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Spain & France2017
  • Michael Smit

Spain & France2017

A short but fine adventure by Michael Read more
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  • Trip start
    June 30, 2017
    Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Barcelona - Day 1

    June 30, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Our visit to Spain started in Barcelona on beautiful warm sunny day. Coming from a wintry Sydney, it felt good to be in shorts and t-shirts.

    After breakfast in our hotel, we spent the day walking through the streets of Barcelona.
    We walked on three main streets. The first was Avinguda Diagonal, a street that, as its name suggests, diagonally cuts through the city of Barcelona.

    Then we walked down Rambla de Catalunya, a wide central pedestrian boulevard flanked by narrow one way streets for cars and motor scooters on each side.

    This eventually became La Rambla, a similar walkway, lined with cafes and restaurants, that connects the Placa de Catalunya with the Barcelona waterfront.

    The highlight was the Mercat de la Boqueria, a colourful produce market, where they sold all kinds of food from meat to seafood to fruit and vegetables to cheese and olives.

    We returned by retracing our steps, stopping for tapas and paella on the way.

    A key observation was that motor scooters are popular and well catered for in Barcelona. We saw more of them than we had in Rome or Paris. The streets seemed so well set up to provide ample parking for them.

    All in all a great day taking in this beautiful city, walking for 9 hours and around 20,000 steps according to Michael’s FitBit.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Barcelona - Day 2

    July 1, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Today we embarked on another walking tour of Barcelona, but this time we headed to the old town area, or Barri Gotic.

    Again we took the Avenguda Diagonal, but this time we turned into Passeig de Gracia, which runs parallel to Rambla de Catalunya and ends at Placa de Catalunya.

    Along Passeig de Garcia we passed two buildings designed and built by the famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), La Pedrera and Casa Batllo.

    La Pedrera, built between 1905 and 1910 as a combined apartment and office block, is one of Gaudi’s undisputed masterpieces. It has an uneven grey-stone façade which ripples around the corner, and a roof with giant chimney pots looking like sci-fi versions of medieval knights.

    Casa Batllo, is a whimsical building which like many of his creations has an almost organic style with its façade of wave shaped window frames and balconies, such that it almost seems like a living being. We didn’t visit inside but there were many queued up to do so.

    We headed into the old town and visited the Catedral de Barcelona, one of the city’s most magnificent Gothic structures. We took a lift to the roof for access to excellent views of the city.

    Afterwards we strolled through the historic streets and headed back to our hotel.

    At night we joined our tour guide and tour group for a welcome dinner of tapas. The group was a mix of mostly Australians and Americans, and about 39 in total. The tour guide Enzo Bonnano was a lot of fun.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Barcelona - Day 3

    July 2, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Started the day with a guided tour visit to Montserrat, a multi-peaked rocky range with strange eroded rock formations giving a serrated appearance located about 50km northwest of Barcelona.

    A Benedictine monastery, Santa Maria de Montserrat, is located in the range and is a holy place of pilgrimage for many Catalonians. The abbey holds the Virgin of Montserrat, also known as the Black Madonna (La Moreneta), a 12th century Romanesque wooden sculpture of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ.

    On return from Montserrat we went on a guided tour of the cathedral La Sagrada Familia (the Holy Family), designed by Antoni Gaudi. Originally started in 1880 by another architect, Gaudi took this on and devoted 43 years of his life to the building, dying by accident in 1926 before it was completed.

    While the interior is completed, the exterior remains uncompleted today, although work continues and is targeted for completion in 2026, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of his death. Even while incomplete, it is a beautiful piece of architecture exhibiting Gaudi's very different style.

    Lastly we were taken on a guide tour of the Old Town, which although we had visited the previous day was fascinating as we listened to our very knowledgeable local guide, Santiago.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Barcelona to Valencia - Day 4

    July 3, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    On another beautiful summer day in Spain we left Barcelona for our journey to Valencia, capital city of the state of Valencia famous for producing oranges (naranjas in Spanish).

    On the way we had a stopover in a beautiful seaside town of Peniscola, a busy tourist location with a wide sweeping beachfront.

    The town had an old walled village with a castle (castillo) and a church (iglesia) on the coast overlooking the beach and the blue Mediterranean. We spent a pleasant hour walking through the village finishing up with a cold beer (cerveza) and a calamari tapas.

    This village, castle, and beachfront was where the historic movie El Cid (with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren) was filmed.

    Next stop was Valencia where we were taken to a restaurant to watch a paella cooking demonstration. The paella was not seafood based but rather was chicken and rabbit. We enjoyed it over a couple of glasses of Spanish wine.

    Afterwards we explored the old town area of Valencia, looking at the old churches and buildings. We tried a traditional Valencian drink called horchata, which tasted like a very sweet almond milk.

    Next stop was our hotel, Barcelo Valencia, which was located in the City of Arts and Sciences, a new modern precinct made up of a lot of museums housed in stunning modern architecture. With nearby shopping complexes and restaurants, this was a lively area well into the night.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Valencia and Granada - Day 5

    July 4, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Our day was mostly spent travelling the 500+ kilometres along the Costa Blanca from Valencia to Granada, and on arrival in Granada we visited the fantastic Alhambra.

    This remarkable palace/fortress overlooks the town. It was built to be the home of the Sultans of the Nasrid dynasty in the 13th century. Its name is derived from the Arabic al-qalaát al-hamra meaning red castle.

    This was our introduction to the art, architecture and history of the Moors, who ruled over most of Spain for 780 years from the 7th century, giving Spain a history unique to the rest of Europe.

    The Alhambra is an exceptional and breathtakingly beautiful place, a fantasy of stone-cut lace, arabesque gardens and fountains. It is the only medieval palace of its type and cultural significance to have survived anywhere in the world. In 1870 the Alhambra was declared a National Monument and in 1984 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee declared it a World Heritage Site.

    We took many photos during our tour and visit, but they do not really capture the beauty of this place, perched along the top of a hill with the magnificent backdrop of the Sierra Nevada mountains.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Granada and Seville - Day 6

    July 5, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We had a morning tour of the Albayzin, the old Muslim quarter of Granada located on the hillside across from the Alhambra. This was where those who were not part of the palace or fortress used to live. It is characterised by narrow laneways and tightly integrated houses with walled gardens.

    The tour included a visit to Alcaicería, which was once the Great Bazaar of Granada, a series of streets bursting with stalls selling Arabic silks, spices and other precious goods. Nowadays only a section of it remains but it is an area rich with history and local culture, and while it is home to Granada's souvenir stalls it is still packed with interesting, exotic things to buy. For sale is a variety of Arabic craftwork, such as the fajalauza (traditional local painted ceramics), taracea (wooden inlay), granadino farolas (stained-glass lamps), ethnic clothing, knick-knacks, and souvenir memorabilia.

    At noon we headed off in the bus towards Seville, or Sevilla (pronounced Seviya) as it is called within Spain, passing fields of olive trees along the way that stretched as far as the eye could see.

    In Sevilla we went to a restaurant to see a flamenco show with dinner. This was our first experience of the passionate flamenco music and singing and the exotic dancing. A truly fantastic show with very talented dancers.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Seville - Day 7

    July 6, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    On our second day in Seville, we visited the Maria Luisa Park, seeing the pavilions built for the Ibero-American Fair in 1929 on the way to the Plaza of Spain, where the Spanish pavilion is located. This huge pavilion housed exhibits from all 17 regions of Spain for the Fair.

    Next we strolled through the Santa Cruz district, the medieval Jewish quarter, with its narrow winding streets and flower bedecked wrought-iron balconies, towards the Seville Cathedral.

    After Seville was reconquered by the Christians in 1248, its main mosque was used as a church until 1401, when it was knocked down to make way for what would become the world’s largest Gothic Cathedral. It was completed in 1507.

    Inside he cathedral stands the elaborate tomb of Christopher Columbus, dating from 1902. The remains within the tomb are the subject of debate, with some arguing that he is buried in the Dominican Republic, but he is revered in Seville due to his contribution to its history.

    Seville is the home of tapas and we had an exceptional lunch of grilled mushrooms; goat's cheese and honey; and grilled octopus.

    Finally we visited the sublime and romantic Real Alcazar, the royal castle/palace built by the Moors and residence to many generations of caliphs, with richly scented gardens, domed halls, horseshoe arches and courtyards. This palace and its gardens are the location for the kingdom of Dorne in Game of Thrones.

    That evening we visited a 350 year old restaurant in Seville called El Rinconcillo (literally meaning the inside of a little corner) for a tapas dinner with the tour group. This was followed by a horse carriage ride through the streets of Seville back to our hotel.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Seville, Cordoba, and Madrid - Day 8

    July 7, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    After Seville we headed towards Madrid with a stop in the perfectly preserved Moorish city of Córdoba.

    There we saw the 2,000 year old Roman bridge across the Guadalquivir River, called the Puente Romano, as Cordoba was once a part of the Roman empire.

    Entering the city, we visited its centrepiece, the gigantic Mezquita, also known as the mosque-cathedral. It is the only place in the world where you can worship mass in a mosque. The mosque that was built by the Moors in the 8th century was converted to a cathedral in the 13th century not by destroying and rebuilding it as a cathedral but rather by building a cathedral within it, thus preserving the beauty of the mosque.

    The key feature of the Mezquita is its most defining characteristic, the unique terracotta and white striped arches. Glimpsed through the dull light they are at once spooky and striking.

    Another highlight is the mihrab, the scallop shaped prayer niche that faces towards Mecca that was added in the 10th century.

    We continued our journey to Madrid and with little time to rest and freshen up, were off to a three course dinner accompanied by a performance by local opera singers. The waiters and waitresses were also to opera singers!    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Madrid - Day 9

    July 8, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Our first day in Madrid began with a bus tour through the city, looking at the key buildings and monuments, such as the Cibeles Fountain, the Parliament, and the Puerto Del Sol.

    We stopped at the Plaza de Espana to see the statue dedicated to Cervantes and his fictional characters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

    We finished the tour with a guided tour of the Prado Museum, with a highlight on the works of the Spanish artists El Greco, Velazquez, Murillo, and Goya.

    In the afternoon we headed out to Toledo, Spain’s equivalent of a downsized Rome. It was the former capital of Spain before the capital was relocated to Madrid. We were led through narrow meandering streets towards the beautiful Toledo cathedral.

    We concluded the day with an end of tour farewell dinner at a local Madrid restaurant, with great company from around the world with fellow travellers from Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the US, and our guide Enzo from Italy and our driver Antonio from Portugal.

    As it was Michael’s birthday on the previous day, they gave him a lovely surprise as they all wished him Feliz Cumpleanos and brought out cake and candles.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Madrid to Paris - Day 10

    July 9, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    On our last morning in Madrid, we walked from our hotel, the Hesperia Madrid, into the city for some last minute sightseeing and shopping.

    We bought two compilation CDs of flamenco music, one of Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer and producer Paco de Lucía, and supposedly the greatest flamenco singer ever, Camarón de la Isla (considered as the gypsy god of flamenco).

    In the afternoon we flew to Paris, arriving at our hotel, Hotel du Jeu de Paume, on the Isle of St Louis, late in the evening.

    Ile St Louis is an island in the middle of the Seine River and like the other nearby island, Ile de la Cite, is the historic heart of Paris.

    Ile de la Cite is home to Notre Dame Cathedral, along with the Conciergerie and Ste Chapelle.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris - Day 11

    July 10, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We started our day with breakfast at Café St Regis, a lovely little café on Ile St Louis, which became a favourite breakfast place for us. One of the waiters was a lot of fun, singing and joking with the customers. We had fresh crusty bread with jam and café au lait (coffee with milk) and hot chocolate.

    We had an easy day as we wanted to slow things down after the hectic Spain tour and also because Michael was a little unwell with a virus.

    We wandered around the Marais district north of Ile St Louis. We stopped for a while in Place des Vosges, one of the most popular squares in Paris. Built in 1612, it is an ensemble of three dozen symmetrical houses with ground floor arcades, steep slate roofs and large windows surrounding a large square.

    We walked back to the riverside and strolled around Notre Dame and the Ile St Louis.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris - Day 12

    July 11, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    After another pleasant breakfast at Café St Regis, we headed out for another day of walking the streets of beautiful Paris.

    Today we began with a stroll along the length of the Rue de Rivoli, passing the Hotel de Ville, the Musee de Louvre, and the Jardin des Tuileries.

    We arrived at the Place de la Concorde to find that there were some road closures and lots of activity and French flags, all part of the preparations for the French National Day, often referred to as Bastille Day.

    The Place de la Concorde has at its centre a 3,300 year old pink granite obelisk with a gilded top that once stood in the Temple of Ramses at Thebes and was given to France in 1831 by the viceroy and pasha of Egypt, Muhammad Ali.

    We continued along the flag-lined Champs Elysees past the Grand Palais towards the Arc de Triomphe, stopping at some of the shops along the way (Louis Vitton, Gucci, Guerlain, Adidas, Disney, etc, etc).

    While walking we heard the roar of aircraft overhead and stopped to see the flyover of a number of military aircraft, practicing for Bastille Day.

    We returned along the other side of the Champs Elysees and the Rue de Rivoli back to the Marais district. We thought that we would try and find the wine shop of Hana’s niece’s father in law, called Caves du Marais (Cellar of Marais). We found it but found it closed with a sign (in French) in the window. While trying to work out what it said, a young man walked up and explained to Hana that he was on holidays but that this was the best wine shop in Paris!

    We wandered down to the riverside to find that there were a number of open air bars set up there as part of Paris Plages, an annual event each summer that creates temporary artificial beaches along the river Seine in the centre of Paris. We found a nice one and sat and listened to some jazz while having a drink and nibblies on the shore of the Seine.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris - Day 13

    July 12, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    On this day we caught a train out to Versailles to visit Chateau Versailles, the political capitol and seat of the royal court from 1682 until the fateful events of 1789. In that year, revolutionaries massacred the palace guard and dragged Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette back to Paris, where they were ingloriously guillotined.

    This place was magnificent and photos can only give some idea of the scale and over the top opulence of the buildings and the expansive gardens.

    We started our tour by going through the rooms of Louis XIV, providing a broad overview of the 17th century, the King, his family, and the Court.

    This was followed by the State Apartments, the ceremonial apartments of the Kings of France at the heart of the palace and the life of the Court. This included the Hall of Mirrors.

    We finished up in the Gallery of Battles, with some 30 huge paintings depicting various historic French battles.

    We walked past Latona’s Fountain and Partierre, down the Great Lawn past the gardens and hidden groves to the Grand Canal and then onto the Petit Trianon.

    This small palace retreat was originally built for the private use of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour in 1768, but was given to Marie Antoinette by Louis XVI in 1774 and it became her favourite place.

    On the way back though the gardens to the main palace, we stopped at a garden side café for tea and coffee and crepes.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris - Day 14

    July 13, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We started our fourth day in Paris with a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral, a 14th century Gothic wonder. The interior is 130m long, 48m wide and 35m high and can accommodate more than 6,000 worshippers. its most exceptional features are the three spectacular rose windows, particularly the 10m wide one over the western façade above the 7,800 pipe organ.

    Later we strolled along Rue St Honore, where we came upon Place Vendome, a large octagonal place with a 43.5m tall column in its centre. The column is made up of a stone core wrapped in a 160m long bronze spiral made from hundreds of Austrian and Russian cannons captured by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. The statue way up on top shows Napoleon in classical Roman dress (as might befit an emperor!).

    We arrived in the Place de la Madeleine and decided to have lunch at the café of Fauchon, a famous shop selling fine food and beautiful cakes. We had a lovely prawn and mango salad and a saffron risotto followed by a beautiful chocolate based dessert.

    After some shopping and further wandering through the boulevards, we headed towards the river again to see what Paris Plages activities were going on. We heard some music playing and discovered a bunch of people happily dancing on a wooden platform beside the river.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris - Day 15

    July 14, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Breakfast again with the singing waiter at Café St Regis, after which we headed towards the Champs Elysees as it was Bastille Day, the French National Day, and we thought that we would try and catch the military parade.

    We walked on the southern bank of the Seine, past Notre Dame and on through St Germain des Pres and the Musee d’Orsay, and past Pont Alexandre III and the Hotel des Invalides, crossing Pont des Invalides to head north to the Champs Elysees.

    By the time we got there the parade had started and we were quite a distance from the parade behind a crowd of Parisians. We couldn’t see much of the marchers, except for those whose uniforms had feathers on their helmets!

    We had a much better view of the dazzling display of French military superiority, when the horses and military vehicles (tanks and jeeps and transports and trucks) clattered and rumbled by. Not to mention the flyovers of helicopters and jet aircraft, both big and small.

    Afterwards we went to the Louvre, along with many others, as entry is free on Bastille Day. We looked through the exhibits of ancient Middle Eastern art, admiring the Code of Hammurabi and the winged bulls of ancient Iraq, before visiting some of the galleries of statues and paintings. We were particularly keen to see some of the works of Spanish artists that we had seen in Madrid’s Prado Museum.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris - Day 16

    July 15, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We bid farewell this morning to our hotel for the last 6 nights, the Hotel du Jeu de Paume, on the Isle of St Louis. A small but very pleasant and well located hotel.

    We travelled to Bercy, in the south eastern part of Paris, and checked into our hotel for the next three nights, the Pullman Hotel Paris Bercy to join our tour of Southern France.

    The hotel was located very close to Bercy Village, a strip of offbeat designer shops, bars and restaurants in buildings that were converted from former wine stores. We looked around the shops and had lunch in one of the restaurants.

    In the evening we met the tour guide, Emmanuelle, and our fellow tour members in the hotel bar and afterwards had a welcome dinner at a nearby restaurant in the village. The tour group were mostly Americans, with a few Australians and South Africans.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris - Day 17

    July 16, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    This morning we went on a morning city tour of Paris by bus with a local expert. The first stop was the Place de la Concorde, which we had visited earlier in the week, but today it was still being packed and cleaned up after the Bastille Day celebrations.

    The next stop was the Jardins du Trocadero outside of the Palais de Chaillot for an iconic view of the Eiffel Tower across the river.

    After this we were taken to the Esplanade des Invalides in front of the Hotel des Invalides for a tour group photo. This building was built in the 1670s to provide housing for infirm veterans returning from war. Today it houses a military museum and underneath it is the final resting place of Napoleon, the man many French people consider to be the nation’s greatest hero.

    We then headed to Montmartre, the bohemian quarter of Paris, for a walking tour, commencing outside the red windmill, Moulin Rouge.

    We stopped at Le Bateau Lavoir, where the artists Modigliani, Picasso, Kees Van Dongen and Max Jacob lived in an old piano factory.

    We visited a house (in rue d’Orchampt) and heard the tragic story of Dalida, one of France’s most successful and famous singers. Born as Yolanda Gigliotti to Italian parents in Egypt she took on Dalida as her stage name and had a career spanning 30 years from 1956 to 1986. Four men in her life committed suicide, and in 1987 she took her own life, leaving a note saying "Life is unbearable for me...Forgive me." Following her death, a square was dedicated to her (Place Dalida) with a bust of her on a pedestal which we also visited.

    We passed Clos Montmartre, a tiny vineyard that produces around 800 bottles of wine a year, which are auctioned off for charity in October.

    We next visited the Basilique de Sacre Couer (the basilica of the Sacred Heart), which was built to atone for the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1) but not consecrated until 1919. Our guide took us around the rear of the basilica for a unique view away from all the tourists.

    The guide told us that many of today’s inhabitants of Montmartre are known as bobos, which stands for bourgeois bohemians. Bobos are people who make a lot of money but who pretend to live the philosopher’s life.

    Later in the day we took an evening cruise on the river Seine from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame and back, after which we ascended the Eiffel Tower to the second level for a stunning night view of the City of Lights.

    All in all a pretty full day!    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris - Day 18

    July 17, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Today we visited Sainte Chapelle, a holy chapel built by Louis IX in 1248, with stained glass windows all around giving it an ethereal feel. The 15 stained glass windows contain 1,113 scenes depicting the story of mankind from Genesis through to Christ’s resurrection.

    We crossed the Seine on Paris’ oldest and most famous bridge, Pont Neuf (ironically “new bridge”), inaugurated in 1607 and linking the Ile de la Cite with the left and right banks of the river. This bridge is also famous for the padlocks affixed to the fences around part of the bridge, with declarations of love.

    We browsed through the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookshop. We bought a copy of Ernest Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon, a book about bullfighting in Spain, forming a nice connection between our Spanish and French travels.

    Afterwards we wandered through the St Germain des Pres area, where Sartre, de Beauvoir and Camus, and later Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Joyce, once hung out in cafes drinking and engaging in earnest debate. These days it accommodates chic boutiques though the legendary cafes still exist.

    We had a pleasant lunch at Café de Flore, one of the oldest coffeehouses in Paris, celebrated for its famous clientele, which in the past included high-profile writers and philosophers. It is located at the corner of Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue Saint-Benoît.

    Later we strolled through the Luxembourg Gardens, an enchanting park with a large pond, a great place to relax for a while and watch Parisians at play.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Paris to Avignon and Nimes - Day 19

    July 18, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Our journey to the south of France began with a fast train, the TGV, from Paris to Avignon in the Provence region, hurtling along at up to 300kmh.

    On arrival in Avignon we hopped on our bus and headed to the pretty village of Chateauneuf de Pape (literally meaning "new castle of the Pope", from the papal residence located there in medieval times), where we visited a winery to hear about and taste their famous wine.

    Afterwards we went to Pont du Gard, a three level arch spanning a river that was built by the Romans as part of a 49km aqueduct system built around 19 BC providing water to the Roman town that is called Nimes (pronounced Neem) today. 35 arches straddling the aqueducts 275m long upper tier supporting a watercourse designed to carry 20,000 cubic metres of water per day.

    We then travelled to Nimes and checked into our Hotel, the Hotel Imperator. Nimes is quite a lovely little city, and our hotel was historic but was quite old and in need of a revamp.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Avignon and Arles - Day 20

    July 19, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today we hopped in the bus and headed to the walled city of Arles (pronounced Arl) for a brief city tour and for a wander around.

    We passed the two-tiered Arles amphitheatre which was being set up for an evening concert. Built by the Romans in 90 AD, it was capable of seating over 20,000 spectators.

    There were many shops in Arles selling Santons (little saints), small figurines made of clay and hand-crafted with loving care. They started as figures for Nativity scenes, such as Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus and the three Kings, but now reflect the life of the inhabitants and families of Provence showing traditional activities of the working men and women of Marseilles, or famous figures from Arles and the Camargue region.

    Vincent van Gogh spent a lot of time in Arles, and captured the light, the colours, and the landmarks in over 200 canvases he painted there (not a single one of which remains today). Van Gogh painted Café Terrace at Night in Arles in mid-September 1888. The subject of the painting is now Le Café La Nuit in the busy Place du Forum, which was refurbished in 1990 and 1991 to replicate the painting.

    Afterwards we went to Avignon, another walled city that was home to the Popes during the 14th century. It is the site of the Palais de Papes (Palace of the Popes) built to keep the Popes in the manner in which they were accustomed to.

    Avignon was busy with the Festival d'Avignon, an annual arts festival held every summer in July. It is the oldest extant festival in France and one of the world's greatest.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Nimes - Day 21

    July 20, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today was free of tour activities and so we were free to spend the day wandering around Nimes mostly visiting the Roman historical sites, namely the Arena, the Maison Carrie, and the Tour Magne.

    The Arena is the best preserved Roman amphitheatre in the world. It was built to seat over 10,000 spectators to gladiatorial contests. In addition to being open for visits, it is used for concerts and special events, and controversially for bullfights.

    The Maison Carre is a former Roman temple that has been preserved throughout the ages. Inside a short film is run every half hour dramatising the birth of Nimes as the Roman town of Nemausus.

    The Tour Magne is a remnant of the old Roman fortified wall that surrounded Nemausus, and today offers panoramic views of the city. It was the highest of the 80 towers that were part of the wall, which was built in 16AD and was 7km long.

    Walking around Nimes we saw a full sized bronze crocodile in an exotic fountain in the Place du Marche. We learnt that the crocodile and the palm tree are the symbols of Nimes, deriving from early bronze coins minted by the Romans from 28-27 BC onwards, showing a crocodile (symbol of Egypt) chained to a palm tree (Roman symbol of victory) in celebration of the role of its contingent in the Roman army which defeated Anthony at the battle of Actium in Egypt in 31 BC.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Nimes to Monaco - Day 22

    July 21, 2017 in Monaco ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We left Nimes this morning for our journey to Monaco, and our first very brief stop was the city of Aix-en-Provence. Aix (pronounced ex) is rich in culture with two of its most famous sons being the painter Paul Cezanne and novelist Emile Zola.

    Our second stop was the beautiful hilltop town of St Paul-de-Vence, outside of Nice and Monaco. We loved this town and wish we could have spent more than the 1.5 hours allowed. Very touristy and very busy at this time of year but some very interesting shops and lots of art galleries (64 in total!) with fairly unique art items, reflecting the village’s art legacy.

    We arrived at the Fairmont Hotel in Monaco, which was our base for the next 3 nights. And what a base it was, a four star hotel overlooking the blue Mediterranean Sea.

    We went for a walk to the Casino and around the hotel. On returning to the hotel we saw a number of young men with fancy cameras in the front of the hotel. At first we thought they were paparazzi, but then thought that they were too young for that. Then we realised that they were there to capture the expensive cars as they slowed down for the hairpin bend directly in front of the hotel, which was part of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. There were some flash looking cars in the hotel carpark also.

    We had dinner in the rooftop restaurant of the hotel, the Horizon. Such beautiful food (the truffle pizza was to die for) and such a beautiful backdrop and environment, it had us both feeling like rock stars.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Monaco - Day 23

    July 22, 2017 in Monaco ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we headed up to The Rock or La Rocher, which is where the Monaco cathedral and Royal Palace are located, and which offered beautiful views over the city, the yacht filled harbour, and the Mediterranean.

    The Cathedrale de Monaco is a stunning cathedral built in 1875 in the Romanesque-Byzantine style. Inside are housed the tombs of Princess Grace (who died tragically in a car accident in 1982) and Prince Rainier (who died in 2005).

    We strolled around in front of the Palais du Prince, the royal palace, where the royal Grimaldi family live, although we did not venture inside. We witnessed the changing of the guard in their white uniforms.

    On our second night in Monaco we were taken to a hilltop village called La Turbie for a dinner. Before the dinner the Australian lady who runs the restaurant with her French husband took us for a passionate tour through the medieval walled town. A very proud resident of the village and a frustrated tour guide we thought. It was nice to see such a town in a more natural state, rather than the more tourist oriented towns.

    The town had a Roman ruin called the Trophy of Augustus which was built in 6 BC to celebrate Augustus’ conquest of the Gaulish tribes between 25 and 14 BC. It exerts the power and protection of Rome.

    We topped off the night with a front row seat to fireworks near our hotel. This was probably the best view of fireworks we had ever had. More were to be held weekly over the next four weeks, including Australia, but the ones we watched were put on by France.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Monaco and Nice - Day 24

    July 23, 2017 in Monaco ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    On Sunday we took a day trip by bus from Monaco to Nice. We got off the bus to the east of Nice and got our first look at Nice from a hill overlooking the city and the long beachfront.

    On this hill was the very popular and much photographed #I Love Nice sign. Initially the hashtag was launched on social networks following the terrorist attack on the Promenade des Anglais on 14th July 2016, as a message to the world that the people of Nice, despite such threats still believe in peace and hope. And now the sign has become a symbol of love to the citizens of the French city and the capital of the Riviera.
    N
    ice was quite busy at the waterfront as they were holding an Ironman like competition along the wide, palm lined Promenade des Anglais. It was funny for us to see a beach full of pebbles rather than sand and with no surf!

    We wandered away from the busy beachfront into the Nice’s labyrinthine baroque old town where after some wandering and shopping we had some lunch.

    That night in Monaco we had a farewell dinner with the tour group.    Read more

  • Michael SmitSpain & France2017Michael Smit

    Monaco to Lyon to Venice - Day 25

    July 24, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Today we were up bright and early for a 5.30am drop off to Nice airport for our flight to Venice via Lyon.

    We had a six hour stopover in Lyon, and so we caught the tram into the city for a brief visit.

    We embarked from the tram in Place Bellecour and walked across the Saone River on the Pont Bonaparte, looking up at the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere perched high on a hilltop, and strolled into the old town of Lyon, known as Vieux Lyon.

    Our first stop was the Cathedral St-Jean in the middle of Vieux Port, built between the late 11th and early 16th centuries.

    We stumbled upon the Museum of Miniatures and Film Sets, a unique museum offering a fascinating look at rare and unusual miniature models including more than 450 items used on film sets. Unfortunately we did not have time to explore this museum but from the displays outside this looked amazing.

    We only had a very brief taste of Lyon but it looks like a beautiful city well worth spending a few days in, and on our agenda if we are to visit the south of France again.

    We arrived in Venice, entering the city in style by catching a water taxi to our hotel, and spent the night wandering the streets of Venice (along with everyone else it seemed).

    We strolled through Piazza San Marco and through the narrow streets to the Rialto Bridge, and enjoyed a nice pasta meal alongside the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge.    Read more

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