My Mediterranean tan

Bordeaux
After our misadventures locating the Mont Saint Michel we took the train south to Bordeaux, hoping to leave the rain behind and taste some delicious French wine. Unfortunately only one of these things came true! The grey clouds followed us along the west coast and kept the weather chilly. Bordeaux though made up for the foul climate, it's a very pretty city about the same size as Canberra and with a better public transport system! We spent most of the time wondering around the city, siteseeing and shopping. We booked ourselves in for a 1/2 day wine tour to the Medoc wine region, the tour itself was dull and the guide put us to sleep within 30 minutes of sitting on the bus (he indulged in long pauses between words), but the country side was stunning and the Margaux wine we tried was delicious - like caramel!

Aix-en-Provence
So we headed further south and into the quint-essential French country side of Aix-en-Provence, where the sun was shining and the weather was more to our taste (finally! - about 30 degrees C). Aix is a pretty town but it's too flashy and a little dull, which was a bit dissapointing. Next time we will hire a car and visit some smaller towns.

NICE!
Nice was brilliant! It was everything we were looking for in France and it had a beach! We decided to splurge and stay 5 nights in a nice hotel. It was a little further away from the old town, but still easy walking distance and close to the beach.

We had planned to visit Cannes and Monaco, but in the end it was nicer just to wander around the city and swim in the afternoon. We took the mega lift up to the fort/palace gardens where there are some pretty man made waterfalls and did some shopping.

Managed to get sunburnt, so I was probably one of the only people wondering around England with a sun tan!

Lyon

We only spent one night in Lyon, but wondered around the old town in the evening, which is very pretty and we had a nice regional dinner at a cute cafe (although we dodged some of the more interesting specialites).

Sunshine and stairs in Riomaggiore

We arrived in Riomaggiore, one of the Cinque Terre towns on Thursday. It is stunning here - a must see for anyone travelling to Italia! It's also the first place we've visited where we feel like we're seeing the real deal, Rome was a big crazy city and Florence was so touristy. We found our check in office only to be marched back towards the station and up a hill towards our block of flats. We were then taken up 5 flights of stairs (67 stairs in total) with our backpacks, even our guide was puffing by the time we reached the top!



Our room is lovely and has a little kitchenette, which has saved us lots of euro! For everyone at work, the pocket knife has come in handy many times over, so thanks to Fiona et al - it has been a very useful gift! The view from our flat is amazing, it looks right over the ocean and we're about 300 metres away from this amazing pub called 'bar et vini' hanging off the side of a mountain, which is the best spot for a cold beer on a hot afternoon. Needless to say, we've spent much of our time there!



Yesterday we headed out along the track that runs through each of the 5 towns. The first section between Riomaggiore and Manarola is stunning and easy on the legs, it's called via del'amore (Lover's Lane - roughly translate) and there is one section with this cute statue, where travellers have put padlocks on a fence - all very cheesy but nice. Manarola is a pretty little town like Riomaggiore, sleepy and slow, the way the coast ought to be!



The next section between Manarola and Corniglia is a little steeper, but still a good walk. The killer bit is the stairs that go up to the village. We made it up the top only to find there was an air conditioned bus that could have taken us up there - never mind - it adds to the experience I s'pose.

Jay kept on walking to Vernazza, but I opted for the train as my nice white skin was turning lobster red and my legs we're still complaining after the stairs up to Corniglia! Vernazza was a bit bigger, but a nice place to stop and have lunch, with a pretty beach. Tried to work out how to eat a Scampi, which is like our prawn, but with a hard shell and claws.

Went swimming in the afternoon - beaches are rocky with beautiful aqua water and soo warm. Found ourselves a comfy rock to lie on and after a little hesitation, dived in!

This morning we took the train to Monterosso, which is the largest town. It lacks character though and is like an over priced resort, so we quickly headed back to Riomaggiore. Will probably spend the rest of the arvo at the pub!

Promise to post photos soon. Can't connect camera here to computer, so will try in Venice.

Love to family and friends - keep the emails coming - it's nice to hear from home.



Lucy.