Well, our two months in France has almost come to an end. We had a stressful ride to "La Fiancee du Pirate", our last stop in France, here at Villefranche sur Mer on the Cote d'Azur.The GPS led us through, rather than around Nice, and the trip was complicated by detours due to major road work. The final 2 km were up very steep, narrow, twisting roads as our hotel is on the Col de Villefranche, way above the city and the Mediterranean. The views are gorgeous (see first few photos).

We walked down to the Centre-ville of Villefranche, but took the mini-bus back up as there are 550+ steps required to make the ascent/descent. It only runs hourly and is mostly used by locals so it was packed at 5:00 PM on a week day!!

Took the Rick Steves walking tour which was very interesting, especially the subterranean Rue d'Ombre from the XIIIth century that runs parallel to the shore line, one block up from the sea. With cloudless blue skies, the color of the water was incredible!!

Our plan is to stop driving to reduce stress and the chances of damaging our car so close to the "finish line" at the Nice airport. We're hoping to use the plentiful buses and trains that run Nice to Monaco on the shore and follow inland routes (the middle and upper Corniche routes) as well.

We're very happy to find a little mini-town just down the street from our hotel. There's a bus stop (all the essential lines), a Casino, a boulangerie, a charcuterie/trattorie, a bank, 2 gas stations and a restaurant/brasserie that receives good ratings on Yelp. Had a nice meal at the Brasserie du Col tonight and will return tomorrow. We usually eat indoors to avoid smokers and they told us to be prepared because there is a big soccer game on TV tomorrow night featuring the team from Nice. Could be a lot of fun!

Walked - 4.1 miles

Drove - 30 km