The French Riviera

With the hard miles now thankfully behind us we headed east along the coast for what was Mirka’s most looked forward to destinations – St.Tropez, Cannes, Nice and Monaco. Some very short riding days between each of them led to potentially some nice easy riding along the coast road. This didn’t really work out though as after a couple of hours worth of what seemed like first and second gear stuff behind and slowly past the Dutch and German caravanners the faster toll road was worth the couple of Euros in the end.
First up then was a windy and seemingly out of season St. Tropez. If I’ve got it right what was a small fishing village became famous some time back as a rich/celebrity hangout. Maybe it was just the timing but although quite pretty it didn’t seem anymore special than many other similar Mediterranean fishing towns that I’ve been to. Five pictures taken says it all really.
With hopes of Cannes living up to its reputation we rolled in and struggled to find accommodation as some sort of ‘tax free conference’ was being held in town. Finally though we found a basic little place that met our needs and off we wondered. Famous of course for its film festival the only real clue of this was the old cinema that was adorned with paintings of film characters in days gone by. Other than that it’s a nice place with the old part of town in the hills being the most enjoyable to spend time. I’d heard from my old mate BJ that our next destination of Nice was the pick of the bunch and so with Soul all loaded up we went to find out...
And right he was! The beautiful old hostel Belle Meuniere put us up for two nights for €49 per night including breakfast which after the Paris debacle has now more or less become our daily accommodation budget. Writing this a week down the road I have to say how surprised I am at how easy it is to stay in good and cheap accommodation even in the most touristy of locations. Only ever private double rooms as well. Having discovered Hostelbookers.com has really helped in what is always the most time consuming and tiring mission of finding the right place to stay at the right price.
So after those two unpaid plugs back to Nice then...It’s just as it’s spelt so. Perhaps unusually, being a city and therefor bigger than both St. Tropez and Cannes village and town respectively it feels a lot more chilled out and has plenty more to do should you choose to. Walking along the old promenade that was built way back by the British to accommodate their sea front strolls after afternoon tea it reminded me a little (on the shore side anyway) of Brighton with its old colonial buildings and pebble beach but without any of those awful piers that we seem(ed) to like. Away from the sea front its town squares, little streets, shops and restaurants and park way up high overlooking the town and coast are much more like it. Recommended.