Picturesque Villefranche
Wednesday 14 June – that mistake on our itinerary worked out brilliantly for us – Geoff suggested we stay in Villefranche for the night. Situated in the bay around the corner from Nice, it is one of the most beautiful ports, with crystal clear waters and surrounded by colourful Provençal greenery, pink and purple (yes!) bourgainvillea, and tropical flowers.
Enroute we encountered a huge thunderstorm driving up the A8 – there was a wall of grey sheeting rain in front of us, very scary, with all the big European rigs on the road, thankfully Geoff was at the wheel and by the time we arrived, it had abated, but it was still a bit grey and wet. We found a lovely little room at a very cute family-owned place with a bistrot underneath, right in the centre of town. Dumping our luggage we ventured straight out for a walk around. Oh what a place, it’s a jewel! I can’t believe that in all the times I passed through Nice (each time I visited our own place it was the airport I flew into) that I never visited here.
We ventured out for a look around and even though it was still slightly grey, we could see patches of blue sky and we had a lovely walk along the port and ramparts
Absolutely stunning scenery, it’s an historic centre with little winding streets and alleys, arcades and labyrinths of stairs. We arrived at rue Obscure which is an underground road built in the 13th century and served as an uncovered defensive walkway for soldiers to move about and conduct manoeuvres - and is now a favoured location for many movies and TV series, more than150 have been filmed here. With its eerie atmosphere it is a perfect set for shooting vintage films.
We found a lovely little Italian restaurant for dinner and had a great table on the balcony, looking straight down the alley to the port and a yacht moored in the harbour. So perfect. A delicious dinner including one of my favourite French entrées, beignets de fleurs de courgettes - courgette flower fritters – dipped in a very tasty sauce. You won’t believe it, whilst we were sitting there two NZ friends of Geoff’s turned up, Neil and Di. They had spotted us walking around the port and thought it was Geoff, and texted Geoff’s cousin to see if we were in Villefranche. Ian would not have known as we only knew ourselves 4 hours earlier. Then they happened on us sitting outside the restaurant. Small world eh?!
Thursday 15 June – the sunshine and heat have returned and it is bloody gorgeous here, the colours couldn’t be more stunning. Out for breakfast by the port, it was glorious sitting and enjoying our morning coffee and croissants. A final walk around this lovely little town, a shop for some tasty treats for lunch and then it was time to muscle up and tackle the luggage situation and get it into the rental car for our return to Nice and to Riquier station. Geoff dropped me off outside the station with all the bags and drove back to Nice Ville station to drop off the car and returned back on the tram, by which time I had laid out our lunch on the purple table and we enjoyed a very nice picnic before heading into the station to board our first train to Ventimiglia, just over the border in Italy.
This local train ride has to be one of the most picturesque in the world….it closely skirts the Mediterreanean and goes through the pretty towns of Beaulieu, Eze, Menton, Monte Carlo to name a few. Each station covered in stunning, colourful flowers with the sparkling blue sea in the background. What wasn’t so fabulous was that it was pretty packed and we were jammed in (you can imagine what this was like with our luggage now totalling two suitcases, two pull-along carry bags, two backpacks, two laptop cases, one shopping bag and one handbag, plus a tube containing a piece of art, quite a lot for 4 hands and 2 sets of shoulders!) and we were all very close together. For the first time on this whole trip I wore my cross-body bag with the zip facing backwards. I have always worn it with the tassel in front so I can check it is always closed. I noticed it before I got on the train but had two backpacks over it and it was too difficult to change around. Always someone looking for an opportunity eh, I opened my purse to tip someone who helped us with our bags in Ventimigila to find I was now €225 (NZ$ 395) lighter! Boy was I pissed off!
Anyway, onwards and upwards – Milan beckons!