Monday
We changed trains in Ventimiglia on our way to Menton in France. After crossing the border we discovered that while getting on and off is fairly easy at the endpoints of the route, at the intermediate stops the time may be limited to a minute or two...soooo we missed our intended stop in Menton and got off at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Since we were close to Menton we thought we'd take a taxi. None were to be seen near the station or the coast. Our taxi apps attempts didn't confirm any rides. Noting that the distance to Menton was 1.5 miles we decided that a lovely walk was in order. A mere 45 min later we arrived at our sea view apartment.
After connecting with our host and dropping our bags we went to lunch at Brasserie Du Cap:
- Pat chose Contadina (bruschetta with tomato sauce, cheese, white ham, mushrooms and parsley, lots of parsley).
- Bill had a croque madame.
Later we enjoyed a nice sunset from our apartment.
Tuesday
A lovely sunrise turned into a bit of a grey day. We had planned to go to the Val Rahmeh Garden but, being Tuesday it was closed as are the art museums. We instead went to the noted Salle des Mariages Jean Cocteau. Jean Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was an influential figure in early 20th century art. In1955 he was invited to transform a former courtroom of the City Hall into a Wedding Salon. He deigned every aspect of the room (painting the walls & ceiling, choosing red velvet chairs and carpets with a panther skin pattern and designing the wrought iron lighting fixtures). For us his paintings stand out. At the front of the Salon is a Mentonnaise couple in love. Other paintings include more wedding scenes and stories related to Menton life and folklore.
Afterwards we wandered around the Bay area, checked our the Marche (market) and picked up some goodies for snacking and breakfast). Then went up hill to checkout Basilique Saint-Michel Archangel de Menton (lovely outside, not open), and the nearby Chapel of the White Penitents. Then we continued further uphill to the Cimetière du Vieux Château (Cemetery of the Old Castle) atop Montée du Souvenir with its views spanning from the Italian Riviera along the Cote d'Azur nearly to Monaco. The views along with the elaborate tombs and mausoleums may be of little use to the dead, but they bring lots of visitors
We retraced our steps back to the town (with a substantial unintended detour) and ate at Le Lido:
- "burgers avec frittes"
- and a Cote du Rhone
Our first frittes since Maine in August. Our first burgers since who knows when.
Wednesday
We began the day at the Cocteau museum near the shore. The work was quite different from that at the Salle des Mariages.
The weather remains rainy, misty at best and chilly. So we went to Falconerie (the shop with great cashmeres that Pat discovered in Torino) to get Bill a cashmere shirt. We then purchased wine and breakfast pastries at the nearby marche aux herbes.
We stopped for lunch at La Brazza:
- mussels (proclaimed some of the best ever by Pat)
- loup (European sea bass)
- and a caesar salad (not the best)
The weather cleared in the afternoon and we headed to Val Rahmeh Garden. After a short detour that took us through a grove of olive trees we arrived at the garden. We saw lots of flowers, trees, bamboo, a pond with water lilies and a large amphora where Pat posed as as a genie coming out of a "bottle".
Thursday
Today also started out rainy. We wandered Menton finding a delighrful candy shop. They know how to get you to buy...after a few minutes, we were offerred a taste of some lemon cookies. Not too sweet and with a tart refreshing lemon filling that just stayed with you saying, "you want some more, right?" And of course we bought a can.
Pat had to have some of those wonderful mussels again so we returned to La Brazza for lunch.
- Pat of course had the mussels
- Bill had fish & chips
- A lovely Viognier worked well with each
- For dessert we chose a combo of what you might call Spanish and French custards: flan and creme brûlée
Friday
We chose to combine touring with our move to Nice and hired a driver guide to pick us up in Menton, take us on a tour back to Italy, yep, back to Italy, and then returning us to Nice at the end of the tour.
Why Italy again? One of the primary reasons for visiting Menton was to see the fabulous gardens in the area. Two of the most notable are the Val Rahmeh Gardens in Menton and the Hanbury Gardens in nearby Ventimiglia Italy. By arranging a special tour we thought we might even get to see one or more of the gardens in Bordigjhera where there are the Pallanca Exotic Gardens, the Giardini Winter and the Giardini Monet. And or drive up through the charming village of Dolceacqua
The day started with heavy rain but we got a break and were able to get our luggage downstairs and to the car during a brief lull. We started out toward Ventimiglia and Hanbury Garden. When we arrived at the garden it was closed due to high storm warnings (and the paths are very steep). It wasn't even vaguely tempting to try to get in anyway.
We continued on to Ventimiglia. Our guide took us for a short walk around the center, checking out the narrow streets, the houses connected with bridges that cross the streets at the 2nd or 3rd level, fishing nets left out to dry, and a nice small church.
Then we were off to the market. We sampled some Socca (chickpea flat bread pizza ). It doesn't sound special but it is quite tasty. Like spicy crackers. We bought some artichoke tart (artichoke, spinach, chickpeas, rice, parmigiano cheese) for our evening meal).
Next stop was Dolceacqua but it was raining too hard to tour. The river was extremely high (Just before the storm, it had been mostly dry according to our driver guide). We continued on to another village, Apricale. It was still raining. but less so and we took a short walk around the town anyway. We were surprised to see a bicycle perched on the side of a steeple. Our guide was equally surprised.
Then we stopped at Baci (a very cute stone walled, cave-like restaurant). FYI, the host spends several winter months in the US. We enjoyed:
- Funghi with polenta
- Sausage and polenta
- A nice red wine
By the time we returned to Dolceacqua the storm had cleared and we had a lovely tour of the old castle. In the middle of 15C, Dolceacqua began to grow and developed across the river: the new district of the “Borgo” was born. The two parts of town are connected by a characteristic "donkey-back" (arched) bridge.
It was getting late so we headed to our next and final "home" for the trip, the West End Hotel in Nice, located right on the Promenade. We enjoyed a nice Brut Champagne provided by the hotel along with our Artichoke Tart from Ventimiglia.
Saturday
We took a taxi to the Matisse Museum. The exhibits follow his history with examples of various styles and techniques he used during his life.
Then we walked downhill to the Chagall Museum. By the time we reached it, it was about to close for an hour so we continued walking to the Old Town. We stopped for lunch at Bistrot de l’Opéra:
- Nicoise Salad
- Seafood with ratatouille & rice
- Sancere
We enjoyed walking along the promenade, with many people out enjoying the sunny weather that followed the storm. On of the most intriguing artworks along the way is named "La chaise bleue de SAB". Almost anyway you look at it, it seems 3 dimensional. But if you line up with the chair at the right angle, you realize it is simply 2 dimensional!
Sunday
We woke to a nice sunrise and later also captured a sunset over the promenade.
We Ubered to the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral where we admired impressive architecture and design outside and inside. Next we went to the Chagall Museum that features his life through two world wars.
Then we headed to Cave de Stephane in Old Nice where we purchased wine to bring home with us. Stephane not only advised us which wines to buy but also recommended La Panier for lunch. We loved it's amazing surprise menu. And our companion diners were interesting: one couple from Larkspur CA, one couple from the UK. The woman (Georgina Owens) from the UK is a chief Technical Officer. I checked out her LinkedIn when we got home and she has roughly 4400 LinkedIn Followers. That's an impressive number in my book. Her husband has a software background including machine code (which was Pat's early career).
The "menu" for the Multi-course meal started with a message: "Beyond our travels across continents, our desire is to open your mind to new culinary sensations." Then the "detailed menu" offerred "Voyages with 4, 5 or 7 stopovers"
That was it. No more clues re what we would be eating. It was lunch so we got the 4 stopover meal, which included an amuse bouche. We chose the wine pairings as well, of course. They described each dish in detail as they were served, but afterwards, without Pat's notes, our only hope of identifying them would have been that list of ingredients. Even then it is difficult with such ingredients as: maigre (a type of fish), freekeh (wheat grain), gomasio (a seasoning of sesame & sea salt), wakame (kelp), salicornia (sea beans/sea asparagus). What we can tell you is everything was great, with a fine combinations of flavors and textures. Here are the components Pat captured re each course:
- Amuse bouche: baby squid, dried sword fish, raspberry coulis, on roasted yellow ancorn squash with a baby beet leaf
- Beef tartare, shrimp, red radish, cod fish liver, cavier, baby mushroom, red pepper, basil and pickled caper leaf
- Fried maigre fish, yellow curry, romanesco broccoli, sea weed, mussel, flat beans, grape, tiny asparagus, kale, marinated vegs
- Veal rib steak, pepper stuffed with smokey lentils, yellow pepper ketchup, parsley, dried paste of red pepper
- Dense Chocolate cake with carmel sauce, and pistachio ice cream with citrus sauce
Monday
Our driver picked us and our bags up at 9am for a day of touring the stone hilltowns of the Cote d'Azur.
We started with St Paul du Vence, a quaint medieval village we visited 30 years ago. It's a town with lots of art history. Among others, Picasso, Dufy, Matisse, and Marc Chagall have stayed there. It is also home to the Maeght Foundation, a renowned institution dedicated to modern and contemporary art.
On our way to Gourdon we took a scenic route through the Loup Canyon. Along the way we stopped in Pont du Loup. It's name (Bridge of the Loup) reflects the fact that before WWII it's bridge with at least 11 arches was a major crossing point of the Loup River/Canyon. All that remains now is the a few large abutements (see one below the waterfall in the photo below. Yes it blends into the canyon rock but is much too regular to be natural.) Now the town is known for Florian's Candy Shop.
- Organic poached egg, with onions, bacon and Meurette sauce / bourguignon sauce with salad shoots in vincigrette
- Butcher's cut, fried caussol potatoes, pan-fried vegetables of the day, reduced meat sauce.
- La Bastide Blanche Bando
After lunch we strolled around Gourdon where we found yet another candy shop and some fine mushrooms. We headed to the airport. We stopped for a photo op of Gourdon and then continued onwards, making a short stop in Valbonne for a walk around the center of this "new" 16C city with its splendid arcaded square, a place full of local charm and very international at the same time.
We arrived at the airport for our trip home with ample time to prepare for our flight. We had found the best deal through Istanbul again. We flew through Istanbul when returning from Greece last year and were amazed at the airport which is active and alive 24/7. We enjoyed another early morning in the Turkish Air lounge. Photos below are from the lounge around 1AM.
We arrived in Mexico on time and our ride was waiting for us for the 3.5 hour trip to SMA.
