Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Luxury, Money and Lifestyle

The French Riveria - and think we've now seen it all ..........................


St Tropez

We stayed at a beachside park in Grimaud which was a rather large and noisy place with heaps of cabins, a cafe, supermarket, restaurants, retail shop and a DJ set up which initially appeared to be at a reasonable level until the wind changed to an on-shore and then it was rather loud. The area set aside for the motorhome and caravans was reasonably tight which didn't leave too much space but apart from that quite good and a perfect spot to visit St Tropez.

Out table ..........


Same table ..............


 
Initially we thought a bus was the best option but after waiting for a while decided to take our bikes on the 12km return trip. It was a great ride and included an area running along the foreshore and into the marina area. We didn't see any 'stars' but many who thought they should be!  Even the guys on the boat were smooth operators and some enjoyed 'hamming it up' for the on-lookers.

Very slick



Each barrel was full of sweets ......

The restaurants and shops literally snake their way around the marina so people just sit and watch activity around and the harbour.  No body appeared to be worried about the cost of anything - although the Smiths did a coin count for an ice-cream !! and then headed back for a swim in the warm Mediteranean Sea.



Antibes
This was an amazing place with an old stone wall separating the beauty of the boats and buzz of retail shops and restaurants.The boats were awesome - rather large including one called Lady Dahlia and we both thought of Dahlia, our cute little neice. Helena had unfortunately left the camera behind so any photo opportunity will need to be left to another day.  The small cobbled stone roads handled the crowds reasonably well with people enjoying a wide range of products available.

Leaving Antibes and driving through Nice and Canne, we drove along the coastal road enjoying the beauty of the sparkling Mediterranean Sea. It was just awesome.     





Canne
High rise buildings similar to those on the the Gold Coast in Australia are spread along this coast line with busy main roads running along the beachside.  Beach umbrellas and raked sand can be seen as can tanned bodies on those enjoying the beach. The beauty of this area could be easily seen from the hillside as we left the area and headed to Monaco. 

Spread along the foreshore

 

Orange juice anyone ............

In case you want to buy some art



Time to reflect....


Monte-Carlo Monaco
Amazing place. Very clean. Flashy. Very organised. Expensive 


Didn't realise that it was the Formula One weekend until we arrived so took advantage of the opportunity, parked the van and rode our bikes. We were surprised to find a perfect little spot to hear and tiny little spot to see the odd 'flash' of a car. We stayed for a while mingled with the crowd, looked at the shops and had a drink before riding our bikes up a long and winding road back to the van. It was great although the difference in the size of our beer glasses wasn't!   

We made it

Clean streets and good roads

Entry to Monaco - second smallest country in the world


Boats in town for the Formula One Grand Prix

Most shops closed and streets quiet


Popular Europa Hotel across the street

He was a friendly dog ....

HIS and HERS !!!!


The coast from France to Italy was breathtakingly beautiful. The sky was incredibly blue and the sea was sparkling. We almost ran out of petrol and quite surprised how far the van went with the low diesel light on .. 


Looking back towards Monaco


Look at the size of some of the boats





The sky and the sea were so blue



We're both impressed and realise that you don't need a lot of money to enjoy it the beauty of this place - just a camera so you never forget it.

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