Our time in Nice has come to an end

10 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by johnyouden in Europe, France, Nice

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Nice Pano 1 After six years of living in Nice for close to six months of each year, our time is coming to an end. We’ve very much enjoyed the Cote d’Azur, and are not ruling out that we could be back sometime down the line as Nice just has so much to offer. The weather may be the best in Europe. The location, just next to Italy, with the Med in front and the foothills of the French Alps behind, is exceptional. There’s Old Town, the port, and amazing markets such as Saleya. Restaurants are wonderful and plentiful. The transportation system with the buses and trams works very well. The airport has more connections to the outside world, (136 direct-by-air destinations, at usually great rates, to places throughout Europe and elsewhere), except for perhaps Paris. The promenade is superb, as is the Pavillon park that runs through the middle of the city.

Most of our outdoor activities have involved walks, hikes, and biking. We’ve walked most of the coastal “sentier” trails along the Cote d’Azure, which I covered here and here and here. Once we had done those we started hiking up into the hills, which I covered here and here and here. When we were done with that we started biking, first along the coast and then up into the hills, which I covered here and here and here and here . And there are just so many great hilltop villages to visit, such as St. Paul de Vence, Gourdon, Eze, St. Agnes and so many more. In the winter (when we were in Europe) we went skiing in Auron or Valberg. Although we’ve done a lot, we’ve really just barely touched upon all that there is to do in and around Nice.

As our time was coming to an end, we had just started traveling outside of the Cote d’Azur by car, into Italy and Provence, short trips that that only took a few hours, and which I covered here and here and here and here.

We’ll miss our daily swims in the Med from late spring until early fall. Will definitely miss the fresh food markets and the many wonderful events held annually, such as the Nice Jazz Festival, Monaco Boat Show or Grand Prix.

But there’s a lot going on in Lisbon and we look forward to discovering all there is to do there. More of that to come…

Drone-Filmed Bike Ride to Forte Revere

21 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by johnyouden in Europe, France, Nice

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Cap Ferrat, Drone, Eze, Great Bike Rides, La Turbie, Monaco, Nice, Villefranche

This past winter I bought a drone (Mavic Pro) so I could update the aerial images we have on our MLS real estate website back in Mexico. On our return to Europe I brought the drone with me as I really wanted to film one of my favorite bike rides and take advantage of the “tracking” the drone can do. By that I mean you can launch the drone, select a target on the screen, (in this case, me on a bike), and it will follow you.

It can get complicated as I ended up being the producer, director, camera man and actor in this short film. After many takes, many false attempts, many days where filming was called off because of bad weather, I finally managed to shoot all the shots I wanted and then spent some time putting it all together in iMovie. Not the greatest program for working with film, but then I’m not the greatest film producer either. It does enough to get the job done and not get me in trouble.

There are so many great bike rides around Nice. Some I enjoy on my road bike, but this particular trip involves both on and off-road, so my Moustache Dimanche electric-assist was definitely the best call.

UPDATE:

I few people have asked how I used the drone to make this video.

Except for the first and last shots, (someone else did those for me. The drone could’ve done it but I refrain from flying it in the city), otherwise every other shot was done by the drone. For some shots, I put the drone in the air, set it at an angle of view that I like, start filming, then put the remote down and get on my bike and drive through the scene. I then return, stop filming, bring the drone back and move on to the next shoot.

When the drone follows me, this is called “active tracking”. To set this up I “show” the drone where I am on my iPhone by circling myself so it identifies me as the “target” to track. And then it does just that. There are different modes to tracking:

It follows behind me
It follows beside me
It follows me but makes circles around me as I move
The drone stays still but follows me wherever I go

It can get complicated and time consuming as I have to launch the drone, target myself, ride the bike, etc. Sometimes it loses me, for instance if a tree of object comes between us. As I ride I’ve learned to listen for the whirl of the blades to know if it is following me or not.

The results, the programming DJI have done for the drone for tracking, is very fluid and smooth. It would be hard for a person to follow me that well, without jerking.

I made multiple trips up the mountain to film this. It takes over an hour to get there and the first two times I arrived just as clouds rolled in and I couldn’t film. When I could film I’d make 6-8 shots, but usually only one or two would be usable. Also, with each day of filming I got better. So at the end I was having more success getting good shots and the ones I wanted.

My next video will be paddle boarding in the Algarve of Portugal. Little more difficult as I’m on water and have to land and take off from my paddle board. Have to launch and catch from my hand. Tricky…

Cruising the Esterel Coastline

30 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by johnyouden in Cote d'Azur, Europe, France

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Boating, Cote d'Azur, Esterel, Nice

We drove down from Nice to Frejus last week and rented a small runabout to cruise westward towards Cannes, while visiting the incredible L’Esteral coastline along the way. This massive volcanic red rock mountain-line juts out of the coastline between Frejust and Cannes, creating numerous small coves to explore by boat. L’Esteral is a national park, well protected with numerous hiking trails on land.

L’Esteral is impressive, but even more impressive was that when we arrived in Cannes we noticed a large number of sailboats situated around the Cannes waterfront. It was then that we realized that the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge was underway this weekend. For Friday, all 85 participating yachts started in Cannes, sailed in regatta formation over to the islands of St. Marguerite and St. Honorat in front of Cannes, tacked and then made their way to the mainland again at La Galere, before returning to Cannes.

The largest was Germania at 59 meters while the oldest was Bona Fide (1899), which took the gold medal in the 1900 Olympics. As it was a casual cruise for them, boats such as ours were allowed to get up close while they were under sail. Also there, although we couldn’t find there, were our friends Pat and Argie on the Manitou that they race regularly in this event.

We dropped anchor off the island of Marguerite and had lunch, while watching the parade of sailboats go by as they tacked right in front of us. We ran low on rosé, but then a small boat came by that was selling sandwiches, ice cream and such, and he had rosé for just 10 euros a bottle – delivered to our boat!

Great Beaches around Nice

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by johnyouden in France, Nice

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Cap D'Ail, Eze, Great Beaches, Nice, Paloma

La Reserve Maya from the water

La Reserve Maya – Cap d’Ail

Wonderful beach club in a very protected cove. Hard to get to, many come by boat. The best way to arrive is by train. Get off at the Cap d’Ail stop, walk under the tracks and turn right and follow the path for about 5-10 minutes. If you come by bus it is a long walk down (and even longer walking up). Not much parking if you bring a car. Great beach for lounging and swimming. Great restaurant and bar.

Paloma Beach – Cap Ferrat

Summer season

This is probably our favorite beach club, and perhaps favorite beach. Doesn’t seem to get really over-crowded as Cap Ferrat is a little out of the way. Restaurant is only open during the summer, so otherwise pack a lunch or eat before or after in the port down next door of St. Jean. Our favorite dish is the Loup (fish) for two. It is quite well protected from the wind and has great views looking back at Eze on the hillside. There are usually some very nice mega-yachts moored in front as well. You can get there by car (best way) or the #81 bus which stops in St. Jean and you just have to walk about 10 minutes to get to it. You may want to do a Cap Ferrat hike beforehand, you’ll enjoy the swim that much more.

Eze Beach

A couple of restaurants on this beach that actually is right across from Paloma Beach on the main shoreline (Cap Ferrat is nearly an island). Best way to get here is by train, as there’s a stop right at it and it’s an easy walk down to the water. Not a deep beach, but good for swimming. Bono lives just down the beach from here.

Villefranche

There are two beaches in Villefranche to enjoy, one in town and the other in the port. The one in the port can be seen in the photo above to the left. It is usually frequented mostly by locals so not as busy as the one in town. The beach is similar to that of Nice, it is made up of pebbles, where the one in Nice Centre is more of a sandy beach. In the port there’s a great restaurant that serves mostly locals and has good prices; La Baleine Joyeuse.

Nice Centre beach can get crowded as it is so close to town and a train stop. There’s a snack stand that sells stuff like hamburgers, hotdogs and ice cream (and some cocktails), or you may prefer to visit one of the restaurants next door in Villefranche. Long walk down from the bus stop, lots of parking if you take a car.

Plage de Passable

This is the second public beach on Cap Ferrat, on the opposite side of Paloma Beach. If you look closely at the panoramic above, just to the left of center, you’ll see a beach on the other side, on the peninsula of Cap Ferrat. That’s Plage de Passable. You get off the #81 bus at the Rothschild Mansion garden museum and walk down. There’s a beach club open during the summer, quite a bit of room and good for swimming as it is quite protected.

Castel – Nice Promenade

Nice Promenade des Anglais

This is the beach club that is at the far westerly end of the Nice beach, where the water tends to be a little more protected, at least during an easterly wind. We’ve tried a number of the beach clubs along here and like this one the best. But it isn’t open all year round. I know, it can’t be seen in this photo (it would be in the lower left corner), but next time I’m there I’ll get a new photo.

Plateau de Cavillore Hike at Gourdon, France

12 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by johnyouden in France, Nice

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Gourdon, Great Hikes, Nice

On top of the bluff view

We’ve covered most of the coastal walks around Nice, and now have begun to search out hikes that are in the hills behind Cote d’Azur. Our first was behind the hilltop town of Gourdon, where there’s a bluff that overlooks the town and provides a very panoramic view of the coast and Mediterranean.

The name of the trail (you can see if snaking up in the photo above to the left) is the Plateau de Cavillore and it is accessible right from the parking lot below the entrance to Gourdon. Cross the street and look for the sign a little ways up highway RD12, about 50 meters. Continue to follow the signs and look for the yellow markings that mark the trail. It takes about an hour to get to the top and the hike up is about 300 meters in elevation and three kilometers in distance. It is marked as a “medium” level hike.

Looking down at Gourdon

On your return be sure to have lunch at the Taverne Provencale, which is in Gourdon and has wonderful panoramic views from most tables. Walk right through Gourdon’s main street to the end to get to it. Our favorite meal is the Salade Chèvre Chaud (Hot goat cheese salad), which is the best we’ve ever had; very unique and their house specialty.

Chèvre Chaud Salad at Taverne Provencale

To get to Gourdon, take the A8 out of Nice, over the bridge and the exit for La Colle sur Loup. From there take the D6, following the signs marked for Gourdon. You may want to take the other route back, which passes through Grasse. The drive both ways is a great one, especially in the fall when the leaves are turning color.

Gorge-du-Loup

Gourdon

Gourdon and view

Gourdon walkways

Gourdon

Nice Apartment – C’est finis!

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by johnyouden in France

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Apartment, Nice

Our spring project was the purchase and renovation of an apartment in the central part of Nice, France. We returned to Nice from Mexico in January, with really no intention of buying a place in Nice, but we were getting tired of living out of suitcases and moving from one rental apartment to another. We knew we eventually wanted to get a place in France, we just weren’t sure where, although Nice was looking better and better. Well, we ended up finding a for sale by owners that offered all we were looking for, so we went for it. Continue reading →

Well, so much for the nomadic style of life…

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by johnyouden in France

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Nice

Early last year I wrote about the new nomadic lifestyle we were undertaking in a post. Well, it didn’t last long. Last month we purchased an apartment in Nice, France and it looks like we’ll be spending a lot more time here. Nice is just a wonderful place with the Mediterranean in front, Alps behind and Italy right next door. The weather is probably the best in France. The town people are friendly, transportation services are great and currently it is undergoing some super infrastructure projects that will really make Nice shine in the near future. It’s actually an exciting time to be here.

The apartment is right in the heart of Nice so we can walk everywhere, and do. We recently took possession and began renovations last week. It was a three bedroom but we have removed a wall between two of the bedrooms to create one large one. We also removed a wall between the livingroom/dining room and the kitchen creating a larger living area. Renovations should take about a month so we should be moved in by mid’ May. So far the purchase and renovation process has been relatively hassle-free. We went to our first HOA meeting last week and it seems homeowner’s associations everywhere, in Canada, USA or Mexico (where we’ve been in HOAs) deal with the same problems. It was the same here, except it was in French.

Facade of apartment building

Livingroom before

Bedroom before

Hallway before

Hallway between bedrooms, before

Livingroom demolition

Between bedrooms wall demolition

Back to Auron

12 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by johnyouden in France

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Auron, France, Nice, skiing

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.

Auron has 8 black runs, 17 reds, 15 blues and 2 greens. The reds are more like blue runs though, and the blues like greens. For their greens, you are probably not moving at all. Not many blacks and no double-diamonds unless you ski the bowl of Dome.

Auron is not a big place, but it sure makes it easy to get around and onto the hill. We stayed at Las Donnas, which was less than a 100 yards from the lift, and used the ski rental equipment of ?, which was just 20 yards from the main lift. The main lift, and the only way to get to the hill, is by taking a short gondola ride across a ravine. On the other side you meet up with another gondola which takes you to the top of Las Donnas. There are two primary peaks to ski; Las Donnas and Sauma Longue.

Hotel Las Donnas has been around since 1935. Nothing fancy, walls are paper thin, but the location is great with views looking over the hill. And the food and service is very good. We’d go back.

TIP: Weekends are busy with people coming up from Nice. And Wednesday’s is a holiday for school kids so the hill is full of kids getting ski classes. Keep that in mind and book accordingly.

Village of Auron, Hotel Las Donnas

Look at the cabin, gives an idea of how much snow they had

The village of Auron

Auron

Auron Dome & Face

Auron

Auron peaks

Flo & John in Auron

Amazing Chillies…

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by johnyouden in France, Random

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Nice, Random

Nice has great pizza, I guess it’s because at one time it was actually part of Italy, and not that long ago too. So the other night we went out for pizza (La Voglia, Cours Saleya, Nice). After living in Mexico for so long, it is now hard for me to have pizza without dried chili sprinkled on it. But in France, all they have is this bottle of oil with some full chilies in it, and it is never very hot; all you end up doing is loading your pizza up with oil (yeah, just what a high-cal pizza needs). I was going bring back some dried chili from Mexico, but forgot.

So on the table that night they bring out the bottle of oil, but this one has hardly any chilies in it, just these small things at the bottom of the bottle. So I asked, and surprisingly, received, dried chili on its own. Different though than I’m used to, they were small but were not ground up yet. So I grabbed a few and ground them up in my hands over the pizza.

First mistake. Continue reading →

Great Walks in Nice, France

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by johnyouden in France

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Cap Ferrat, Great Walks, Nice, Walks

Nice to Villefrance Walk

If you’re in Nice, here’s some great walks you should consider doing:

Promenade Anglais Walk: A no brainer and a great casual walk on the promenade that runs the length of Nice from the airport to Vieux Nice. You can catch a bus back or make the long walk back. It’s nearly a 5 km walk.
Nice to Villefranche Shoreline Walk: This walk begins in the port of Nice at the southerly end, where the ferries dock and leave from. You’ll see a sign for the Nice Yacht Club with a walkway next to it, take this up to Blvd. Franck Pillate. Walk south and you’ll pass the Chateau des Anglais (built back in 1856 by Englishman Robert Smith, this fairtale castle is now used for private apartments. You’ll come to a pathway on your right that leads down along the shore, just past the Hopital d’Anglais bus stop. Take this and enjoy a wonderful seaside promenade, although it is a little more challenging than the first half of the balade; more ups and downs. It was also under repair at the end of 2012, working on the railings and bridges. You can follow this now right into Villefranche along the water. Then you can walk the highway back, take the small bus #82 from the port to get you onto the highway and then #81 or #100, or take the train back.
Cap Ferrat Walk – Promenade des Fossettes: Take the #81 bus to Cap Ferrat and get off at the small town/port of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Follow Av. Jean Mermoz through town, past the port and past the restaurant La Voile d’Or, to where it intersects with Av. Claude Vignon. Across the street you’ll see a pathway the Promenade des Fossettes. Short but nice oceanside walk, that makes a circle around the point. On the way back you’ll find Paloma Beach, bring your bathing suit to cool off. For the longer walk, visit this link.
Mont Boron to Villefranche Walk: Best way to take this walk is to take the #14 bus from the port in Nice, up to the top of Mont Boron. It’s the last stop. You can walk over into Villefranche or down the front back down to the port of Nice. Both paths are quite nice with great viewpoints.
Mala to Monaco: Very pleasant walk along the coast, easy to do and some great views. There’s some places to have picnics as well along the way, with tables and benches.

Here’s a couple of links from a Cote d’Azur blog I recently discovered, with quite detailed descriptions of walks around Nice, and actually around French Riviera: