gets. Summer months, vacations times, school breaks and long weekends, check the calendar well before you make those reservations. We were there in early October and it was still crowded, but doable. We kept away from the main fairways as much as possible but even then, all we could think was, wow, if this is October, what is August like?

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