Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Ok, so we're a little behind on the blog posts for a couple reasons. Firstly, we haven't always had easy and reliable access to the internet, and secondly, it's true, time really does fly when you're having fun!

Since our last post, we've been to Vernazza in the Cinque Terre on the Italian Riveria, and to Greece with Josh and Claire Alter (more on that in the next post). It took two trains to get to Vernazza from Villefranche-Sur-Mer, the second of which was a far cry from comfortable. We sat downwind of the toilets...our nostrils burned and I still get nauseous thinking of it...nuff said. But arriving in postcard-perfect Vernazza made up for it. Vernazza is one of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre, comprised of five towns linked by a hiking trail along the coast, each with its own charm and character. Vernazza, I believe, was popularized by Rick Steve's famous Italy travel guide, and for this I don't know whether to hug him or punch him. I'd hug him for sharing his discovery of this beautiful old fishing harbour, with a small beach, as well as surrounded by rocks to sun yourself on, romantic tangerine sunsets with cotton candy pink and blue clouds, choose-your-own-adventure cobblestone walkways that wind up and up and up, and around, and up again (one of which led to our small rented room), and for all the culinary delights and traditions one can enjoy there--cinque terre white wine, pesto, anchovies, foccacia, octopus, olive oil and lemons. I'd punch him for spreading the word so well so that about a hundred tourists (including ourselves) descend on the town hourly from Vernazza's little train station into the square so that it doesn't always feel like the Italian Riveria jewel of a discovery that it was when Mr. Steve first laid eyes on it. The best times of day were first thing in the morning, or around dinner time when the day-trippers went back to their respective Cinque Terre home bases--to Monterosso, Manarola, Corniglia or Riomaggiore.








Delicious warm Octopus salad with potatoes, celery, lemon and olive oil


When in Cinque Terre it's a must to hike the trails that link the villages for the view of the pastel-painted cliffside towns, the view of the sea on one side, and the steep ancient vineyards on the other. We embarked on our hike on our second day there. Initially we hiked along the oceanside trail from Vernazza to Corniglia for an hour. The views of Corniglia were amazing so we thought why not continue on to Manarola? But the low road was closed (strike one), so we had to hike the higher road, a gnarly and more difficult straight up but managable hour, and down for half an hour into Manarola. Our plan was to hike in and either boat or train back to Vernazza. With a random, and apparently not uncommon, train strike on that day until 5pm (strike two!), we planned to take a boat back to Vernazza. After a simple and tasty lunch we headed for the boat dock only to find that the boat was not running due to choppy sea conditions. Strike three, we were out! At 2pm we checked back at the train station to see if any trains had gone by chance, or would be going in the next hour but our chances were looking pretty slim. We spent the afternoon instead swimming in choppy waters off the rocks in the harbour in Manarola which turned out to be a fun way to spend some time...bobbing in the waves, watching people jump off the cliffs and sunning on the boat ramp. After a beer on a patio and a walk down 'Lover's Lane' to the neighbouring town of Riomaggiore, we'd killed enough time to get on the first post-strike train at 6-ish, but talk about an unexpectedly long day!


View of Corniglia from the hiking trail


Swimming in the choppy waves in the harbour at Manarola




Lover's Lane between Manarola and Riomaggiore

We spent the rest of our few days in Vernazza sunning ourselves on the rocks by the beach, cooling down with dips in the beautiful water, and enjoying long luxurious lunches, sharing simple pizzas for dinner, trying to befriend the many local stray cats, and basking in the glorious sunsets viewed from the rocks in the harbour. The Cinque Terre was a very romantic and picturesque first introduction to Italy for us before we zipped off to Greece for a little over a week in Santorini and Crete!


Where's Purdy?







Here's a link to more Cinque Terre photos: More Photos

National Lampurd's French Riviera Vacation

We had never heard of Villefranche-sur-Mer until we began researching for our trip, and for the best beaches on the French Riviera. Situated in between Nice and Monaco, about 4km from each, it seemed like the perfect spot to stay for a mix of relaxation and several options for day trips. What we didn't know of Villefranche-sur-Mer until we arrived there was how magnificantly picturesque it is, how very proud residents are of their region's unique Provençal cuisine, and how popular it is with Italian and British tourists. Multiple giant cruise ships arrived to the bay towards the end of our stay when thousands of tourists descended on the tiny little coastal gem of a town. For us though, Villefranche-sur-Mer will always be about two things: the surreal view from our studio apartment, and a short-lived adventure with a scooter.

We rented a spacious studio apartment just outside of the town centre...a nice uphill haul with our bags for about 15 minutes. It was just up on a hill from the one main road which made for a bit of traffic noise at high times, but it didn't really bother us. Our place was bright and open, and had a kitchen that we were totally stoked about to be able to cook in again for a few meals. The best feature was the panoramic view of the bay we could enjoy from inside or outside our place on the balcony. We took a hundred different photos of that view at all times of the day. During morning coffee and breakfast, during aperitifs, over dinner, and late at night before bed. It was spectacular, and entertaining to watch the coming and going of sailboats, yachts and towards the end of the week, cruise ships.











Our first day we sunned at the beach and swam in the crystal blue water. Then our plan turned to getting to Nice to rent a scooter to be able to easily visit places like Eze with its apparent breathtaking viewpoints, quaint Vence and St. Paul-de-Vence, Monaco and Menton. So the next morning we hiked up to the Fort in Villefranche via a vaguely marked path, and took the exit route down the other side to Nice. It was a beautiful walk down with great vistas of Nice, its wealthier houses, port and beaches.











Arriving in Nice later than expected and hungry for lunch we stopped in the guts of Nice's Old Town for wood-fired pizza topped with ratatouille (more often than not the French Riveria deliciously combines French and Italian cuisines), and shared our first taste of cuisses de grenouilles (frogs legs!). From what I could tell they were dredged in flour and fried with tons of garlic, butter and parsley. They were delicious!! Like chicken wings almost, but with a milder and juicier flesh. We washed them down with a pichet of Cote de Provence rose. Mmm. Renergized we hunted down a scooter rental place and got our little white Yamaha Neos 50cc. It had no guts but it was a hell of a fun ride.


Cuisses de Grenouilles - delicious!



We stopped at home to refresh and hopped back on the scooter before nightfall for a zip through Cap Ferrat, a glamourous hotspot in its golden years of the 1920s-50s, but now bought up at ridiculously high prices by the Russian Nouveau Riche. Now the town has no bustle and many of the homes sit empty as investment properties. From there we continued through Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Eze and Cap D'Ail and stopped in Monaco to see Monte Carlo and take some token photos at the casino.







The next morning we awoke giddy to venture out on a scoot to Eze or even as far as Menton for lunch, only to find a lonely busted up lock and that le scooter était volé pendant la nuit!! (a phrase we learned to say many times to different police stations and officers in town that day). C'était très dommage... and begged the question: James Shandro, does your scooter gang extend to the far reaches of the French Riviera?! We spent that morning filing police reports, and spent the afternoon heading back to Nice on the bus to the scooter rental place where we lost our hefty deposit. That hurt real bad deep down...we still cringe. When we rented the scooter we asked about theft insurance and the renter said, no, we don't offer it, but that theft should not be an issue. We should have known better! Lesson learned, tough stuff. Le scooter was not meant to be for us.


How could a thief even think of messing with this bad dude?


An appropriate curtsy, in hindsight, as this would be the scooter's last curtain call

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening drowning our scooter sorrows in Old Town Nice. First, at a great distillery bar chatting with an older French man who'd just drove in on his new Harley from Cap Ferret for his afternoon happy hour ritual, and secondly, over dinner where we met some great new friends, Paulo, Gelen and Evan from Switzerland. Our mantra for the evening: "Nous buvons pour oublier!" (We drink to forget!) Boy did we ever!! Mitchell over did it with excitement when the server left us two bottles of digestifs to taste from after dinner, a rosemary liquor and a bottle of Marc.






Mmm... Testicules de Mouton

We spent the rest of our stay close to home, nursing the wounds of our scooter loss. We enjoyed a few great dinners in, and a couple wonderful meals in Villefranche-sur-Mer, checked out the local markets, and an interesting contemporary art exhibition happening over our last weekend in the old fortress at the centre of town.


Here's a link to more Villefranche-sur-Mer photos: More Photos

Montpellier: A Pleasant Surprise

After the journey to Spain and back we were excited to arrive in Montpellier since we were completely unfamiliar with the city and had no set plans for our time there. We had a great 4 hour train ride from Bordeaux and basically had an entire 1st class coach to ourselves, showing tourist season was slowing. We stretched out and in between naps enjoyed the beautiful French landscapes along the way.

We arrived at 9pm on a Saturday evening and were greeted by our host, Don, with a couple glasses of red wine from the area. Originally from Boston, Don has lived quite a few places but has called Montpellier his home off and on for the last 10 years. Don's hospitality really made our stay in Montpellier fantastic. We felt welcome and at home immediately. When you stay at Don's small, 2 bedroom B&B, Nid' Oiseau, it's clearly his labour of love, and you feel like you're sleeping over in a curated contemporary art gallery. Don's collection of contemporary art mixes with tribal artifacts, all of which incite from you either a big question mark or a big smile. It's hard to do the space justice with photos, but we've included some here to give you an idea.











The old city centre is quite small and the streets are bustling with people since cars aren't permitted in most areas. Montpellier has a very young and dynamic vibe since almost a third of the city's population are students (tidbit: Europe's first medical school started here in the 12th century). We were in a great area just outside the busier plazas and within a 5 minute walk to more quaint local plazas with al fresco dining and drinking spots.





Upon recommendation from Don we went to Insensé for a leisurely lunch next to Musee Fabre and loved it. It was one of our better meals with great menu options and helpful service. We sat on the sunny terrace outside the museum surrounded by grass. We had the crab rolls for a starter and then beef tartar with frites and lamb chops with sweet potato. The food was delicious as was the local house wine we paired with it. It would have been a pricey place to eat dinner so the 20 euro fixed lunch menu was perfect! After lunch we explored the Musee Fabre's current exhibit of Odilon Redon's life's work, a very interesting and prolific French artist.







The beach was about 10km south of the city so we rented bikes one day, packed a day bag and headed for the Mediteranean Sea. We hit the sand within an hour and found a great little beach bar, Zenith Bar, for lunch. We split a couple meal sized salads and then found a spot on the beach to relax and get into our books.







We spent the evenings in the outdoor open air plazas enjoying a healthy selection of local wine and listening to live music. Being a student town there were always lots of people doing the same so it felt easy to fit right in. We were pleasantly surprised by Montpellier and would recommend to anyone to enjoy a few nights there. And obviously THE place to stay is the best B&B in town, Nid' Oiseau! (thanks again Don)



Our next stop is about as "South of France" as you can get: Villefranche-sur-Mer, one train stop east of Nice!


Here's a link to more of our Montpellier photos: More Photos

Donastia - San Sebastián

We headed straight South for Spain and within 2.5 hours we were pulling into San Sebastian just 10km past the border. I think we just missed the "Welcome to Spain" sign but it was pretty obvious when the signs and radio stations switched to Spanish. San Sebastian is right on the Atlantic Ocean and in the middle of Basque Country. Spanish and Basque are the official languages, the latter being the original language in the area that has no known trace of where it came from, neither Spanish or French, and we had no chance of understanding it.

We found a great pension (hostel/B&B) with our own private suite with shared kitchen and washrooms. It had recieved great reviews online and was about a 1/4 the price of other accomodations in the city. It was a great spot with very helpful and friendly owners, and we even had a balcony with a sliver of an ocean view. It was just a block off the main surfing beach (Zurriola) and about a 15 minute walk to the famous Playa de la Concha.


Zurriola beach


Playa de la Concha

The main city area is quite small so in an hour walk you can see pretty much everything. During the days we spent our time strolling the beautiful long beaches, swimming or reading our books. The last day we were there had some crazy wind which made for great entertainment watching surfers and kite-boarders try to tackle the huge waves. Come siesta time in the afternoons we'd head back to our place for our own happy hour with some wine and pastis we'd brought from France.











San Sebastian is known for a couple different styles of food. Their pinxtos, and high end gastronomic restaurants that push the envelope in modern cuisine. We were fortunate enough to try a bit of both and found a couple great pinxtos spots upon recommendation from Paulo, our pension owner. From what we learned, pinxtos in Basque are the same as tapas in Southern Spain, for the most part. Essentially they are small plates to be shared. There are tons of pinxto bars/restaurants in town and most of them serve similar type pinxtos like jamon, anchovies, cheese, bread, cod, croquettes,olives etc.

Our favourite spot was La Cuchara de San Telmo on a non-descript side street in the old city. Their pinxtos were more innovative, flavourful and meticulous. We went one day for lunch and loved it so much we came back for dinner! They only served hot (caliente) pinxtos and we tasted veal cheaks in red wine sauce, slow roasted Iberico pork with rock salt and apple sauce, fois gras, scallops, and bacalau all prepared with interesting sauces and attention to detail. They were a perfect share size and only 4 euro each.


La Cuchara de San Telmo

One night we reserved a table at a relatively new restaurant called Nineu, located on the western edge of Zurriola beach. The owners of the restaurant have a couple other Michelin star restaurants in the city and this is their newest one, unrated yet so the prices haven't sky-rocketed. They only offered a fixed price menu and for 32 euro each we received an apertif cocktail, four courses and a bottle of Rioja. We started with a salad of olive oil drenched romaine on top of salty potatoes, then a saffron risotto with a seafood foam (tasted similar to paella), and 40-hr roasted pork ribs on a bed of quinoa for the main. Dessert was similar to a french toast, except soaked with a sweet sauce, served with lemon sorbet. And even after we were stuffed, to finish the meal they brought a box of fun with some homemade treats - violet marshmallows, candied nuts and mini zucchini muffins.









Our last night was a Friday so after a tasty dinner of pinxtos at La Cuchara we did some bar hopping in the area. The main area in the old city centre is basically 3 streets by 3 streets of bars and restaurants so it made it easy to walk from one to another. After some ron con colas and a few delicous capirinhia's we stopped by a dance bar for a couple top 40 french/spanish/american tunes before calling it a night.



San Sebastian is definitely an awesome beach town and well worth the trip if anyone wants to spend some quailty time soaking up the sun and eating some tasty food. If only they had direct flights from Vancouver!

With just three days getting used to Spanish again, it's back to France and off to Montpellier!


Here's a link to more San Sebastian photos: More Photos