Day 4 Nice and Villefranche-sur-Mer

I got up early to write today's blog, or yesterday's blog today, or maybe the day before's blog yesterday? Obviously I don't know when I did what. Anyhow, after that I went for my daily morning stroll around town and ended up on the Promenade again. It was Saturday and all the healthy people were out and about getting their morning run or bicycling. I guess I just enjoyed watching everyone sweat. After an hour or so of walking I stopped at a patisserie and had an espresso and picked up a quiche and a torte for the room. They made for a great breakfast. In fact, unless you go to touristy hotel it's the only breakfast available. No scrambled eggs and fried potatoes here.

We had nothing pre-planned for the day so we thought it would be nice to go to one of those little seaside towns we saw on yesterday's bus ride over to Monaco. We (Sylvia) decided on what looked like the prettiest one called Villefranche-sur-Mer. We took the same bus as yesterday and got off at what we thought was the best stop, it wasn't, but it was okay and as a bonus we got to see the local Saturday morning market. The walk to the harbor was way down a hill and was pleasant enough. The walk along the harbor was all cafes that were obviously there for tourists. Even though we didn't see many people, this cute little town was for sure a tourist destination. It was pretty though, and was an enjoyable walk until we had to go back up the hill to catch the bus back to town. The hike up was a killer, and stupid, because once we got there we thought it would be better to take the train back to Nice. It seems as though the bus back from Monaco gets too full and skips stops. so we walked back down the hill to the train depot. Halfway down we stopped at a little sandwich shop and Sylvia wanted a beer (Sylvia never drinks beer?). I thought this was great because I'd get to drink mine and hers. Damn if she didn't drink it! She even ordered another...I got most of that one though. We each had half a panini which was better than most any panini we get at home.

Villefranche-sur-Mer

The train ride back was short and the walk back from the station to the hotel was along a major shopping area. It was nice not to see the same old stores as we see at home. Later, on the way to dinner we went for another long walk. We ended up at the Marche au Fleurs (Flower market) which in the evening is converted to outdoor dining for 15 or 20 restaurants. It was decided (Sylvia again) that we should have dinner at La Cambuse, the same restaurant we ate at 7 years ago. Sylvia had the Moules et Frites (mussels and fries) and I had the Poulpe Nicoise (octopus with potatoes, onions, olives). Both were good and mine was exceptional. Octopus is actually one of my favorite seafoods. The walk back to the hotel was busy with people really enjoying a Saturday night out. I didn't enjoy it long, I went to bed early, again.

Moules et Frites and Poulpe Nicoise