Monte Carlo - Grasse - Saint Paul - Nice - Monte Carlo

 Wednesday June 4th 2014

Weather - Fine and mostly sunny 18-24C

Woke to yet another beautiful day. Off to breakfast at 7.30 then boarded coach at 9am and driven to Grasse (perfume capital of France). 

We were taken on a short tour of the distillery and fragrance making process which was very interesting (and fragrant).

We were then taken to the fragrance sampling area and retail outlet to try out the merchandise. I purchased a really nice perfume (thanks Mum), so was happy with that. By this stage most of the men had escaped outside to the fresh air, so the ladies were buying up big :)

Next onto the coach & off to a famous mountain village of Saint Paul, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea & originally founded as an artist village many hundreds of years ago. It is very beautiful as you will see:

From a distance:

We were taken to this gorgeous restaurant for an included "light" lunch. It was anything but light, entree of breads, olive tapanade, vegetables & dips. The main was a beautiful Salad Nicoise with lots of vegetables like broad beans, artichokes, eggplant, capsicums etc. Forgot  those photos.

And the grand finale .... the best Creme Brulee ever .. yum!

We also had coffee & 2 bottles of wine per table of 4-6!

This is the cafe:

A horse made from horse shoes!

An original WC, still in use!

Locals playing Boulles

Back to the coach at 2.30 after a look around the village. Very steep walking but worth it for the views.

We drove through the city of Nice (more photos tomorrow as we are stopping there on our way to Arles before we board the boat)

Next stop was another mountain top village (name escapes me at present) to visit the beautiful Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild gardens. What a fantastic spot. Another very long steep walk up a hill (yes my feet are killing me) to the villa & gardens, with gorgeous views along the way:

Then some photos of the gardens (Mike & I didn't see the entire gardens as we slipped away for a much needed rest & cup of tea).

Views from the gardens:

Finally back at hotel just after 5.30pm and we made a decision to have an early night as we have to pack & be up early to leave at 8am tomorrow. The  others in our group agreed that after 3 big nights out in a row we need to recharge the batteries as we have a lot more nights together for catching up. 

Time to upload this, have a shower & start packing. We don't need dinner after the huge lunch we had.

We are due to reach Arles at 4pm tomorrow and board the boat shortly afterwards. So not sure if I will manage to write anything until Friday .... wait & see!

Betty & Mike