Cannes

Today we headed off to visit Cannes. As per our advice the day before we opted to take the bus, except we didn't know that the bus driver doesn't always stop unless you wave to him so, of course the bus to Cannes drove straight past. A nice young woman then informed us that  we needed to wave to the bus driver. Oh I see. Really!

Anyway, the bus ride takes almost two hours so, in retrospect, the train would have been a better option.

Arrived in Cannes around one and found ourselves walking along where all the designer fashion stores are located. Not even worth a look as I'm sure that even the discounts are way out of  the Gabby budget.

We located the building where the Cannes film festival is held and wandered along the boardwalk to the marina.

All in all, Cannes was nice but didn't appeal to us as much as Nice and Monaco.

Final comments : Nice is very nice, again with easy access to good beaches ,  lots of restaurants, shops and a beautiful old town. The outlook is very picturesque and the weather is , of course, fantastic so it means that people are out enjoying the evening. Dogs are also welcome in shops and restaurants. It is very busy with lots of people around all the time.

Farewell Nice and the French Riveria, it's been a pleasure. Tomorrow we take a train to Milan .

Day trip to Monaco

Decided to go over to Monaco for the day and see the palace where Princess Grace lived. When we arrived at the train station it was chaos, so we sat and had a coffee. While we were looking at the train schedule, a woman approached us and advised that we  could use the bus as it was cheaper, 1.50€ instead of about €7 for the train. She also said that the scenery was better on the bus.
So the plan changed and off we went, walking again to the tram and then onto the bus.
It took about 1 hour but the scenery was good.
As Monaco is only small, we walked around and then up the hill to find out that Princess Grace wasn't home, neither was Prince Ranier, not sure if  Prince Albert was home. So we checked out his palace anyway.

After walking around Monaco and checking out the grand prix track, we headed for the train station as we were stuffed and just wanted head back to the flat for a rest before dinner.

Monaco is a beautiful part of the world. It is built into the mountains and surrounded by water. Again very picturesque . Well worth a visit.

On our way to Nice

After a wet start to the day, we decided to catch a train to the airport as we had a bit of time. It ended up more time than we bargained for, our plane along with many others was delayed due to air traffic controllers striking in Paris.
We didn't get of the ground until almost 1pm. Not bad considering our flight was 1050am.

Anyway got to Nice and waited 40 min for our bags. Pissed, not yet, still calm until we got our cab ride from the airport. 16klm and €40 later we arrived at our flat. Thieving taxi driver, l couldn't see the meter because he covered it with his phone.

After meeting with our host, we headed out to see some sights before the day ended. You probably guessed it, we walked, up another bloody hill.

This was worth it as it over looked the city and the beach.

 

On our way back to the flat we walked through the the back streets and found a lady selling fresh gnocchi so we grabbed some and a jar of sauce and that was our dinner.

Barcelona 4

It was Catalunya National day today which would've been yesterday. Everything was closed so it was off exploring again. We tried to keep away from the crowds as they were not only celebrating but also protesting against the Spanish government as Catalan  people want independance. I think every person was on the streets with many of the roads closed. The government has banned the up coming vote in a couple of weeks. The referendum is being conducted by the Catalunian government and they have been warned not to go ahead with the vote. The Spanish government has said the vote will not be recognised and has told police not to assist in the process or face being reprimanded. Several printing outlets have been raided by police and ballot papers seized. Besides that we walked a lot around the beach area and got a little too much sun.

 

The market area was nice but there are a lot of what the locals call street  vendors. They are constantly on the hop as the police keep chasing them out of the main areas. I spoke to one police man who said they can get a bit violent  as there are sometimes ten of them against 2 police.These are generally African men trying to sell cheap souvenirs and can be quite annoying as they place themselves and their goods on the ground which can be quite hazardous as people try to get past them. It is illegal for people to buy off them and signs were erected warning people not to purchase or the buyer could be fined €60.  All very interesting.
At one stage in the main area of La Rambla there were about 50 moving to the station obviously to go elsewhere.

Impressions of Barcelona: It was picturesque, has good beaches close to the city thus providing easy access for its residents. It appears to be quite relaxed with the populace heading out for dinner, drinks and walks in the late evening. The weather is very good and the people seem to enjoy a relaxed lifestyle. We noticed that the beaches have a number of topless and even saw a naked older man sunbaking and a dear old topless granny and old fellas in speedos. Anything goes in sunny Barcelona.Of further interest, there are lots of little dogs out and about with their owners and they are allowed into restaurants and shops.
Also need to mention that they love their soccer team Barca.
Tomorrow we by head off to Nice and the French Riveria.

Barcelona 3

Today we did purchase a train ticket for two days so we thought we better get good use of it.
So it was up to Guell park to look at some of the tiled buildings and unusual architecture.

 

Gabriella then wanted to go into the town of Gracia to look at the old quarters. Yep throw that train ticket back in the pocket and walk, and walk until we decided to use that train to travel two stops.

We then walked some more to view some unusual buildings in the city.

Back on the train for a couple of stops and we're at the
Port thinking we might take a cable car ride so we started to walk around the port which seemed to go on for ever, until we realised it was on the other side of the wharf area. We found a little cafe and had a drink instead as by now we had walked for quite some time. We saw some super yachts in the harbour, one in particular was called the Nirvana. It is owned by a Russian multimillionaire and is worth some ridiculous amount of money. Alas, the poor man is going through a nasty divorce because he decided after 30 years marriage that he prefers a younger model and has dumped his wife for a young girl. Needless to say the dumpee is getting as much as she can from the dumper.!  Google is a wealth of information.

 They don't have large supermarkets here and you find yourself buying groceries from small seven 11 stores but with less products.

Barcelona prices were better than Paris.

Barcelona 2

The weather didn't look to promising today so we decided to head into La Rambla to look at the old quarters (gothic) area.
We got a few happy snaps in before the rain came down in buckets. Someone said that Barcelona had the most stable weather in Spain. Ahhh not today.

Don't ask what these photos are of, l just pointed the phone and shot anything that didn't move.

Now before we left home, l heard that the locals of Barcelona were sick of tourists and putting up graffiti telling them to go home. Found this one just as we entered the market. What these people don't understand is if no tourists come they may have to clean the streets and beg for money.

Then when the rain came it was into a restaurant for lunch. Yep, 🥘 Paella and seafood at that, looks good and tasted even better.😁

Once the rain stopped it was back to walking the streets and we came across this great food market. It had everything that you get at Vic Market but with the Spanish accent.