Nice is the summer residence of my very good friend Willy whom I’ve traveled over the past 20 years throughout four continents both for business and pleasure. Before continuing with my story, a couple of technical notes: This Google Map contains most of our route during our visit with Willy recorded with the help of a gps tracker which can be upload to Google Earth. Pretty cool! But on with our story.

Nice is the best of both worlds as it combines the best both the French and the Italians have to offer. Actually, Nice was once part of Italy but was seeded to France as a result of some war or another.

The Italian architecture, the French cheese, wine and bread, and proximity to the Ligurian Region of Italy. This was a special visit as Willy had just married and neither of our wives had visited Cinque Terra. So it was a couple of days in Nice then down the coast into Italy. Willy lives in a village outside of Nice on a hillside overlooking the “Grand Blue”. It was a short walk into the village where we could find fresh bread, fruit, cheese and wine. Breakfast around the pool with typical Mediterranean climate was a far cry from rainy cold spring conditions in the Pacific Northwest (US).

We went hiking in the hills – a great way to overcome jet lag:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinque Terra (the five villages) along the northwestern coast of Italy south of Genoa is a favorite of tourists from around the world.  Nestled among hills and valley’s ascending into Beautiful day in the Mediterranean climate. . . . . .  it certainly did the trick and we were off to Italy.

Nestled in hills above the sea, the villages offer a plethora of old brightly painted buildings housing restaurants, shops and local housing as evidenced by the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a couple of delightful days we boarded the train and headed back to Nice but not before checking out the local church . . and in contrast between the old and new was the priest waiting for the train with the latest folding bike.

The route to Nice followed the coastline, the tracks running almost on top of the beach.

Always a pleasure to visit the South of France with great friends, food, wine and eye candy.