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.
Montpellier didn’t do much for me. The hotel was stayed at, The Royal, was decent and the location was good. Its a short walk to the train station and the main square of La Comedie. But there being so many wonderful towns in France, I felt this one lacking. I think if one is limited on time, skip Montpellier and move on to other towns, such as Aix-en-Provence and Avignon. It seems to be a town for young people, coming to life especially after 9PM. Been there, done that, moved on. But we did enjoy the small squares of plazas squeezed in amongst a few buildings, usually with shade from large trees; they are scattered throughout historic Montpellier. A nice shopping walk is ??? with its marbled walkways and high-end boutiques.
However if you are going to go, the Royal Hotel is a great place to stay, especially if you are arriving by train as it is so close to the station. Its also very close to the main plaza Comedia and all of historic Montpellier.
On the way up to Avignon we stopped in to Tavel, having heard so much about its rosé. Not much to the town, except the Caveau San Vicente which has samples from 27 local wineries, and a cooperative store at the beginning of town where you can sample its wines. Personally, we prefer the lighter rosés of Provence. We purchased a few bottles, but felt they were too close to reds, and if we want a red, we’ll drink a red. So unless you are a really big fan of Tavel wines, not really worth the stop.
Palais des Papes
Plaza in front of the Palais des Papes
View of Avignon Cathedral from the Palais des Papes
The Rhone river, Saint-Benezet bridge and the Palais des Papes (right)
Plaza in front of the Hotel de Ville, lined with restaurants and cafes
We arrived in the afternoon to Annecy, after driving up from the Ardeche region. Beautiful day with lots of people on the beach of the lake, the shoreline walkway or walking the streets of the old town. What a place! We liked it immediately and it just go better as we found our hotel and check in. The Hotel du Palais de L’Isle is in the middle of old town, perhaps the most photographed place, next to the prison. And our room was the only one with a balcony overlooking the canal and prison. Lovely spot and probably the best room. For our first time here, I can’t think of a better spot to be or room to have.
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.
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.
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
