Side trip to Provence!

For the past few days my wife and I did our own bit of traveling. We headed, by plane, to Monaco and Provence. What a contrast these two areas are – and what a contrast to Rome!

We left via Blu-Express, a small Italian airline that departs out of Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci Airport). We took the metro and then the train out to the airport. Incredibly, we departed on time. For more info on flying Blu-Express, see our link on low-budget airlines!

The flight was great, in a new plane, and we landed in Nice only to discover we had to travel from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 to pick up our rental car. While that does not seem like too far a journey we stopped at EVERY parking garage! Also, I , and many other passengers, were trapped by an American couple with six huge suitcases and three carry-on’s. Heaven knows what they were doing with all that luggage! Finally, we arrived at Europcar and the line to pick-up your car was wrapped outside and down the sidewalk. Fortunately, we had a voucher through Auto Europe and were able to “skip the line!” We quickly jumped in our Peugeot 207 and “roared” out of the parking lot. (Zero to sixty is just under 5 minutes).

  
Our first stop was lunch on our way to Monaco. We stopped at a small cafe in some out-of-the-way village and had a delightful meal. Regional salads spiced with warm goat cheese and French bread. A great way to start our trip! Then… Monaco!

 
If you’ve never been to Monte Carlo, you have to go once! We stayed at a wonderful hotel on the outskirts of town called the Vista Palace Hotel. It’s perched on a cliff overlooking the city of Monte Carlo. Incredible views and great service. The pool overlooks the city and the bay. We spent our time gazing out at the many “yachts” coming into the harbor. We rode the hotel shuttle (FREE!) into town and spent the evening wandering the boardwalk, dining, and of course, playing the casinos!

The most incredible views in town were of the many cars. Name an expensive car and we saw it! They were everywhere. Who cares about the yachts? The cars were far more “realistic” to me, although still unattainable!

After Monaco, it was all downhill… okay, not really! (I did have a great time there!). We traveled “down the hill” towards Provence. Our first stop after Monaco was Cannes. It was not what we expected driving into town (the outskirts looked like an American small town with strip malls and many car lots???) but once we got downtown it was quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, we could not find a place to park… so heading down by the waterfront I saw a parking space on the opposite side of the road and looking quickly (okay, too quickly) , I did a quick U-turn to head back and grab it! Unfortunately, I cut off two guys on motorcycles… oh, two Cannes police officers on motorcycles. They of course stopped me, and spoke in rapid French. I did my best “I’m a lost American” impression and they either thought I was too stupid or felt sorry for me as they lectured me then let me go – kudos for Franco-American relations! I hustled down to my parking spot only to find a Bentley trying to fit into it – poetic justice is served!

We took our picture at the Cannes harbor and theater, had an interesting quick lunch and then headed back on the road to Avignon!

In Avignon we stayed at the Avignon Grand Hôtel. All right, it was not as “nice” as the hotel in Monaco but it was huge – a suite arrangement. It was also convenient to the downtown area, just outside the city walls. Finding parking there was a challenge- one night we were in the train station garage and the next we figured out the private garage connected to the hotel (the BETTER way to go!).

We traveled all over Provence from Avignon, taking advantage of our unlimited mileage. We drove, ate, drove, shopped, drove more, saw some sites, shopped, shopped, shopped…. oops, did I mention my wife loves to shop!

Aqueduct Provence

Next stop, Arles. Okay, this was a challenge. Driving there was easy but my Garmin GPS almost overheated as we tried to find our hotel which as located inside the city walls. The mantra, “Recalculating” is still playing in my head. After trying different entry points we finally gave up, parked the car, set the GPS to “pedestrian” mode, and walked to our hotel – which was only three blocks away. Modern technology loses out to the street sign!

We stayed at The Hotel Amphitheater with 28 rooms. we were on the top floor and there was no elevator. The stairs wound around in a circular fashion. Fortunately we only had to carry the luggage up one time! The hotel was quaint, had free internet (I was HAPPY!) and had an incredible location – ONCE YOU FOUND IT!

Arles was small and NOT much happening there…. but quite beautiful. We visited the Van Gogh sites, ate at the Cafe du Nuit (okay it was touristy but we figured why not?), and admired the Amphitheater and other Roman ruins.

We took a few side trips. We journeyed to Les Baux-en-Provence and saw the impressive Cathedral d’Images which was featuring a Picasso viewing. The combination of the music, the images, and being INSIDE a mountain was incredible.

We also spent a day in Aix-en-Provence, a larger vibrant city. We enjoyed the markets here and the upbeat “pace.” For us, our next trip will include stays here overnight rather than Arles… just more to do! And plenty of shopping!

Some of our best memories in Provence were just driving through the countryside and seeing beautiful and interesting sites! Here’s a few shots of some of the “sites” you don’t read about in the guidebooks! We hope you enjoy Provence as much as we did!

Let Me Coach You, if you’re looking for travel assistance or some help creating an iitinerary! If you want to build your own vacation, please feel free use the information in the articles of the Ron-in-Rome website to help plan your next trip. If you need consulting, head to the Coaching page; For a list of all articles on this website, head to the Postings page. Or use the SEARCH Box, on the top right of each page!

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Header: Provence – Photo by Morgan Wright website