Day 29 - Cruising The Côte d’Azur
29 juin, France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
After a wonderful night’s sleep, we showered and headed to our free breakfast. Despite having had a superb 3 course meal the night before, I planned to make the most of the breakfast offerings.
I had scrambled eggs on toast, sausages, 2 croissants, 3 thick slices of bread with chocolate spread and honey, 2 yoghurts, coffee, orange juice and 2 oranges to take away. Jackie did nearly as well.
We set the SatNav initially for Monaco and I made the radical decision to leave Jackie in charge of photography for the day. We headed for the Grand Prix race track and followed a tight coastal road that took us the short distance to Monaco. Monaco seemed to be nothing more than a concrete tower jungle that had no attractive features. It seemed that there was no reason to live there other than the disgustingly rich having the benefits of paying no tax. We drove around the harbour roads, several times accidentally, which we believe was part of the Grand Prix circuit.
Totally underwhelmed by Monaco, we headed along the coast to Nice. It was a much more interesting drive which ultimately took us down to Nice seafront and alongside its famous Promenade des Anglais.
‘Promenade des Anglais in Nice is the most important attraction in the city. It stretches for seven kilometers and provides an uninterrupted view of the azure sea and palm trees.
Its name comes from the English aristocrats who came to Nice in the 18th century to enjoy the health benefits of the local climate. At that time, the shoreline was not so regular, and because the lords and their wives wanted to walk comfortably, a seaside promenade was built (with the hands and finances of the English people)’.
Nice looked like a nice city to properly visit, but we had other places to pass through. Our next stop was Cannes, famous for its Film Festival. We headed to the too busy harbour, with its generic street market, and continued along the Boulevard Du Midi Louise Moreau. Initially it felt disappointing, but the sun came out and we continued to the western end and the more attractive end of Cannes, where we headed north,
Our journey then took us along the coast via Fréjus towards Saint Tropez. As we approached, the heavy traffic started to slow to almost walking pace. We drove around the one way roads of Saint Tropez town centre, then headed back out as quickly as we could.
We then looked to assess the so called famous 5km Pampelonne beach just to the south on Saint Tropez. As we drove towards it, every driveway was gated. We drove to the beach and discovered that you it was necessary to park in a paying car park. We didn’t see how much, so I parked up near Club 55. I fell out with the chauffeur drivers who were dropping their pathetically posh clients off at the club.
We headed to our planned campsite, Selection Camping, where we confirmed they had an available tent pitch for 7 days. Apparently we could only stay for a maximum of 7 days, which suited us. A little Frenchman drove us around the site to find a suitable pitch.
We erected our tent on pitch 19, had a beer, a shower and went for dinner in the camp restaurant. We both ordered steak and chips and a half carafe of wine. It was nice but not sensational. We will be ordering pizza next time.
We returned to our camp and I tried to listen to the Germany football match on the radio. I don’t think I’m sexist, but squawky Vicky on the BBC drove me up the wall. She gave a hysterical weather explanation when the Germany match was delayed due to lightning and hail. I couldn’t bear to listen to it, particularly when ‘thick as mince’ Dion Dublin joined the discussion.
Not too long later, I was just finishing up my wine, when I thought I had drunk too much. I thought I saw pigs (albeit not flying). A family of six wild boar passed behind our tent and went up the steps to the shower block. They returned about 5 minutes later and trotted off down the path. With that it was time for bed.
Song of the Day - Passing Through by New Model Army.En savoir plus
