To Italy and Back: Roquebrune-Cap-Martin to Nice

We left the Deux Freres after breakfast on the terrace overlooking Monaco – again, perfect views, blue skies and lots of activity on the water. We highly recommend this hotel.

As we had promised Brenda we would go to Italy during our senior

gap year and we were so close we headed east along the coast road. We drove through Menton and into Italy. We immediately got lost in Ventimiglia a small town near the border. After negotiating with the GPS we eventually got back to France and into Monaco. John’s nerves by this stage were almost shot and not improved trying to avoid hitting the fast moving Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches whilst trying to get a better view of the superyachts in the harbour. We have put this on the “must see again” list.

Continuing along the coast we went into Eze as recommended by Desiree but couldn’t see the gardens (again “must see again” list). We meandered around Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and stopped in Villefranche-Sur-Mer for lunch. We drove through Nice and then north to St Paul de Vence which is a medieval village built on top a rocky outcrop. It was very busy and touristy but in a classy way - lots

of art galleries and terraced restaurants – and cobblestoned streets of course.

Having gained some inner serenity we made our way back to Nice and found our hotel after some more GPS and Kathy miscommunications. The hotel manager at Hotel des Dames said of course we could park on the street, we only needed to put our hazard lights on. Australian drivers could learn something from the laid back French attitude to blocked streets.

After finding a more long-term parking spot and successfully escaping the rabbit warren of a building, we returned to our hotel and climbed the 4 stories (multiple times) to our room and looked forward to our two day stay in Nice.

Next: To Italy and Back - Nice