Hotel Le Minaret Cagnes-sur-Mer

After brekkie it was onto Menton which is a lovely little town just before the Italian border. Menton is a much more down to earth place than its neighbours and more our scene. We found a park right on the beach and went for a wander and took in sum much needed sun. Next stop Italia!!<br>

Up early as it was a spectacular sunrise - full of pinks and organges. We wanted to hit McWifi before we entered Italy but we did not find one until later in the day in Menton. Before that we drove the coast road through Nice and Monte Carlo, both concrete ...

... seen and spoken to, to date. <br> Set off mid morning to drive through Gorges du Verdon, again another stunning drive. This time though the weather was kind to us and we were able to get out for a hike after lunch. It seemed like a popular drive as we encountered several other tourists, one couple were eating lunch at the same spot we were. They packed up their picnic, took a swig out of ...

... Sailboats were docked at the marina (knez, it made me think of you). Diane ordered mussles and Jon and I had our first mussels ever. They were delicious. Thank you Diane for helping me discover my love for sea food. St-Tropez was further than we thought, but thank god we ...

... menu. Lambrusca. If you haven't had it before, its a wonderful young sparkling red wine. (please disreguard the last comment, the wine was horrible)<br><br>http://picasaweb.googl e.com/Jonny.D.Lawrence/20090927NiceAnti besCannesStTropez?authkey=Gv1sRgCPzYpeu 2gIC7Jw&amp;feat=directlink

... we opted not to return to the Ruby Princess just yet. Instead we chose to visit the casino in Monte-Carlo. Here, we found where the rich and famous come to play! There were BMW's, Mercedes, Audi's, Porsche's, Ferrari's and even a Lamborghini. We even witnessed a Volkswagon wedding car. Hmm! A wedding in Monte-Carlo! Can you say $$$$$$$?<br><br>We couldn't make a visit to the casino without making a wager ...

... might be fun to see it as it came by, if we were more or less in the right place... but for now we headed upwards. There was a steeply stepped stone stair making a short cut for pedestrians, and we took this - it was hard work! but we were soon at the top. Before heading to the castle area, we collapsed on a handy bench with a grand view over the town; we noticed also that the bourg is attractively garnished with in situ reproductions of paintings ...

... the world to explore a few new perched towns nearby. We first drove to St. Paul du Vence through a beautiful valley overlooking the distant views of the ocean. St. Paul did not do it for me--too developed and too many galleries and high-end shops where people once lived--but it was a beautiful setting. We drove next to Haut Cagnes above Cagnes ...

Travelled just 20 mins up the road to a nice campsire in the woods outside a medieval town called Vence. Quickly put tents up and then headed off down the road to spend a weekend in Monaco...out only worry was that a forest fire might rip through the woods in our absence and we would come back to some chared tent pegs and not much else! The weekend in Monaco was fabulous- we ate in Grahams 'favourite restaurant ...

We made our way along the coast to Nice. The train trip along the mediteranian was gorgeous, the water was so blue and crystal clear for hundreds of kms!!! We opted for an air conditioned hotel and were very glad we did!! Our second day in Nice was Bastille Day (14th July) so we were treated to a big parade, complete with fighter jet fly over! We ´popped over to ...