More tour guiding

 Another quick post as I have had friends to stay for two weeks and they went home yesterday evening. So now it's time to catch up with the blogosphere. If I haven't answered your comment or email yet or seen your posts recently, I will do very soon.

In my last post I described some of our travels and eating experiences on the riviera. Let's do the same again.

Last week we went to Monaco old town so this time we went to Monte Carlo to look at the highlights of the Formula 1 circuit, drink a very expensive coffee at the famous Café de Paris outside the casino, and enjoyed the new Mareterra complex with its peaceful terraced woodland, blue grotto and extraordinary meditation space covered in coloured glass crystals and globes (video below). 

The pretty Larvotto beach area was also pleasant but didn't do my gender dysphoria much good as all the locals seem to be young women with perfect tans and skirts so extremely short yet without revealing anything that you wonder if their buttocks actually start under their shoulderblades. Evidently a well-disguised mystery of the well-heeled. 

We had a perfect day in Nice, where I was earlier this year. The old town with its winding streets contrasts with the elegant boulevards of the newer city and the high hill of the original ancient Greek settlement. I love the mosaics they've made up on the hill and find more every time I visit.

The views from the top of the Bay of Angels and the famous Promenade des Anglais are amazing. Here they are in moody light.

 

We also went to Bordighera with its date palms, ancient pilgrim path and old walled hilltop village centre with its views along the coast.

 

Sanremo and its crazy tangle of walled, gated, steep, stepped streets, large harbour, baroque churches and elegant shopping district was a must, too. 

We varied out food choices a bit, too. Very good Thai in Nice, Mexican tacos and an amazing margarita in Monaco, Neapolitan style pizza in Sanremo. But freshly made ravioli and huge tiramisù pudding in Bordighera may have topped the list of perfect meals. It's hard to beat fresh local food anywhere. At home we enjoyed local Taggiasca olives, local lavender honey, mountain cheeses, hazelnut spread and lovely, fruity rossese, pigato and vermentino wines. And, of course, pesto, the sauce for pasta that this region is famous for made with basil, cheese, pinenuts and olive oil.

Many thanks to Jan and Alex for their lovely company. And for getting me to take them round all these attractive places in lovely warm weather, all of which was a reminder to me of why I moved here in the first place.

Port Lympia, Nice

Monte Carlo casino from the Boulingrin gardens. (Boulingrin is a corruption of English "bowling green".)

The world's northernmost date palms at Bordighera overlooking the coast

The cascade at Nice

The tangled vines of a Moreton Bay Fig. These grow all over this area. This one's in Sanremo.

High-rise Monaco (left) and Roquebrune, France (right) from the stunningly beautiful railway that runs along the coast.

Greek-style mosaic in Nice of an ancient Greek ship. Hard to get it all into one photo but the French reads: "Happy is the person who, like Ulysses, has had a good trip."

And a link to a video of the Mareterra meditation space with its pinkish light and thousands of glassy crystal and sphere shapes.

 

Sue x