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Nice, France

It was our last day in Spain and we have ridden on 4 modes of transport, all the above plus the underground. The sun was illuminating the blue green bay like a parti coloured sapphire this morning, making it difficult to leave the town of Cadaques at its best – early when 70 percent of tourists and locals are still asleep and those that are out and about are relaxed in the morning peacefulness.

The photos that show the big hills between Roses and Cadaques don’t look as beautiful as they are in real, what looks rocky and not that foliated is in fact smothered with wildflowers at the moment. It’s one of those pictures I don’t want to loose from my memory and I do wish I had another day to do a bit of walking and get some photos as well as just soak it in. On the Cadaques side of the hills are also many slate walls making up terraces and little round hut type buildings (don’t know what they are for). Olives are planted on the terraces in what looks like rocky soil- terrain.

I have mentioned the flora briefly before, but now can describe it a bit better. There are two large shrub types; one bright yellow like gorse or brush but prettier, and a medium sized white round petalled one. Very prolific are loose round pink flowers on a 50cm high bush. Of a similar size but more on stems like a snap dragon are a mid bright purple, keeping them company are lots of yellow canola like flowers, and small white type. The floral display is topped off by those eye catching red poppies. We have also seen pockets of wild corn about a metre high growing on the roadside. The natural countryside in all the areas we have seen is really scenic, and I am so glad to have seen it in spring and not when it is searing hot in summer and all dried off.

We got a bus to Figueres and then a train to Barcelona main station where we transferred to an airport express train to catch our Easy Jet flight to Nice. The transfers all went well and whilst we were filling in a little time at Barcelona Saints we had one of the most delicious lunches at a bistro. You could choose from an array of foods and tapas; I had a squid ink seafood pasta mix that was off the planet delicious and chose Pork with apple and onions for Vern which was also very good. Spanish pork is the best I have had.

At the airport we overheard and saw an incident where two couples had not pre paid their luggage on Easy Jet and were hit with nearly €300 baggage charge. OMG can you believe it? Yes they had 4 big bags but that would have been 1/4 of the price if paid at time of booking heir tickets. Really a good reminder or warning to check you have done this especially with the lower cost airlines and tickets, as you are stuck once you get to the airport with your luggage. We paid an extra €10 each for our two bags at the time of booking!

Our flight went well – it was very short, only a little over an hour compared to a train which would have taken us about 12 hours and a couple of changes. We booked well in advance with Easy Jet costing only €107 for both of us.

Nice airport is modern and clean and customs was virtually non existent. We found a transfer bus with no trouble and used GPS on our IPAD to navigate close to our hotel which was an easy 10 walk from the coast road where we hopped off. The sea – or Azure Coast is a really beautiful pale blue with light coloured stones. The part of the city where we are staying is busy and bustling with lots of eateries and happening going on – loads of people everywhere and a non car strip through the middle down to the sea which is nice for lack of traffic noise. The hotel is a boutique style, not flash but within budget and clean with a lovely friendly English speaking welcome.

Looking forward to exploring tomorrow with a big day in Nice before departing for Italy the day after!

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