Nice and Villefranche

Thursday 24 May 2018. We anchor in the water off Villefranche and use the tender boats to disembark. We are on a half-day excursion to Nice which includes a ride on a road train.

The coach takes us on a time consuming tour of Nice's back streets however before the small train and thus our time on another tour disappears with little time to see the coastline of Nice. You know... the thing that people go to Nice to see... Once on the road train we do trundle along the coast for a short while, passing the harbour where a Club Med ship seems to be spraying water over any passing small boats!

The road train carries us on a winding climb up a hill to this viewpoint which was absolutely stunning. It might have been even better had the coach trip through the back streets not put me in a rather - how shall I say - somewhat exasperated frame of mind! We would have simply caught a train here from Villefranche to do whatever we wanted with our time, but we had been warned that they are suffering from industrial action and at best are unreliable for the day. Added to which it was Grand Prix weekend in Monaco, just the other side of Villefranche so trains going back would have been crowded even if running.

Looking a little closer to our viewpoint. The back end of the road train can be seen to the left.

Looking inland from our hilltop vantage point past another of those wonderful continental cast iron lamp posts.

Eventually the train returned us to a spot just behind the seafront and we wondered for a nano-second whether to join the guide on her walking tour - er... no... We crossed the road to the seafront with a sigh of freedom.

Amazingly the guy on the cycle rickshaw was from Yorkshire! We turned down his offer to take us around Nice's back streets however... Apart from having had our fill of back streets, even with ducking the walking tour, we had only 25 minutes left before meeting the coach to return to Villefranche.

We bought ice creams and sat breathing in the ozone for a bit then set off back towards the meeting place. I quite liked the grassed tracks that the local trams had.

Our route took us uphill a little bit, This was one of Nice's shopping streets just behind the seafront.

This was our rendezvous point. Just throwing a little appropriated French-English word in there. This is Place Masséna, nicely (see what I did there?) situated just a two minute walk from the Promenade, the old town district and the modern town centre. The statue is that of Neptune the sea god.

Another view of Place Masséna. Since the tramway was constructed in 2007 the square is mostly pedestrianised apart from a road running around the statue, where the road trains run from. The trams run on electricity from overhead wires but when passing through this and other areas of beauty, they drop their pantographs to roof level and run on batteries so that the main squares of Nice are not disfigured by poles and overhead cables.

Back on the coach and heading back to Villefranche. We have decided to have lunch in Villefranche itself before heading back to the ship.

We walked along the sea wall to the restaurant we had been to before with our friends David and Jeannie and from where I had sketched the view in 2013. This time we had a meal and very nice it was too. Just a burger and chips but I was asked how I'd like the burger cooking. So refined, the French! If they had been local I'd never be away!

My sketch from 2013.

Reminders of sketches and paintings were everywhere! This was the view from the small harbour from where the tender boats to and from the ship were operating.

And my oil pastel painting from last year inspired by this view.

What? You enjoyed the photo of me on the balcony the other day so much that you want another? Ok.

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A Day in Piraeus

26 May 2012. The Thomson Celebration docks in Piraeus, affording those who wish to go, a chance to visit Athens and the Acropolis.

We visited the Acropolis in 2009 and planned to wander around the dock area for a couple of hours and then spend the afternoon on the ship, relaxing and reading.

Having set off walking and successfully dodging the taxi drivers who watched us refuse their ten predecessors but who clearly thought that was because we were holding out until we reached their cab, we then came across a road train. It was almost full of passengers already so we took one of the few remaining seats and off it trundled.

Road trains are uncomfortable and they are the bane of motorists, but for the tourist they offer a chance to see the sights at a slow enough pace to take them in.

It made a couple of stops at the marina and the museum and then in around half an hour we were back at the place we got on.

The tiny little church was one of the sights on the tour. We carried on walking around the docks area as far as we could get which was another 45 minute's walk and then turned to come back.

Piraeus is one of the many places that use modern trolley buses. When you look at the years of construction and disruption there has been in places like Edinburgh, you have to wonder why we seem to be bringing back tramlines to our cities in the UK instead of using electric power in this way. It doesn't need as much power to move a tram on rails as it does a bus on tyres but all the faff in getting there and the cost of laying rails I suspect leads to a very long payback period!

Once back almost to our ship, we stop for a moment to admire the Star Clipper whose crew are throwing rubbish off into a skip on the dockside.

We have just one day and one port of call left on our holiday. For fans of Shirley Valentine, it's Mykonos.

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Ajaccio, Corsica

Monday, 16 May 2011. The Thomson Destiny sails into Ajaccio on the island of Corsica.

We have not booked an excursion for this day and set off by walking around the harbour, which gives us this great view of the Destiny. Halfway up the chimney stack is a small bar that gives great views in all directions, though with only limited space so after having a look we didn't bother with it again.

The Clipper Bar was our favourite, with its nautical theme and ropes, halliards and mock ratlines as decoration. More or less from the same spot, but taken after twirling round to face the other way. Ajaccio was absolutely lovely.

We walked the full width of the harbour to where the harbour wall sheltered the moorings from the sea and then went back to the centre to explore the town a little.

Old street furniture - one of my great pleasures! Street lighting, signboards, road signs, advertising on walls, bollards, traffic lights, street name plaques... In England the latter are disappearing rapidly from our cities as new modern builds go up and owners or architects refuse to have them "disfigured" by street names. Madness. And maddening for strangers to a town or city, trying to find out where they are in relation to the map they are using.

A last look at the port and harbourside before we head into the town for a look round. There are statues of Napoleon Bonaparte all over the place. He was born in the town over a little shop a short way from the waterfront, which I think was either a dress shop or a tanning salon when we went past it - I should have taken more notice!

This statue has him dressed as a Roman emperor, one of his favourite fantasies so I believe - Josephine must have had an exciting time of it... This diminutive would-be Alexander the Great conquered a sizeable portion of Europe until his march into Russia ended disastrously and even once defeated and imprisoned he managed to escape and gather his devoted armies until he was finally defeated for good by Wellington and Blucher at Waterloo in 1815. Without him where would Sean Bean be today...?

So many inventions and everyday sayings came out of those horrendous war years when the whole of Europe including England were either conquered or convinced it was only a matter of time before he turned his attention their way. Tinned food, rifles, baguettes, "Going off at half-cock", "freezing the balls off a brass monkey" - actually the stand of brass on a fighting ship that held cannonballs ready for use.

We found a small road train and took a trip on it for a couple of hours for a very reasonable price. And look at the phone box too! Nice that a town so proud of Napoleon can find place for a reminder of the country that brought him to a halt!

We sat right at the back of the road train so that every little correction of steering at the front made us sway out into the middle of the road or to the kerb... A small party of French or Corsicans came late and a tiny woman squashed beside me. The commentary wasn't working so well in our carriage so they sang instead, doing drum and symbol noises for added effect. It was very jolly! At first...

The train stopped for photos at a few places then retraced its way along the coast back to where we had got on. The little woman was by now dozing and in grave danger of actually resting her head on my shoulder. I say, this entente cordiale is fair enough, but... with the memsahib sitting on my other side you know...

We returned to the ship and I had time to risk ridicule again by sketching the harbour wall from the Promenade Deck. From Corsica our next stop is Toulon. In Napoleon's time it was a huge French Naval Base - it remains so today, but during NB's war it was the scene in 1793 of a would-be rebellion in favour of restoring the French King which was foiled, resulting in the British Navy under Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, having to scarper as Napoleon retook the city. Napoleon was wounded and missed the brutal massacre of Toulon's rebels. Around 800-2000 people were shot or bayonetted to suppress the rebellion against... er... the rebellion.

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