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France
Make sure that you know a certain amount of French and where your destination is because you will have to fend for yourself. Be very exact because certain places have similar names. Don't get tricked by taxi drivers.
Also, if you decide to go to Monaco, or any other city for that fact, please take the train because I took a very scenic six-hour walk there and my feet didn't thank me. Besides, you will see more than I did because I was on a tight schedule, but I still managed to see a reasonable amount.
For people who follow F1, if you want to visit David Coulthard's restaurant, it is called Knights of The Round Table at the Columbus Hotel. The Food is wonderfully exquisite and the prices are very very reasonable.
This hilltop town above Menton claims to be the highest coastal town in Europe at 780m above sea level, although even with a catapult you'd struggle to dive into the ocean from here.
The views over Menton, Monaco and the surrounding valleys are truly fabulous and there are at least a couple of restaurants to admire them from.
The town is only 20 minutes drive from Menton, or less from the corniche roads and motorway, but feels off the beaten track.
For the adventurous, try climing to the old XII fort and medieval garden at the top of the town which are in a shambolic state of disrepair.
The town contains numerous vaulted passageways and you can admire beautiful houses dating back to the XV century, with their magnificently restored doorways.
For those looking for more recent history, the town is the entry point for a tour into what remains of the Maginot Line fortress.
The restaurant with the best views in town is Le Righi, 1 place du fort, 06500 Sainte-Agnès. Reservations are recommended and can be made on: 04 92 10 90 88.
Sainte Agnes is 10km north of Menton. Menton is near the French-Italian border.
Map: tinyurl.com/37mx5l
The D2566 from Sospel to Turini is better know to Monte Carlo Rally fans as the Col du Turini, and is awe inspiring in terms of scenery and challenging to drive or ride.
Half way along is the small church of N.D d'la Menour. You park and climb above and away from the road up to the small courtyard of the church.
It is blissfully peaceful with the smell of the lavender and buzzards circling below in the valley.
My brother and I spread my mother's ashes there, as a more beautiful spot I can't imagine.
D2566 from Sospel to Turini. Take the D2204 from Nice to Sospel.
Travelling around Nice in summer can be tiring because of the crowd and noise. Wanna have some quiet time on your own with fewer people? Take a 20-min train to a small town called Villefranche.
It's a hill-top village with stunning view along the coast. There are some more villages nearby for you to explore if you are not very fond of the noisy crowd. You may find them more fascinating than the busy Nice!
Check the train schedule at any train station.
A sheltered beach with bar/loungers on St Jean Cap Ferrat. Facing in to the mainland, with a lovely view over the bay to Beaulieu-sur-Mer and just a hint of Monaco to your right. A lovely place to soak up the sun all day, while watching the yachts come and go. If you happen to turn up via yacht, just call the bar (phone number writ large across the second storey) and they'll powerboat out to pick you up.
Walk along the signposted coastal promenade from Beaulieu Sur Mer to St Jean Port, or take the 81 from Nice Gare Routiere (1 euro 30). It's about 5 km out the other side of the Port.
The department of the Alpes Maritimes is in the south east corner of France and boasts such famous names as Nice, Antibes and Cannes. These names conjure up images of glitz, beaches and everything synonymous with the Riviera jet set, bikinis and painted toe nails. However did you know that just an hour and a half inland, life is very different, a landscape of quiet forests and deep gorges? So near but yet so far from the busy coastal strip, the rural way of life still prevails, eggs and goats’ cheese are sold direct from the farm, roads are single track and you are very likely to meet a flock of transhumance sheep coming the other way.
There is an impressive network of paths for walking (including the GR4 and GR510), whose gentle gradients date back to the time when all forms of commerce passed along these remote paths on the back of a donkey. The paths are well sign posted, free of litter, well maintained, they take you through abandoned olive groves, across Napoleonic bridges, to hamlets that roads have yet to reach, lavender and thyme grow wild everywhere and it is rare to meet another soul. The area is made up of many folded ridges giving wonderful ridge walks too with views south to the Mediterranean or north to the jagged peaks of the Mercantour National park.
The area is heavily wooded so there are lots of forestry tracks to explore by foot, by mountain bike or on horseback. Roads such as the one linking St Auban and Aiglun are narrow and wind through stunningly precipitous scenery, ideal for cyclists, with excellent surfaces, very little traffic and a good sprinkling of cols. The roads circumnavigate the abundant gorges which have made the area a base for canyoning and rock climbing. You can don a wetsuit and helmet and follow your guide down one of the numerous canyons, abseiling and crossing wire bridges, jumping into pools several metres below you.
The Alpes Maritimes boasts 300 sunny days per year but if you do fancy a day indoors why not go round one of the many show caves that this limestone area has to offer, or if you want more of an adrenaline rush there is the world's first ever under ground via ferrata and a forest of adventure where you can literally go on a tree top walk and slide down a 470m zip wire.
If you are not scared of heights, there is plenty of opportunity to try paragliding at one of the many flying schools or take a tandem ride to get the best view of the area. This rural corner of the Alpes Maritimes is littered with time forgotten villages, where narrow streets disappear off between closely huddled old stone houses, wandering around these quiet little streets it is so difficult to believe that the busy Mediterranean coast is only just down the road. The area has many wonderful little restaurants and auberges, serving real French food to a clientele that is by and large local.
If you would like to know more about the Alpes Maritimes inland from the busy Cote d’Azur have a look at the website www.pottyplace.com. The site has been written by a Scottish couple who live in the Alpes Maritimes.
Take the train everywhere! They always seemed reliable and they go right along the coastline by the beaches and sea - some of the views are amazing. Watch out in particular for Beausoliel and Villefranche. The trains might not be the nicest sometimes and you might get a bit hot and sticky, but I think it's well worth it.
Blue is the colour. But, relax, this is nothing to do with unlovable football millionaires, Chelsea. Although, it would not be a surprise to see Roman Abramovich’s yacht bobbing around smugly in nearby Monte Carlo marina.
No, blue is the colour of the sea at Nice. The Côte d’Azur could not be more fittingly named. Park yourself on one of the many benches along the Promenade des Anglais and just gaze out at the ocean. It is seriously blue and in a stunning variety of shades: azure, lapis lazuli, turquoise, indigo…(pause while writer surreptitiously consults Dulux colour chart)…Deep Ultramarine, Paradise Blue, Sea Blue [Sea Blue? Nah!].
Anyway – you get the picture. As, indeed, did Matisse. It is little wonder that the great painter – born in damp, grey, Picardy in the north – responded to his move to the Riviera by unleashing on the world his wild, splashy yellows, reds, lavenders and, yes, above all, blues. (Visit the Matisse Museum which stands in the Cimiez park a little way out of the city centre).
And, surveying the vista from your woody vantage point, you may be moved to something in the poetic line yourself. “It’s bluer than Paul Newman’s eyes!”, the star-struck may sigh. “It’s bluer than a Bernard Manning gag”, the vulgar may retort. “It’s bluer than Billie Holliday singing a, um, sad song about something, er, sad”, the game but analogically-challenged might utter.
A possible drawback of the Promenade des Anglais for some may be the number of roller-skaters/bladers. In scenes oddly reminiscent of an English suburban street on Christmas morning an (un)steady stream of knee- and elbow-padded kids trundle by – often accompanied, wobbling alarmingly, by those old enough to know better.
But, if you can bear your bench’s status as a miniature traffic island, there is the potential pleasure of seeing some middle-aged bloke, all wealth and wraparound shades, tan and teeth, come a Bambi-esque cropper.
What’s the French for schadenfreude?
When I went two years ago with a friend, I decided to dish out the €40 to go parasailing. I went in the afternoon when it wasn't too hot (30 during the day on average) and the sun was slowly beginning to set.
It only lasted a few minutes, but what minutes they were. The views were amazing and I wished I could stay up there forever. Worth every cent and more.
Everywhere along the beach
What's left of the old castle is perched on top of the hill that separates Nice Town from Nice Harbour. The views from the top of the hill are arguably the best in Nice and the cemetery has some beautifully carved mausolea.
Walk to the eastern end of the beach and either climb the steps, or take the lift part of the way and climb the rest.
Villefranche is a 15-minute ride on the No 100 bus from the Gare Routier.
The views as you leave Nice and curve around the Cap de Nice into the Rade de Villefranche are spectacular.
Loads to do when you get there whatever your tastes. Sightseeing: the Citadel, Rue Obscure, the old Port; culture: four museums/galleries, all free entry; relaxing: two beaches, one coarse sand, the other stony; and loads of bars and restaurants.
There's a food market with local produce on Saturdays, antiques (well bric-a-brac) on Sundays, and above all it's a nice, relaxing, cosy place after the brashness of Nice.
PS don't take a car!
A plush residential neighbourhood located around a hill in the north-east of Nice. This is where the Brits and Russians came to stay and built villas during the Belle Epoque, hence the exotic architecture, notably the Regina Palace, previously a hotel and the location of Matisse's workshop.
The park at the top of the hill (just after the statue of Queen Victoria) houses a nice olive grove, Roman ruins (with the associated archaeological museum), the Matisse Museum and the monastery with its phenomenal gardens (and nice views).
All in all, a great place to chill out for an afternoon, mingle with the locals on a weekend and wander around.
The park is also where the jazz festival takes place every summer - www.nicejazzfest.com - which is why the alleys are named after the jazz musicians who have performed there (Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie among others).
A pleasant walk of about 20 minutes slightly uphill from the train station, follow Boulevard de Cimiez.
Otherwise Bus No 15 from Place Massena, direction Rimiez. Timetables at www.lignedazur.com.
The park is open until around 8pm in the summer; closes earlier in the winter.
A fantastic seafood restaurant in the old harbour. The Bouillabaisse is sensational.
They do it in the traditional fashion, with the mixed fish and seafood presented on a platter for your inspection before and after cooking, then served in an exquisite saffron-spiced broth with croutons and rouille. Delicious with a cold, dry Hock.
Sit outside, watch the sun set over the cliffs surrounding the harbour, and imagine you're Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
In the old harbour
Le Train des Pignes is a classic rail journey through increasingly spectacular scenery from the heart of Nice on the narrow gauge line to Digne les Bains (just over three hours) - or stop at one of the remote and beautiful villages en route.
Either side of the train offers great views.
There are also links to the ski resort of Plan-du-Var.
Gare de Nice CP, rue Alfred Binet
(near the SNCF rail station)
www.trainprovence.com
Not only does this museum have a great collection of modern art, but the icing on the cake if the amazing 360° panoramic view that you get from the roof terrace.
It's an amazing place to just sit and watch the sun go down as you can see almost the whole city.
Like most museums in Nice, it's free on the first and third Sunday of every month.
Promenade des Arts, in the old town;
www.mamac-nice.org
If you’re feeling lazy, the best way to see city is the two-hour bus trip, with headphone translation. It will take you on a tour round the harbour and you can catch the breathtaking vistas over the Bay of Angels. Then up the hill to Cimiez, the old Roman part of the city.
Forget Cannes. Get on a train and head beyond Monte Carlo to Menton. It's where the old people go to live! Very sensible. Decent beach, pleasant atmosphere. Fabulous old town, which can be explored in an hour or so. Well worth a day trip.
If you get fed up, come back to Monte Carlo, forget all the usual rubbish about the Casino and Royal Palace and visit the Botanical Gardens. A brilliant collection of cacti and other succulents (far better than it sounds!). It costs an entrance fee but it is well worth it. Also, a superb cave system which you can go down. Very strange; the temperature underground is warm, not cold.
The view from the Gardens over Monaco and out to the Mediterranean is excellent.
Throughout Nice, along the Promenade des Anglais and all the gardens are chairs. They're all royal blue - the colour of the sky on a glorious summer day - and best of all they're free to sit on!
Ideal for relaxing and people-watching; perfect for soaking up the atmosphere. And in one of the little galleries they even sell tiny souvenir versions for the mantelpiece!
Promenade des Anglais, and any other gardens
Nice was far too expensive, and I refuse to be ripped off. So instead of going to the clubs, we went to the beach. Busy with young Italians predominantly; the place is buzzing.
Buy a beer from the guys strolling along with coolboxes ... they sell more than just beer. Chill out and watch the skinny-dippers taking on the sea.
This became a nightly thing to do for us. And the highlight of the night: the ferry coming into port every 11pm. Watch, smile and say nothing as the big waves clear the front of the beach quick-smart. Classy.
Nice seafront
If you've got a car and need to go along the N98 road towards Nice - try and aim to arrive for dusk. The place looks absolutely magical from there at that time.
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