French Hill Villages

From our base in Nice, such destinations as Monaco, Cannes, and the like are nearby, but well-known, touristy, and congested. We elected to rent a car and visit the hill villages: medieval small fortified villages whose architecture today is little changed from centuries ago. Many were built on high rocky hillsides which were more easily defensible. Driving to them is a challenge. Our driveway at home is wider and smoother than some sections we encountered. But the views of surrounding mountains and valleys are extraordinary, and a few (Gourdon, Eze) have many artsy shops with high quality products.

Nice: large bustling, touristy with great restaurants, museums, shops, monuments, and parks.  Security features are obvious, but we avoided the most crowded areas.

Many classic sailing yachts were out, not far off the beach.  impressive power yachts were parked in the marinas.  

We should expect a Club Med yacht here on the French Riviera.

At breakfast today we talked with a couple visiting from Buenos Aires, and at lunch we exchanged views on world events with a couple from Kiev, Ukraine. They witnessed the recent revolution against their government which included people being shot and killed just outside their windows.

The village of Gourdon; why put a village on such a remote rocky outcropping?  The ridge you see in the background is a popular paragliding spot.

A street scene in Gourdon on one of the less touristy lanes.

Occasionally, the paragliders would fly right overhead.  Imagine soaring like a bird!

The village of Gourdon, our first stop, is apparently a paragliding hot spot. We could see at least ten paragliders catching the updraft at a nearby mountain ridge.  When we lived in Germany 25+ years ago, I took a paragliding course. I was never able to pursue it; my career was too demanding at that time. But it is as close to feeling like a soaring bird as you would ever experience. Our "final exam" was to launch from the top of a ski slope and fly down to Garmisch, turn into the wind, fly over the wall of the Olympic winter stadium, and land in the center field.  Controlled much like an airplane by using the "flaps".

The village of Tourrettes sur Loup.  Different homes have common walls made of many huge stones and mortar joints.  The passageways are too narrow for cars, which are left outside the village.

A street scene in Tourrettes sur Loup.  Despite its ancient origins, the surroundings can be neat and aesthetically pleasing.

A street scene in Eze which used to be a village but now is basically a touristy arts center.

A typical art studio in Eze; although the variety of items in different shops covers a wide range of cute, quality products.

The village of Peillon; no tourists here due to its remote location, but the scenery is outstanding.  We ate lunch here at the only restaurant we could find; it would seat about twenty persons maximum, but the food was good.  Very little English understood here.

Another view of Peillon; you can see the rugged terrain it is located in.

Aren't passageways such as this amazing?  Ancient yet very pleasing to see.  This is the village of Luceram; again, no tourists due to its rather remote location.

This is Luceram, but passageways, such as this, are routine in all these old medieval villages.  Amazing that people have brought in modern electricity and plumbing instead of abandoning such old surroundings.

A defensive watch tower at the high end of Luceram.  I wish I knew why they needed such strong defensive locations; who were they protecting against?

I believe the answer is that these fortified villages were built in locations with difficult access to protect against Moorish slave raiders.  Few people realize that tens of thousands of Europeans were made captives and taken to north Africa as slaves.  The men would be chained to the oars of sea-going galley ships and slowly worked to death.  The women were household slaves or sex objects, and the children would have field chores.  This started hundreds of years before north America was settled.

We took time out for laundry recently.  The hotel service charges 7 euros for a shirt; we were able to do an entire self-service load for that amount. We have a neat little pocket WiFi "hot spot" which allows us to keep our internet connection while roaming the area; rents for only 2 euros per day. We have now visited Gourdon, Le Bar sur Loupe, Tourettes sur Loup, Grasse, Eze, Peillon, and Luceram; all distinctive hill villages.  Visiting the last two, we were almost the only tourists present. The architecture is amazing; fortress walls, chapels, fountains, and homes with thick shared stone walls. Flowers growing from pots; large trees pushing up through the cobblestones which have been polished by generations of inhabitants passing over them; heavy wooden doors leading into unknown recesses. The photo opportunities are endless.

The past two days we have had lunch in little country restaurants, seating perhaps twenty patrons max, where no English was spoken. A phrase book, some memorized words, and common expressions got us through.  Great meals in an authentic atmosphere.  I do not recommend our approach generally: the driving is very challenging both in the city and rural back roads. Dawn & I have familiarity with European driving; we drive as a team (driver, navigator) and still use a GPS.

On to Genoa and France

A shorts and light shirt day, perfect weather, and we rented electric bicycles to extend our range of exploration. We could have walked 3-5 miles , but on the bikes, we covered 10-15 miles with little effort. Although we have bikes at home, electric bicycles are new to us. Great fun!  We followed a river trail to an interesting bridge, then coasted back down river to Cannobio.

A pretty little waterfall we discovered while bicycling.  Plenty of trails for hiking in the area if you don't mind steep ascents.

Our Mercedes (A200D) was a great vehicles for our time in Italy.  If we had driven it over the border to Nice, France, our rental fee would have increased by about a thousand dollars.

It was a three hour drive to Genoa, and it's a big city.  Not fun at all driving here.  You may have 2-3 lanes of traffic in your direction, but then motorcycles and scooters are driving between the
lanes.  So it is more like five lanes. Then we had entire streets blocked by police or construction, and we had lanes stopped by unloading vehicles, and one-way streets just where you wanted to turn.  We got to our B&B location to discover that there was not a single parking space on the busy street, and no one answered the door at our given address.  Answer?  We drove to the Hertz location, turned in our Mercedes, and took a taxi back to the B&B.  But our room is very nice and just a block off the Mediterranean. Our B&B proved to be very enjoyable. We met a boat builder from Poland and financial backer from Rome, both here for a boat show. Our hostess, Isabella, was interested in our needs and also our views; she is interested in traveling herself and is planning to come to the US next April.  We invited her to visit us.

After dinner (8pm) last night, we were walking along wide promenade at the sea wall, and considering how we got here. Just a nerdy kid from Omaha and his adventuresome girlfriend; very satisfying to set goals and accomplish them.

We spent most of a day traveling from Genoa to Nice by train. At the border, we switched to a French train. Two armed police came on board; questioned and removed a passenger from our car.  We notice roving patrols of three soldiers with assault rifles in hand slowly moving down the avenues in formation, eyes carefully sweeping across the clusters of pedestrians. At the train station, barricades prevent vehicles from getting close. After getting settled and dinner, we walked to the beach and then to an overlook where the city spread below us.

Nice, France, at night viewed from the elevated park at the east end of the main beach.

Lake Maggiore, Italy

On the way to Lake Maggiore we topped off the fuel tank on our Mercedes: about 10 gallons of diesel, costing about $72.  The car is very fuel efficient and has plenty of power, perfect for our trip.  Our GPS unit (from Hertz) is a godsend; occasionally wrong but routinely provides accurate guidance. In traffic around the lakes we average about 25 mph due to the narrow roads and congested traffic. We stopped at the town of Stresa and took a cable car to the top of Monte Mottarone (about 4000' above the lake surface) for a distant view of the lake and surrounding area. We had lunch on the harbor front promenade and met an interesting couple from Virginia who were in Europe to take delivery of their new Mercedes E43.

 Lake Maggiore as seen from Monte Mottarone with the lakeside town of Verbania on the left side.

View from the window of our B&B.  We slept with the window open and could hear the gentle lapping of waves at the end of our cobblestone dock.

We arrived in Cannobio and had to park our car and walk to the B&B, even asking directions, because that last distance was through a pedestrian only area. Our B&B has a fantastic location right on the water at the end of the promenade. After unpacking, we walked the narrow streets of the old city, but could see that modernization is taking place behind medieval walls.  We ended up eating dinner at 8pm in an outdoor setting on the harbor and had a nice talk with a Swiss couple at an adjoining table.

The promenade at Cannobio; most of the restaurants are found along the harbor. Our B&B was located at the south end of the promenade.

Our B&B; our room was the lower level with the bedding sticking out the window.  Inside, it was a very modern, well-decorated room.

That is a road through a village, not a driveway, and note that the vehicle is a compact Suzuki.  The switchback turns were so tight that many vehicles were forced to stop and back up before completing the turn.

Hard to tell a road from a driveway in this steep valley.

A mountain village close to the Swiss border.  I wonder what caused people to congregate in a place with such difficult access.

As well as walking the town, we drove up a narrow road into an isolated steep valley, Valle Cannobina, to view villages where the changes have been minimal; layered natural stone roofs and some dry-laid stone walls.  I even saw a roof where the moisture had been dripping off for so many years (centuries?) that stalactites were forming at the roof edge and, on the stone below, lime formations were building up. The driving was exciting: single lanes and 180-degree corners.

Orrido Sant' Anna- the chapel of Saint Anna located at the bridge over the chasm of the Cannobino Torrente (river).

Thus far, we have stayed only in B&Bs, not a conscious decision on my part.  I use a set of criteria to filter the choices (reviewer comments being very important), and it seems that B&Bs are often more highly appreciated. With only 3-6 rooms you tend to get personal service, and less chance of bed bugs. Disturbing that the places we have stayed in in Europe have been cleaner, better, and cheaper than what we can find in Washington, DC.

Lake Como, Italy

Lake Como snuggles up closer to the Alps than Lake Garda. Switzerland is only a few miles away, and the weather is cooler.  We have a beautiful B&B unit right on the lake with covered secure parking in the village of Laglio. Mountains here cascade right into the shoreline; thus, our evening walk was all up and down like mountain goats. The paths we followed, I am sure, were created centuries ago; history is everywhere here.

 A walkway heading uphill away from the lake shore.  The stones are worn from centuries of foot steps up these steep paths.

The view out onto Lake Como from our B&B.  We are at a narrow point in the lake.

George Clooney's villa is in that cluster of buildings behind a facade of thick landscape vegetation.

Looking east from Bellagio; you can see how steep and rocky the shores are.  The village of Varenna is in the distance.  Bellagio is on a peninsula between two branches of the lake.

Looking west from Bellagio toward Tremezzo,  We took a ferry across from Tremezzo to get to Bellagio.
We took a ferry to Bellagio; pretty but not amazing.  Here you hear English spoken much more often than at Lake Garda; quite a few Brits and some Americans.  Driving is exciting on the roads; a two-way street becomes one-way when one is a bus or truck, or even a full size car, the streets are so narrow. We walked to George Clooney's villa from our B&B, rather close, and along the way we came upon a presentation ceremony for the new Riva electric runabout. A beautiful mahogany boat which will be the nautical equivalent of a Tesla auto.

The newest boat design from the Riva company.  The wood is beautiful and the finish is perfect; this is artistry.

A small part of the gardens of Villa Carlotta (on a perfect day in September).

Very old work sheds on the hillside behind Villa Carlotta.

Villa Carlotta is only a few miles north and has beautiful gardens as well as the historic and ornate mansion.  The building is 300+ years old; and was a wedding gift to Carlotta, who unfortunately died at age 23 during childbirth.  The weather continues to be perfect; some people are wearing sweaters while others are in shorts and light shirts: depends on whether you are in the sun or shade. We had rain overnight which left a dusting of snow on the surrounding mountain peaks almost a mile above us.

I am feeling a bit guilty for not learning more Italian phrases. Dawn and I are much more familiar with Spanish and German common phrases.  The Italians we deal with are so good about understanding English that it has allowed us to be lazy. In the northern portion of Italy, where we are visiting, everything is first rate: aesthetically pleasing, functional, well-kept, and well thought out. I wonder if southern Italy is any different?  In contrast, when we were in Argentina last Spring, systems were modern but shabby and not as smoothly functional. The difference between "first world" and "third world" perhaps?

Italy's Lake Garda

Today we drove to a beautiful B&B overlooking Lake Garda from the western shore.  We were reminded that you need cash for the autostrada tolls. Hertz gave us a very well-equipped Mercedes A200D instead of the Fiat I expected.  Getting acquainted with our Mercedes rental caused a scare.  We couldn't lock it.... The car senses your presence with the key and will not lock if you are standing too close.  The Lake Garda view is spectacular; the lake is huge.  The weather is perfect; warm days but cooling at night to where you add that extra blanket since we are in the southern edge of the Alps. Dinner was at a nearby restaurant; absolutely packed on a Wednesday night.  A nearby German family ordering dinner with an Italian server.....why, of course, they ordered in English.... the international language.  Last night at dinner we met a wonderful couple visiting from Victoria, B.C.  We had much in common.  At our B&B in Venice we met a hippie couple from (of course) Northern California. What weirdos!  They couldn't eat eggs or croissants because it "would interfere with their meditation pathways".  So instead they ate all the fruit and nuts that had been put out for other residents. Travel is broadening.

A partial view of Lake Garda from our B&B on the western shore.  The B&B is high above the lake and accessed only by narrow winding roads.

A waterfront view of Salo on Lake Garda.

The Arcangeli boat company is located on the shores of Lake Garda.  They have an entire building full of these beautiful runabouts.

The Riva Ariston; seeing such boats in real life is a significant reason we came to Italy.

Exploring Lake Garda today, our expectations were exceeded. I got photos of a Riva Ariston runabout on the lake. Rivas, by many polls, are considered the most beautiful boats on earth, and they are built in Italy.  Italy is known as a center for art and design: great leather goods, beautiful Ferrari automobiles, paintings, statues, women's' fashion clothing, and food preparation. As well as famous foods, throughout Europe Italian gelato (ice cream) is considered the best.  Dawn and I will vouch for that, although my lactose intolerance limits me to sorbet. Many tourists here but mainly Italian, a significant number of Germans, a few British voices, and not much else that we could discern. We met an interesting couple from York, England today. They have traveled extensively, so we got advice from them on some destinations. They were traveling with their 14-month-old baby (and she is 50 y. o.) We were able to take a long walk along the shore in the town of Salo and later at Siramione. Tomorrow, we move to Lake Como.

Venice, Italy

Our approach to travel has been to make all our own reservations so we can go with our own pace, our own interests, and avoid the crowd.  It has it's good and bad aspects.  Kind of a neat challenge to arrive in the Venice, Italy, on a Portuguese airline (TAP) and go through customs, collect checked bags, investigate ground transportation options, buy tickets (currency exchange), and find your way through the crowd to the proper water taxi pick up point, then make sure you get off at the right stop. Our B&B is on a one-block long alley, and Venice is a maze of alleys and canals; we had to follow directions carefully to find our way here. We make mistakes, but it also forces us to learn more about our surroundings: customs, language, costs, sign terminology. Dawn and I have different approaches, by comparing our information, our success rate is increased.

 The green shutters just above the doorway are to our room in the B&B.  Quite modern inside and the breakfast was excellent.

A gondola traffic jam: these narrow canals are the streets of Venice.

The Grand Canal as seen from the Rialto bridge.  Venice is an island connected to the mainland by a causeway.  From the airport we took a water taxi to our accommodations.

The water taxis in Venice are beautiful; note that the nearby wharf is under water due to the periodic high tides.

The many tourists in Piazza San Marco are wading in foot-deep water from the high tide.

Some shop owners let the high tides flow on in to their stores, but this shop has a waterproof divider to keep the seas out.

Pretty neat bit of sculpture on the Grand Canal.

This is every day life in Venice: gobs of tourists, and those slender, non-symmetrical, single-oar boats plying the maze of canals.

It's mid-September and the crowds here are amazing. Obtaining a good accommodation reservation only four months in advance was difficult.  We have been to Venice before, but we were so impressed on our first visit, we needed to see more. It must have been high tide when we went exploring today; the water was a foot deep in many popular plazas and walkways. We took off our shoes and went barefoot. Some merchants just let the water flow into their shops; others had installed waterproof "dikes" at the doorway to keep the water out. Exactly two years ago, we were walking barefoot on the streets of Trieste, Italy, but then it was due to torrential rain.

We have traveled eight time zones away from Colorado.  This morning I had two cups of coffee to perk me up, and we have been going all day.  We hope to get up early tomorrow to beat the crowd to some scenic spots.
(later) Can you believe that Dawn woke me up at 0430 this morning to "beat the crowd"?  But the sun doesn't come up until 0645!  She wanted to get sunrise photos without tourists.  I love her enthusiasm, even if I wasn't eager to get up so early. We got those photos at sunrise, then came back to our B&B, had breakfast, and took a nap. We are spending hours wandering this maze of a city; lots of art and fashion shops. I love admiring the endless parade of speedboats carrying tourists through the canals. Churches and museums abound; Venice was a very big deal centuries ago, a "city state" with international power.

An Alaskan Cruise.

Many acquaintances of ours prefer to travel by going on cruises.  We have little recent understanding of what a cruise is like, so we signed up for a cruise from Seward, Alaska, to Vancouver, B.C.  We needed some advice from our friends to understand what options to sign up for.  We learned that lacking a "drink package" doesn't mean that you are restricted to tap water, and that lacking a "meal package" doesn't mean you will be restricted to hot dogs or spam.  We signed up for neither and enjoyed a wide range of eating choices.  Many choices also exist for accommodations.  We signed up for one of the few remaining exterior view cabins on level 3 (out of 10 levels) and found it completely satisfactory.

Main dining room on board.

We had enough frequent flier miles on AA to get us a free flight from Denver to Anchorage, AK; however, it required us to fly by way of Dallas (!).  I have discovered that American Airlines does this to you whenever you want to use your free miles; thus, I will be canceling my AA credit card.  Anchorage is surrounded by beautiful scenery, but the city itself is rather flat and plain.  Thus, after arriving late, we only stayed overnight and left in the morning for Seward on a scenic bus.  Seward has a bustling harbor for fishermen and cruise ships; it also includes very extensive camp grounds, almost completely occupied.  Being a boat guy, I arranged our room on the harbor and walked the docks to admire the wide range of  boat types tied up there.  We also found a short scenic hiking trail through thick forest just a few blocks off main street.

Our Seward hotel (brown) in the background; yacht harbor in foreground.

Looking across the bay from Seward.

Close approach to a coastal glacier.  We had a local pilot on board and the ship moved very slow among the floating ice.

Main street Skagway.  No traffic; no traffic lights.  This town would not exist if not for tourists.  A gateway for the gold rush of the 1890's; now a gateway for tours of the Yukon.

Alaska and the Canadian Yukon are vast territories with very few people (very hearty people to endure the climate).

Two cruise ships docked at and towering over Skagway.  While in Skagway we took a tour into Canada requiring passports.  We had forgotten ours, and I had to run a mile back to the ship and return in time for our tour.

Visitors kayaking near Hoonah.  We sea kayaked at Juneau and Ketchikan.  Wearing rain gear and maneuvering in the narrow kayaks made it hard to take photos.

Instead, at Hoonah we went for a long walk to the nearby town and followed a forest trail.

A pretty city park we found in Ketchikan.  It was good to stretch our legs and get away from the tourist shops.

Downtown Ketchikan.  Located further south, the climate here is milder than much of Alaska, but still subject to severe storms.

When our cruise ship (or almost any cruise ship) pulled into harbor, we were impressed with how huge they are; almost a thousand feet long and standing high above their surroundings.  Being first timers, we were initially intimidated upon boarding, but a diagram of the ships layout, deck by deck, quickly made it all familiar.  I had served in the US Navy, but the ships I served on held only about 200 persons compared to the approximately 3000 on this vessel (2100 passengers & 950 crew).

The luxury and efficiency of the ship service was amazing.  Our cabin was cleaned and organized twice daily.  Cleaning went on constantly throughout the ship.  Sterility was emphasized: hand sanitizer provided before entering eating areas.  Many activities were provided all day every day: movies, live shows, fitness machines, games, library, walking track, archery, bars & lounges, lectures, tours of ship departments, and .... all day eating options.

When in port, excursions (at extra cost) were available.  We went kayaking in Juneau and Ketchikan and went on a bus tour into the Canadian Yukon out of Skagway.  The bus tour was a disappointment: too much sitting and too many tourist attractions.  We like to stay active and see the scenery and how people in these areas live.  Shops and attractions focused specifically on tourists are a distraction/ eye sore.  The ship stopped at Icy Point/Hoonah where the landing is over a mile from the town, giving us a nice walking opportunity.

Jellyfish at the aquarium in Stanley Park; the place was mobbed on a weekday.  Vancouver is very popular with tourists.

Vancouver as seen from the Maritime Museum across False Creek.  A Canadian metropolis with many skyscrapers and a bustling downtown.

Granville Island has an amazing number of shops, dining, and entertainment options.  Please don't try to drive to the island; public transportation is readily available.

Vancouver is a beautiful city.  How many cities are there where you can be looking at a yacht harbor in the foreground, skyscrapers in the mid-distance, and snow-capped mountains as a backdrop?  Our hotel was a short walk from the cruise ship landing in downtown.  To get to the airport we only had to walk two blocks to the commuter train.  A good way to get an initial feel for a city is to catch the hop-on hop-off bus.  Being a boat guy, I also sought out the Maritime Museum and a ride on a small ferry to get there.  Our bus driver listed Granville Island, Stanley Park and Gastown as the most interesting neighborhoods. He may be right.  The city is surrounded by yacht harbors; float planes are frequently taking off and landing on nearby channels.  Great views are available almost everywhere.  If you stay in Vancouver long enough, there are many other attractions nearby including skiing.