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).
For the past three weekends we’ve been visiting difference towns close to Nice but that are up in the mountains. This weekend we headed northeast and visited three towns; Peillon, Peille, St. Agnes and nearly made it to Gorbio. The drive is amazing, with great view points, a lot of hair-pin turns as you climb and some very narrow roads hanging, barely it seems, from the mountainside. You certainly need to keep your eye on the road! These towns are a little off the beaten path of the tourism circuit, like St. Paul de Vence or Eze, so there are less people around and tens to be less “Disneylandyish” – meaning people still live and work there like they have for hundreds of years.
We spent the past Sunday exploring the numerous small towns that are nestled in the hills behind Nice and Antibes. These hilltops towns, in many cases medieval, have been wonderfully restored, each with their unique characteristics and charm as they look out over the Mediterranean Sea. A number are part of affiliations such as the “Most Beautiful Villages of France”, and rightly deserve it. Each of these towns do not take long to walk, but they also offer many interesting shops, galleries and exhibits you should take time to explore. They are often not far from one another, so you can visit and explore a number of them in a day.
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.
One of the most beautiful drives in North America is between Banff and Jasper, in British Columbia, called the Icefields Parkway. Spectacular mountain range that offers plenty of incredible viewpoints. We were blessed with great weather during the whole trip.
We’ve got a photo in here of Clearwater, which isn’t along this route, but we started our trip in the Okanagan, headed north through Kamloops, over to Jasper, down to Banff, and then through the Kootenays, returning to the Okanagan. About a 12-day trip.
Places to see:
Peyto Lake: Just off the Parkway and a short walk up to a incredible viewpoint of the lake.
Moraine Lake and Lodge: Just beautiful. Great, although a workout, trail along the left side of the lake to a high viewpoint (photo below of the lodge was taken from there. Great for canoeing and lots of trails.
Maligne Canyon Trail: Very nice walk along the canyon, incredible viewpoints.
Athabasca Falls: Along the Parkway.
Johnston Canyon Trail: Beautiful, great walk/hike, but as most places, get there early to beat the crowds.
Today we checked out from the Auberge du Vin and headed north towards Ardeche. We took the D70 out of Mazan to Caromb. In Caromb we turned west on D55 (lovely drive) to Aubignon, then D7 northward. A quick stop in Aubignon, which was okay, but much preferred Seguret, on next stop. Seguret is situated on a hillside just off of D7, you can’t miss it traveling up the highway, on your right. Small and quaint and clean, we enjoyed walking its narrow streets, up to the church and the chateau. Wonderful views looking back towards the Rhone river.
After Seguret we continued on D7 to Vaison-la-Romaine, which was definitely worth visiting. The town is divided into two parts by the river that flows through a narrow gorge, with just a narrow bridge, dating back to the time of the Romans, to connect the two together. The southern part would be the original medieval town whose streets wind their way up to a chateau at the top of the hill.
On the northern side is the more modern part of Vaison, but just as lovely with narrow pedestrian streets, and a large plaza lined with restaurants and cafes.
After Vaison we continued north, in search of lavender fields. Its a little early in the year for lavender, but we heard there were some fields near Vinsobre, so that’s where we headed. And we were in luck! One field was blooming and we found out way up to it and took a few photos.
From there we headed west crossed the Rhone river, to the Ardeche Gorge and river. An amazing drive with some incredible scenic and photographic viewpoints along the way.
Provence consists of three departements: Bouches-du-Rhone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and thirdly Vaucluse, which is the region we were about to visit and tour. Within Vaucluse there are also three sub-regions, called Luberon, Mont Ventoux and Avignon and we did our best to get in a little bit of all three.
We left Avignon and headed south to Cavaillon, passing through, taking highway D2 towards Menerbes. This was beginning of our tour through small Provencal villages until we made our way to our stay at Auberge du Vin just outside of Carpentras. Wonderful countryside, a lovely drive and numerous hilltop villages to stop at and walk through, such as Menerbes, La Coste, Bonnieux, Gordes and Venasque. All cute and quaint, but Gordes stands out and is really quite something to see from the viewpoint when you arrive from the south on D2. And you will immediately know you are getting close to Gordes because of the unique walls or fences along the highway made solely of rock, flat, shale-like rock, starting with them placed horizontally up to about three meters, and then a top row placed vertically. Very unique.
On our third day in Bretagne we headed further north close to the town of Morlaix, to a chateau called Chateau du Bois de la Roche, near Garlan and a few minutes outside of Morlaix.
On the way we first visited the coast taking D887 out of Port Launay to Camaret-sur-Mer. This is a rugged coastline with a lighthouse out on a point. There’s numerous trails to take and worth doing. If you drive right out to the point of Camaret there is parking and you’ll find the trail. Be careful with your footing in some of the areas!
After that we continued on E60 and on the way we turned off before Brest to visit Landerneau. We were close to Brest but decided to skip it. Its rather large town, much of it new as it was bombed quite a bit during WWII, so we decided on Landerneau instead. Landerneau is actually quite similar to Quimper. We enjoyed walking its old town streets, lined with well-preserved half-timbered buildings.
We continued on to the Chateau to get checked in and take a nap. The Chateau is owned by a German who bought the chateau with his wife some years before. Unfortunately shortly the purchase of the chateau she died of cancer. He now rents out rooms, helped out by his son, while he takes care of the large property. Our room was on the third floor, shared with two other rooms. They were empty, which means the common sitting area and the shared bathroom, were all for us to use. This is something to be aware of when taking a room at a Chateau; do you get your own bathroom? If not, do you mind sharing? We prefer our own, but forgot to ask this time. Fortunately it worked out for us.
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.
Florence, Tuscany, Duomo
Florence, Pont Vecchio
Florence and the Arno River, view from Ponte Vecchio
