Along the Mediterranean

Other than getting lost in Toulon because I couldn't figure out what was part of the rotary and what wasn't, which meant I left that one rotary in a wrong direction 3 times, we found Marie-Helene's apartment without a problem and enjoyed a wonderful meal with delightful company...her daughter Laure also joined us for the evening. The next morning she took us to see the harbor...

After a lunch by the docks we left on the highway and then switched to the slow road heading towards Antibes. We wanted to see as much of the Mediterranean as possible!

The views of red rocks and blue water were stunning, but for a long time there was no place to stop for pictures. In Agay cars were parked all along the beach edge...and then we spotted an empty space! Carol sat on the low wall that separated sidewalk from sand.

I joined her, looked over the wall and realized the sunbathing woman on the other side was topless. I took a picture of the beach instead...

The road snaked its way above cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and around nature's red rock sculptures. The curves were so tight that speed was impossible and I was often in second gear.

It was absolutely spectacular and these pictures just don't show enough for you to understand the awe I felt.

Some of the man-made stuff was pretty amazing too.

And then we reached Cannes.

The beach goes on and on and on. As in Agay, it was lined with cars. The cars that were supposed to be moving past the beach barely inched along. It was worse than the joke about the Long Island Expressway being the world's largest parking lot!


The film festival was over, but the people hadn't left. I had plenty of time to look around for Robert Redford, but he wasn't to be seen. We thought we would never get out of that town. Once we managed to leave Cannes, the road opened up and before long we were in Antibes!

We were supposed to have arrived by late afternoon to meet Carol's friends, Bruce and Cindy. By the time we got lost, were saved by a local resident, and then safely landed at our hotel, it was 6 PM.

This place, our hotel, is a gem!

After all that hot sun, we needed to shower and change so it was around 7 PM that we took off to find Bruce and Cindy.



We discovered that there are streets too narrow for anything wider than a donkey. A Brooklyn tee shirt hanging out a second floor window guided us the last few steps to our destination. Around the corner from their apartment we all enjoyed another great meal. The evening ended with Bruce and Cindy keeping us company for a leisurely walk along the promenade towards our hotel. They were leaving Antibes the next day, but it had been really neat to have briefly overlapped our stays.
                          In the picture below, the promenade is all along the top of the sea wall.