Hanging out with the high rollers.

Saturday 14^th June

Today really began the journey headed back to Paris. We had planned to visit Genova on the way through today but instead ended up visiting Portofino. The road in to Portofino is narrow and winding as it hugs the cliffs along the coast. Before you get to the actual port you pass the beach areas where umbrellas are laid out in regimented lines along the beach. Portofino is a beautiful little port town where the rich and famous hang out with their little yachts. We wandered along the pier window shopping for a little boat! How the other half lives!

The harbour at Portofino.

Which one do you like? I think I prefer the blue one.
I have done a little google research and the blue one
is 61m long and has 8 staterooms.
It is only 310,000 euro per week to charter. Any takers?.

Or maybe the little one? 

The lovely buildings in Portofino.

Now these are real yachts. I don't know why the others are called yachts
- not a sail in sight.

Some of the little fishing boats.

We had lunch in Portofino before heading to the town of Cengio which is in the mountains west of Genova, and where we were staying the night.We were mostly on the motorway to Cengio and boy is that some amazing pieces of road. If we weren't in a tunnel, we were on a huge bridge spanning valleys between the hills. Shame that all the money is spent on the motorways and appears that non is spent on secondary and lesser roads. 

Dog of the day - looks like maybe he has just come from the beauty parlour
and ready to go back on board.

Unfortunately we were too early to book in to our accommodation so we continued on 5k to the next little town of Saliceto. We had our afternoon gelati here and spent a bit of time looking at the maps and planning the next few days. Saliceto has a medieval castle but it was not open for visiting so we just got photos of the outside. While we were filling in time here the sky started to cloud over and by the time we went back to Cengio the heavens opened and we had a ripper of a thunderstorm.

The main street in the little village of Saliceto.

The medieval castle at Saliceto.

Our hotel for the night had a restaurant but we hadn't booked and when we went for dinner found that it was booked out. We could eat at 9, or drive and find somewhere else. There was nothing else in Cengio but back in the town Saliceto we found a restaurant that was open and even though full, they made room for us. We ended up then sharing our table with 2 ladies that also hadn't booked but that was no problem. We were quite the celebrities when they found out we were from Australia. ‘Why are you in our town?’ they asked. Turned out a very nice meal and lovely night out.

Sunday 15^th June

Monaco and The French Riviera.

The drive from Cengio to the coast was beautiful – quite a good road through the mountains. There were some lovely little towns along the way. For the early part of the drive the road followed a train line, but this eventually reached its end point and then the road became steeper and more winding.  I think the highest point was around 800 metres and they obviously get snow in winter. A couple of times we had views of little towns perched on the side of the mountains. Once we hit the coast we took the autostrade to take us to Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo – well we thought the yachts were huge in Portofino, but in Monte Carlo they are ginormous. The one we had been eyeing off yesterday in Portofino had sailed overnight and there it was in Monte Carlo this morning. She looked pretty big yesterday (61 metres, 7 staterooms – I looked up some facts tonight) but next to the yachts in Monte Carlo she looks like a bath toy!

Here's our Mary Jean II again.

But lined up against some of these others in Monte Carlo
she looks pretty small.

The harbour at Monte Carlo. On the hill at the back is the royal palace.

This little church is tucked away between a couple of the big hotels
 and buildings in the main street.

Some lovely buildings in Monte Carlo.

The royal palace of  Monaco.

 

The Japanese gardens in Monte Carlo.

The Monte Carlo opera house. 

The Monte Carlo casino.

Lots of people driving by in their flash cars
and having their photos taken in front of the casino. 

Another view of the harbour at Monte Carlo.

Rob was able to make out where the grand prix track goes. No signs of it now. We had lunch in Monte Carlo – it was nice to get back to the humble French baguette and the French pastries (Italian bread and cakes just don’t do it for me).

Our second stop for the day was the medieval village of Eze which is perched high on a cliff on the coast between Monaco and Nice. It was quite a climb on foot up to the village from the car park. A lovely village but seems that its main purpose now is as an art village – every other place is selling ‘unique’ products. It sort of takes away from the historical look and feel of the place.

The medieval village of Eze - perched on the edge of the cliff.

We stopped on the road only a couple of k out of Eze,
and looking down there is a road and a train line along the coast.

Beautiful laneways and stonework in Eze.

Dog of the day - smiling for the camera.
About to tour the village of Eze.

The drive from there to our hotel at Biot (west of Nice) took us through downtown Nice and along the beachfront for quite a bit of the way. It sort of had the feel of the StKilda/Port Melbourne foreshore but with a lot more traffic. We didn't stop in Nice – maybe we will get back in there tomorrow or Tuesday as we are here for 3 nights.

Some food facts:

Italian breakfasts – I don’t enjoy them at all. Sweet pastries, sweet rolls, dry toast – I only eat them because I have to.

Pasta – their ‘al dente’ is not quite as well done as in Australia. Sometimes their sauces are a little dry. Pasta is usually the first course in a 3 course meal, followed by a meat dish and then dessert. The pasta dish is not just a small helping – it is more than I would eat for a whole meal.

Gelati – haven’t met one I didn't like. The amarena (cherry) is probably my favourite and usually taken with a helping of lemon flavour as well.

Coffee – I rarely have coffee at home. Maybe 1 cappucino a week, but in Italy I have been quite enjoying them. The coffee has a nicer flavour I think.

Pizza – I really like the Italian pizzas. They make them with a really thin base. There is not a lot on them but they are really tasty. My favourite is Diavola which is just tomato, mozzarella and salami.

Vegetables – like the French they don’t seem to have them unless it is a salad, and often the salad is just lettuce, or lettuce and tomato if you have a mixed salad. A little bit of onion in a salad would help. One of the only vegetables we have seen more than once is green beans.

Garlic and onion – I thought these featured a lot in Italian cooking but we really didn't see much of them at all.

Seafood – any time we were near the coast we tried to get a seafood meal. These were mostly very good.

Wine – Rob usually had the house wine at dinner (and lunch) and assures me that 99% of those he had were very good. They were usually as cheap as coke. You could order ¼ or ½ litre and these varied quite a bit in size, from 1 glass to 3 or 4.