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New Year's Day walk 2016

Walking with the family

Going home

Love, love, love business class!

Traveling home in a pod

Choices, choices

Which wine to choose?

Cannes and Saint Honorat

One of the most glamorous events on the French Riviera, the Film Festival brings to Cannes the glitter of celebrity. This red-carpet event is definitely one of the biggest moments of the year in Cannes and one of the city's top tourist attractions. 

We just had to have our picture taken on the famous "red-carpet".

Security is everywhere and so are these posters on what to do in case you run into some terrorism. 

The playground of the rich

Saint Honorat

Saint Honorat, the smallest of the two Lerins Islands just off the coast of Cannes, is named after Saint Honoratus who established an abbey here in the year 410.

St Honorat is a quiet, calm place to visit. There are no motor vehicles (with the exception of the occassional monastery tractor tending the vines). A rule of silence around the monastery and  on the island combined with a limited number of visitors creates a peaceful retreat. Take a 15 minute ferry ride from Cannes to get here (15.50 euros return).

 The island is home to a Community of Cistercian monks.

11th century fortified monastery, now a listed Historic Monument

Walk around the 40 hectares island on packed dirt paths and stop to see small coves.

This is a non smoking island.

Vines for the wine

Sainte-Agnes

Sainte-Agnès is perched at an altitude of 800m and offers a wonderful panoramic view of the Mediterranean. It used to protect the Franco-Italian border on the Maginot line and was a coveted military site for a long time. Today, the village offers visitors seeking authenticity its narrow paved streets, its unobstructed view of the French Riviera.

 It's not easy to get to; only 4 km from the coast as the eagle flies, it's about 12 km of narrow and twisty mountain roads by car, above Menton at the eastern end of the French Riviera.

Fort Maginot de Sainte-Agnes was built in 1932 as part of the famous (or infamous) Maginot line.

We explored the ruins of the chateau

According to legend, the chateau-fort was built by a Saracen Prince Haroun, who had fallen in love with a young Provençal girl. The chateau was restored in 1502, but today is in ruins. Enough of the ancient walls remain, complete with arrow slits, to give a good feeling of what it was like in medieval times.

The walk from the village up to the chateau site is steep and takes a bit of effort. The site includes a medieval garden, information panels (in French) about the medieval life, and magnificent views.

The family we went to visit

I love my family

Basie running in the village

I tried to figure out the puzzle

The military part was closed while we were there

French flag

Another puzzle clue

The medieval chateau garden wall

The above the red tile is the reconstructed wall and below is the original. 

Red Rocks Museum Ventimiglia, Italy

Just over the French border in Italy is the Red Rocks Prehistoric Museum and Caves. Nothing is in English, so we had to make a lot of guesses on what we were seeing. 

The Mediterranean as seen from the cave