St. Paul de Vence and Antibes France

Please vote for us here and help us win a blogger competition – it takes only 1 minute!

We have been to Nice, France for nearly one week.

Explorason and I usually want a break after we travel hard, and Morocco was a fast trip for the two of us. However, we are traveling together with a companion who has five months of travel and sharing a car and accommodation and related expenses. So we changed our plans to travel with her.  The list of countries she wants to see means we have cut out slow travel and agreed to go at her pace, so we can see it all in that timeframe of five months.

So after Morocco, we wouldn’t mind some relaxed time. Days in. Pyjama and lazy days catching up on Facebook, blogging and social media in general.

But today sees us out exploring.

So we programme in the GPS to take us a cute little village called at “St. Paul de Vence”.

We head up the winding mountain path and there we see it on the edge of the hill.

As soon as we come to the main intersection, I instantly see it is a tourist haven as a walled city, so we park the car and head in.

We go past a section where they are playing Boulles.

And also past a really gorgeous restaurant. I liked the look of this area for sure.

For some reason, even this seems like a race against time.  The entrance is a beautiful arch, reminding me of a church door.

As we wander the streets we start to look at the lovely shops.

I loved this store with its beautiful fabrics.

Explorason and I start to look at the Art Galleries.  We then get to a really lovely fountain area.

Next thing we have done one cobblestone laneway, and we are heading off back to the car after a toilet break.  The toilets are coin-operated, and I think Explorason spent a good quarter of an hour making the most of his money in there!

We then went to a coastal town ” Antibes” about another 3/4 hour in the slow coastal traffic, driving along the beachside road.  We passed the men setting up some sort of festival, and I wondered if that would be later that day?

Arriving at Antibes, Explorason then bought an ice-cream and off we went to explore.

Had we more time I did spy a couple of fantastic art galleries.  So we walked along the beach wall and small harbor looking at the million dollar yachts, and I joked which one was for me.

I love this sculpture made out of letters too. It is deceptive.

There is no shade to be found sitting under here, as I thought there would be.

As we wander along, Explorason climbs and acts like a regular nine-year-old kid.

We are guided by Explorason around the wall and there is a beach. Alas, we do not have our towels – they are back in the car.  So we head off, deciding a swim is in order. Shame, as this had sand and sand is rare in these parts. But we all want a swim.

Toward the end, Explorafriend spies a gelato and ice-cream store. In Australia, the gelato I had always eaten was somewhat icy, and thinking Explorafriend didn’t like creamy ice-cream, I try to find out for her the correct type. However, I got that wrong. She likes it creamy. So then a lesson in gelato vs ice-cream is unfolded for me.

( Later, as I’m always wanting to learn, I come ‘home’ to Google the difference, and discover I have a thing or two to learn about it.  It does seem very controversial as to which is creamier, even when Googling it.  All in all, it seems there is a sorbet sort made with juices that is less creamy, and a dairy-based gelato, that, of course, has more cream.

Which is creamier, you can decide, but seems some gelato is definitely creamier – so I live and learn? Explorafriend teaches me something new.

You can have a read here and decide what you think too.

http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-ice-cream-and-gelato-word-of-mouth-119657

http://www.foodrepublic.com/2013/08/13/whats-difference-between-ice-cream-and-gelato )

Leaving there, we drove along the beach again and stopped where parking was free.

There seemed to be quite a few small RV / Camper-vans where families seemed to be set for the day. It made me miss not getting the camper van I always wanted for the trip. It looked so relaxed.  However, we have a beautiful AirBnB location and view of our apartment.

Coming ‘home’ took three hours. The roads were jammed with cars going to the festival.  We managed to even skirt around it but it was a really long and slow ride.

This is really the end of the time in this area of France and in fact this area of Europe.

Where to next you ask??????

Questions and Comments

• What fascinates you about France?
• Have you been to St. Paul de Vence?
• How was the experience?
• Do share your comments with us below.

Check out these amazing travel deals

CLICK HERE