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Europe 2013 - Down to the Côte d'Azur




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Down to the Côte d'Azur


After a good drive south on the empty N road from Gap, part of the Route Napoleon and alongside the autoroute through the flat Durance valley, a major fruit growing area, we reached Sisteron then cut across to Digne les Bains where the buildings take a Provençal appearance with red tiles and ochre walls. The road over the hills to the lavender fields around Riez led us to the pretty and popular town of Moustiers Ste Marie where we found the aire just below the town. The town centre was very busy as it was a national holiday but we enjoyed a walk up to one of the cascades below the high cliffs with the distinctive gold star hanging across the valley.  

Moustiers ste Marie
Moustiers Ste Marie
Moustiers Star
Moustiers - golden star
Canyon du Verdon
Canyon du Verdon

The next morning was sunny as we set off towards the Canyon du Verdon taking the wider northern road and frequently stopping to look over the parapets into the deep gorge. Rounding a bend we avoided a large one metre sized piece of rock that had fallen onto the road sometime earlier (luckily when empty we hoped). Just after the small village of La Palud sur Verdon we took the signposted Route des Crêtes to enjoy the expansive views across hills on a beautiful clear morning, pausing at many belvederes to peer down into the gorge. Luckily the narrowest part through a couple of tunnels is one way. Looping back to La Palud we stopped to look at some modern sculptures although the main exhibition in the chateau was closed as it was a Tuesday (of course!). Continuing to the end of the canyon we turned south to Comps sur Artuby and the vast desolate Grand Plan de Canjeurs with an army training area to bypass Draguignan and then on much busier roads as we approached the coast at Ste Maxime and the Camping des Mures, an ACSI discount campsite just along from Port Grimaud, where we chose a shady pitch away from the main road and beach.

St Tropez waterfront
St Tropez waterfront
We walked along the beach the next morning through another large campsite to the modern but rather artificial old style marina of Port Grimaud and took the water taxi boat trip across to St Tropez. Despite the crowds the Tourist Information Centre closed for a two hour lunch break just as we arrived so we wandered along the quay not feeling at all envious for the luxury yachts moored alongside (we prefer our much used and more mobile motorhome!) then around the narrow back streets with mostly gift shops and one busy restaurant where the Plat de Jour was €54. We treated ourselves to an icecream before finding probably the most profitable enterprise - the privately run loo at 50 cents, all the municipal ones being closed!

Returning on the water taxi we walked back to the campsite noting that the two ACSI discount ones were busy especially on the beachside pitches whereas the non ACSI one was virtually empty. We decided to retrace our steps visiting places we had found many years ago so drove along the coast road the next morning to Le Lavendou, much busier than we remembered with a large marina and not camping-car friendly, then headed inland to Bormes les Mimosas, still as pretty as we remembered where we found a large but deserted official aire with free 24 hour parking but no services down a steep road behind the terraced main carpark (signposted P2). The old town centre with its steep cobbled lanes wasn't very busy and was very colourful with  flowers everywhere.

As the coastal strip was so busy we decided to drive inland for the weekend and drove through Draguignan centre heading for the Gorges de Chateaudouble which we discovered was closed due to the road being washed away in 2010 so had to take a very winding and hilly diversion. Our latest Michelin map showed the route coupée so should have looked at that rather than the satnav! Back on our route we stopped near Bargème, a restored hill village before reaching the aire in the busy daytime carpark at Castellane. There was a fair in the town square with a feu d'artifice advertised for 10pm followed by a dance. After hanging around with a handful of people we gave up on the non existant fireworks when the dance started with Roll out the Barrel playing over the loudspeakers. After a walk around the rather expensive street market the next morning we headed north to the lovely free aire at Annot another attractive old town for a more peaceful night.  The next morning sunny but still the cold north wind blowing we took the impressive circuit up into the hills on a good road through the Gorge de Daluis and a minor road to the remote stone village of Péone turning south to Valberg, an unexpectedly modern ski resort and back south through the rocky Gorges du Cians with several tunnels with 3.1 metre height limits.  We spent the night at Entrevaux, another attractive old walled town and climbed up the steep zigzag path to the ruined citadel overlooking the Var valley. We had intended to take the narrow gauge Train des Pignes to Nice but it had a replacement bus service for much of the route due to landslips. However we managed to see the steam hauled train which runs over part of the route at weekends.
Antibes traditional cafe
Antibes traditional cafe

The drive to the coast got busier as we approached Nice the next morning so we decided to head for an ACSI campsite we had picked out near Antibes. Camping Rosignol was a small campsite on the outskirts and we were given a pitch next to another GB Adria Twin but I think we must have been invisible to them! It was about 2km walk to the harbour at Antibes and after a stroll along the prom where there was a serious boules tournament in progress with the teams in matching tops, we walked by the ramparts and around the old town. 




Canyon du Verdon cliffs
Canyon du Verdon

La Palud du Verdon modern sculpture
La Palud sur Verdon - modern sculpture

Port Grimaud
Port Grimaud

Bormes les Mimosas colourful shop
Bormes les Mimosas colourful shop

Bormes les Mimosas
Bormes les Mimosas

Castellane
Castellane

Annot old town    Gorges des Dulais Tete de la femme rock
Annot old town                       Gorges des Dulais Tete de la femme

Dulais tunnel      Entrevaux gateway
Gorges des Dulais tunnel                       Entrevaux gateway

Entrevaux
Entrevaux






 







 




  Nice Hotel Negresco        Nice Russian Orthodox church          Nice modern statue
Nice Hotel Le Negresco                         Russian church                    Nice - a very large Modern sculpture
  Nice MAMAC Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture         Nice -Niki de Saint Phalle statue          Nice - Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture
Nice - Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures
We walked about a mile to the main coast road the next morning to catch the bus to Nice, €1 each way but slow. After a walk along the Promenade des Anglais with the palm trees and impressive old hotels we took the open topped tour bus around the city. Yet again we had chosen to visit on a Tuesday when some of the museums and galleries were closed but enjoyed the MAMAC museum of contemporary art, especially some of our favourite Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures, before continuing on the bus tour. In the back roads we found the impressive Russian Orthodox church before returning to the sea front and the slow bus journey back to the campsite. Having had enough of busy cities we decided to drive inland again to the quieter Provençal countryside for a few days.