Principality of Andorra


Stage One: Andorra is an interesting country that is situated in the Pyrenees, in between France and Spain. Actually it isn’t a country but a principality, something like Monaco, with the princes of Andorra being whoever happens to be the head of France at the time, and the Bishop of Urgell in Spain. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe, having an area of 500 km2 and a population of only 85,000. The capital, Andorra la Vella, is the highest capital city in Europe at an elevation of 1,023 meters. And that’s the low point of the country; this is a country of mountains and valleys, and very few plateaus. 

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A Week in Provence

We enjoy not making any decision as to where we may be traveling until the last minute, something easy to do out of Nice. This is especially so in the spring and fall when the weather can be hit and miss. So we don’t make  reservations, (usually not a problem at this time of the year), but wait until a day or two before to see what the weather is like in a few different places, miles apart from one another. We were considering Beaujolais for the wine festival, Cinq Terre to explore an area of Italy we hadn’t seen yet, or the area around Marseille. Marseille won out. Looked very cold with a lot of snow north of Lyon, with some people without electricity because of the snow. And in Italy it was raining.

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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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Gorge du Verdon and Other Canyons

We decided it was time to finally check out what everyone had been telling us, or what we’d been reading about, the Gorge du Verdon. And as it was late October and all the leaves would be turning color, we rented a care for the weekend ad made a reservation at a small chalet nearby. We left Nice on the A8 and got off at the Grasse exit and started heading northwest on D6185. This took us through Grasse and onto the “Route du Napoleon” on D6185, which was a scenic drive that climbed up to the small village of Castellane and one of the entries to the Verdon Gorge. Before heading in, however we had lunch in the village (not bad, Coq au Vin and a terrine).

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L’Isle de Noirmoutier

Noirmoutier is an island off the coast of France, in the Atlantic, just below Nantes and Brittany. We vacation here frequently as there’s a summer cottage of the family in a small town, Herbaudiere, at the far end of the island beside the port. The island is flat. So flat that at times with the combination of a high tide and a storm, at times the ocean has made its way completely over the island. It is just 12 miles long and only 4 miles at its widest beam.

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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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Istanbul, Turkey

On our way back from Bodrum we stayed in Istanbul for a few days. This was when protests had been going on for two weeks in Taksim Square over a park that is supposedly going to be turned into a shopping center and parking lot. Seems this was the “hair that broke the camel’s back”, as the protests grew into anger over what some of the Turkish people see as Prime Minister Erdrogan’s strong Islamic position that he is trying to bring more into what has been mostly a secular country up to now. On the Saturday when we left the army came in with water guns and pepper spray and ousted all the people from the park who had been camping there. I don’t think this is the end of it though.

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Bodrum, Turkey Sailing Trip

After our Cappadocia trip, we flew back to Istanbul, catching quickly another domestic flight that took us to Bodrum on the southern coast of Turkey. We arrived at lunch time and met up with our hosts, Jack & Yvonne, at the boat. The boat is a wonderful 70 ft motor sailboat, a copy of the German-made Jongert, a boat that Jack has admired for many years. When he saw it for sale last September in Bodrum, he bought it that same day. Very spacious, especially with deck space, making it more comfortable cruising than your traditional monohull sailboat. This would end up actually end up being more of a “motoring” than a “sailing” trip, as there were adjustments still needed to be made to the sails, and the the mizzen’s mast was cracked and needed to be repaired. But that didn’t stop us from having a good time!

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