If I look back on how we used to travel with Fodors guidebooks,printed maps of wherever we were going, itineraries, lists, tour guide information and rendezvous places outlined etc etc, I’m so glad we don’t travel like that anymore! Richard shared a a link to the blog on a post on Facebook this morning calling this blog a “must read for anyone interested in self guided tours”, which I would aptly say he hit the nail on the head. We kind of make it up as we go along and self guide ourselves to wing it!
Take this morning for example. We are nearing the end of our time in Nice and tomorrow we know we are going to Cannes to meet a friend; since we leave Nice on Sunday, today is really our last full travel day around the French Riviera since we will probably be busy for part of Saturday doing laundry, packing and tidying up the apartment for our very early departure on Sunday to Avignon.
Since it was our last big ‘make it up as we go along’ travel day, I started the day by flipping through ‘The Green Guide; French Riviera Michelin Travel Publication’.
I didn’t have a destination in mind but we knew the weather was going to be ‘hit or miss’ with rain forecasted for part of the day. I looked at quite a few towns that were accessible by bus or train and then I saw the perfect spot to spend the day which had a museum and a fortress. After eating another almond croissant for breakfast from our favorite patisserie down our street, I knew that we needed some exercise to burn off those calories.
After choosing the town we would visit today I then went to the amazing “Lignes D’Azur” app and put in where we were going and the app told me exactly what we needed to do to get to our destination. Foolproof!
Leave now and walk for 8 minutes to the L2 Tram at Jean Medecin. Click on the L2 Bus 09 trip outlined to get more detailed information.
The more detailed information showed that we needed to walk towards Jean Medecin
Take the L2 tram towards Grand Arenas, Nice
At Grand Arenas, Nice transfer to the 09 bus towards Le Gue/Polygone Riviera (which shows on the front of the bus when it arrives)
Stay on the 09 bus for 9 stop and exit at Square Bourdet in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Easy right?
L2 tram from Jean Medicin in Nice
We alrady have our pre-loaded transit passes so all we had to do was walk to the L2 Tram and take the elevator or escalator underground. The great thing about the tram is it has its own dedicated line so it never gets stuck in Nice traffic like the bus!
We actually went a slightly different route than the one I’ve shown above taking the 620 bus after we got off at Parc Phoenix (which is the stop before Grand Arenas) but it worked out the same and we ended up in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Our spur of the moment plan was to go to the Renoir Museum and grounds in Cagnes-sur-Mer, but when we actually got to Cagnes-sur-Mer and started walking to the Renoir Museum we realized it was closed from 12-2pm for lunch. Now what?
Yes….that castle at the top of the hill was where we were going to walk to!
Haut de Cagnes Bourg Medieval brown sign
I knew there was a fortress/castle in town that we wanted to see, so we looked up towards the sky, saw the castle and then saw some brown signs that would point us up to “Haut de Cagnes Bourg Medieval” and we started following the brown signs to the top of the city.
And we went up, and up and up and up! Oh my goodness! If we thought EZE Village was steep yesterday, we were lightweights compared to the hill we were climbing today to the Chateau-musee-Grimaldi! What a hike! At one point I said to Richard this is like climbing #7 at Eagle Ridge (Georgetown Golf Club) multiplied by 100! For those of you who know that cardiac hill, you will understand what I mean! It seemed like the hill was never ending as I’m sure you can tell from the photos!
Chateau-musee-Grimaldi is known as the jewel of the medieval village and was was built around 1300 by Rainier Grimaldi, Lord of Cagnes as a castle solely to withstand sieges and assaults. The castle was transformed around 1620 by Baron Jean-Henri Grimaldi into a seigneurial residence combining the charm and wealth of a palace. The city of Cagnes-sur-Mer acquired the castle in 1937 and it became a municipal museum in 1946. The castle now hosts temporary exhibitions of contemporary art as well as an Olive Tree museum.
The medieval village leading up to the castle occupies a natural defensive position overlooking the plain and the Bay of Angels from Cap Ferrat to Cap D’Antibes. The defensive walls or rough construction enclosed the town in a horseshoe shape with uneven branches, which follow the uneven terrain (yes we know, we walked up and down it today!).
EZE Village was picturesque, but Hautes de Cagnes Bourg Medieval was just as as gorgeous and definitely not as touristy! There were hardly any people at the top at Place du Chateau! It was so nice to be able to take photos without people in the way! And what a dreamy spot to walk around and enjoy the views! Wow!
There were a couple of kids on scooters playing at Place du Chateau because the Alpes-Maritime school district had declared today a holiday due to the heavy rains and thunderstorm warnings!! Apparently there had been bad weather once before and a tragedy had taken place, so now if there is any chance of bad weather, the schools are closed. It was not raining, and the kids were having fun riding around enjoying their day off!
After our hike to Haut-de-Cagnes we walked around and took some photos and then thought we had some time to kill before 2pm so why not have lunch up at the top of Place du Chateau with this amazing view?! The actual Chateau-musee Grimaldi didn’t open either until 2pm so we decided to have lunch and then see whether we visited the Chateau or went to the Renoir museum.
We started looking at the Plats du Jours on the menu boards outside the 3-4 restaurants at Place du Chateau and the restaurateur was milling around the sign for her restaurant and explained what each of the specials of the day were. She offered us a table inside the restaurant rather than on the patio, because the weather looked like it might rain.
Our dreamy table at Grimaldi restaurant had a stunning view of the valley below and was the perfect spot to rest our weary legs from the very, very severe hike up to the Chateau.
Richard ordered the white truffle gnocchi with a glass of Cote de Rhone red wine.
I had the Grimaldi Salad with chicken and an egg, with a glass of homemade citronade.
For dessert we shared a chocolate bomb that was homemade and came with whipped cream. Oh my goodness that dessert was amazing! I love chocolate and it was so rich and decadent!
Our meals were divine and the restauranteur was friendly and encouraged me to speak French to her! The classical music and ambiance were fantastic too! The husband of the restauranteur is the chef, and her son runs the small 5 room hotel that they have upstairs from the restaurant. A very charming place to stay and visit if you are ever in Cagnes-sur-Mer and want to stay in a 17th century building at 84 euros a night for two, including breakfast. Just don’t bring a big suitcase because the spiral staircase is very narrow up to the rooms, but the son will carry it up for you!
After our delightful lunch we decided instead of going to the Haut-de-Cagnes we would make our way back down the hill and through the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer to the Renoir Museum. The restauranteur had told us that there was a free electric shuttle bus that came every 10 minutes to the Chateau and that we could have taken that up the hill instead of walking., which meant we could also take the free shuttle back down the hill, but I said we needed to walk off our lunch, so away we went stopping for gorgeous photos along the way; walking down the road this time instead of down the narrow pedestrian walking path!
We made it to the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer and I needed more bandaids for my blistered heels, so of course I had to visit another French pharmacy to get bandaids! Each French pharmacy is different and they all have so many tempting French beauty products as I mentioned in yesterday’s blog. I’m going to be in withdrawal when I go back home to reality and have to visit Shopper’s Drug Mart and the selection of beauty products is NOT as good as it is in any small French pharmacy!
We found the sign that pointed us to the Renoir Museum and turned to walk up the hill to the museum. Little did we know that the museum was up another very, very steep roadway that had little or no sidewalk, so we had to walk single file as the cars were having to move over to let other passing cars through!
Finally I saw the car park sign for the Renoir Museum in 50 metres, so I knew we wouldn’t have much further to walk! Thank goodness!
Richard bought our tickets to the museum which were 8 euros for 2 people visiting the Renoir Museum on the same day. Single Adult admission is 6 euros. Richard had to check his backpack in a locker and leave a piece of ID in exchange for the locker key in the museum administration building. After checking his knapsack we started walking up…yes you guessed it….ANOTHER STEEP HILL!
The Renoir museum was actually the French impressionist painter’s family home which was built in 1908. Renoir and his wife and three sons enjoyed a magnificent 2-hectare park planted with trees and uninterrupted views of the sea and the medieval village of Haut-de-Cagnes (where we had just hiked!). The Renoir residence was known as ‘Domaines des Colettes”.
Ancient olive trees are spread throughout the park at Domaines des Colettes and Renoir often sat under the foliage of the olive tree to contemplate the landscape or to paint. Pierre-Auguste-Renoir (1841-1919) suffered from crippling rheumatoid arthritis and his hands were so very deformed by the disease yet he never stopped painting. Renoir redoubled his activity and painted frantically until his last day. He died on December 3rd 1919 at the age of 78.
“The olive tree, what a swine! If you only knew what it did to me. A tree full of colour. Not grey at all. Its little leaves made me sweat! A gust of wind, and my tree changes colour”. Auguste Renoir
The grounds of Domaines des Colettes also contain many orange groves in which a local woman collects the flowers and oranges to transform them into orange blossom water and delicious jams. She also collects olives from the many olive trees to make olive oil, olive paste and tapenade. I was glad to read this after we had visited the estate because it would be a shame for so much wonderful produce to go to waste.
Inside the museum house we saw Renoir’s dining room, studio, bathroom and furniture as well as some of the pottery made by his sons. There are 14 original Renoir paintings on display in the house and also other paintings by French impressionists who painted either Renoir or the Domaines des Colettes grounds, when Renoir was alive.
The grounds with the olive trees were so dreamy looking over to Haut-de-Cagnes. It was easy to imagine Renoir sitting there in his battered wicker wheelchair painting, with his palette and easel!
I was thinking if I knew what one of Renoir’s most famous paintings was and this is what came to mind for me:
The Umbrellas which was very appropriate for the off and on again rainy day we were having in Cagnes-sur-Mer
We really enjoyed our day in Cagnes-sur-Mer and after our visit to the Renoir museum we had to figure out how to get home. Of course I punched our address of 9 Rue Alphonse Karr into the “Lignes D’Azur” app and it gave us exactly the directions we needed to get to the bus stop, to wait for the #20 bus to get back to Grand Arenas, where we could quickly transfer to the L2 tram to Jean Medicin and then walk the two quick blocks back to our apartment. We have loved our central location in Nice and Richard keeps saying that I’m the best travel planner ever which is very high praise coming from someone who has spent his entire career in the travel industry!
As we sat on the bus reflecting on our day we both said that spending a long time in a place like Nice has really made us feel like “locals”. We are confident in that we know where we are going, we know where we can find things that we need and easily figure out how to get where we are going. We’ve never spent so much time in one place before on vacation and we really like the fact that we’ve had the chance to explore so many amazing towns and villages in the Cote D’Azure, mostly using public transit.
Making it up as we go along is just the way we roll. Not having an agenda or itinerary means we are never disappointed at the end of the day that we missed something or that we didn’t get somewhere on time. If we missed seeing something…oh well…we saw enough, we were happy with what we saw and we made some amazing memories that we can talk about in the future…or even go back and read this blog to refresh ourselves on what was the name of that amazing little restaurant that we ate at after we walked up the very, very steep hill in Cagnes-sur-Mer……Grimaldi! That’s the name of that amazing restaurant! And that is another reason why I write this blog. It helps us remember things and brings back those special memories for us of magical days on vacation!
Now to figure out tomorrow on the SNCF train to Cannes, France. We need to plan this one to make sure we get an early enough train to meet our friend who is coming in on a Norwegian Cruise ship into Cannes and who only has a limited time before having to tender back to the ship. I will be on the SNCF website momentarily after I finish adding the photos to today’s blog and posting on social media! Sometimes we do plan ahead…it just depends!
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