Our first stop was in Antibes, an ancient walled town founded by Greek traders in the 5th century BC, and very picturesque. We strolled right through and around the town (stopping briefly beside, but not going into the Picasso Museum), noting details such as hands on doors (that would have once announced that a daughter was available for marriage), and the ancient community laundry area. We walked through the town square and then stopped for a coffee next to the interesting town market. Ingrid also purchased a bag of socca crisps for me to try later (made out of chickpea flour and naturally gluten free). Then Ingrid stopped us at some of the stalls for some tasting. First was the Socca pizza shape, of which we shared a slice. Next came some tasting of some wonderful chutneys (on bread for the others, and a teaspoon for me). And then the stall owner pushed on Steve and David what he called an aphrodisiac.... they were to swallow this in one gulp. Little did they suspect... It was terrible, and I thought David was going to throw up, and in fact he didn't feel great for a few hours afterwards. The aphrodisiac consisted of a big dollop of horseradish sauce and ginger on a wee slice of bread, and it was excruciatingly hot and a hell of a shock to the system. The photo shows David about to gulp it down, unknowingly...
Our next stop was 45 minutes later, after travelling inland and upwards following the Loup River, through a gorge to another hilltop town - Gourdon, where we enjoyed another lovely, relaxing lunch (prosciutto and melon for me). I'm also quite fond of rosé now!
After a toilet stop (I've been trying to avoid these as they don't have seats to sit on...), we headed down the hill for a lovely stop in the much quieter town of Tourettes-sur-Loup. This was a lovely, picturesque town, famous for it violet products - soaps, perfumes etc. in fact we sat down to enjoy some violet icecream - very nice! It was lovely, in all these towns, stopping to sample the products and taking the time to soak up some of the local atmosphere.
We drove down through some lovely bush areas beside a river, busy with people making the most of today's holiday. Bypassing the town of Vence, we continued to the awfully busy walled town of St-Paul-de-Vence, where we finished with a brief walk from one end to the other, barely stopping to watch a large number of men playing boules - that was enough for us! It consisted mainly of expensive shops selling art and clothes. Ingrid warned us what it was like, and she was right! Picturesque, but too busy and too commercial.
We then headed back to Nice, checking the details of our pick-up for Thursday, and bidding a fond farewell to Ingrid, who had looked after us so well.
After freshening up, we met the Barrows downstairs and headed out to a couple of outdoor bars for a couple of hours, with me indulging in a piña colada first, and then another Sex on the Beach. We shared some nibbles, and there was no need for dinner after our lovely lunch.
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