Wednesday, September 19th
MA's sister Nola joined us today for a trip to the two villages of Coaraze and Menton. Coaraze is a perched village that we looked for last year but couldn't find. The GPS did its thing and we were off toward the A8 east, the French equivalent of the Hardy Toll Road and then on to the D15. We started climbing, and climbing, switchback after switchback, arriving at our destination. Parking was easy and we began to explore.
The village is perched about 1300 feet above sea level. It made the list as "one of the most beautiful villages of France. Entering through the main gate is like a walk back in time 200 years with all the characteristics of a "perched village" like narrow cobblestone streets, hidden passages, a high wall encompassing the entire place making it easily defensible against pirates and invaders.
It is also known as the "sundial" village. I counted at least ten but I'm sure I missed some. We found the central church where people used to worship, also a very elaborate adjacent cemetery. We know to look for a "lavoir" or outdoor laundry where fresh water flows into a basin and people washed their clothes.
From Coaraze we drove back down the mountain stopping in Contes for lunch. Then we were off to Menton on the coast. This city is a modern seaside "French Riviera" vacation spot complete with traffic congested, tall $$$ condos and thousands of sunbathers. We luckily found a place to park and walked down the boardwalk. After an ice cream we headed back to Vence via Monte Carlo. We'll save that for another day. Later, WW
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| Menton |
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| Lunch on the beach |
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| Monte Carlo yacht fleet |
This will be our last TWW update for a while.
Very nice photos Wayne . we went to Menton And gorbio today , very windy but the sun where fine . i found a knocker for you very old and tres rare .
ReplyDeleteWayne and MA,
ReplyDeleteVery nice group of pictures. Now I know a great place to take my yacht should I ever have one (low on my priority list) :-))
HAVE A GOD BLESSED DAY - dave b.