Monday 15th September Greoux-les-Bains to Nice

 Monday 15th September - The last day of our tour.

First stop was Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, a lovely village amongst the mountains, still in the shadows when we first reached there, some lovely shops and an interesting church high up among the rocks. Didn’t get to climb up there, but may have needed to be a mountain goat to do so. the town has been famous for its ceramics since the Middle Ages, I did buy a small tile looking towards the dive between the cliffs.


There is a star hung on a chain between the two cliffs, according to legend during the crusades Bozon de Blanca’s was held prisoner by the Saracens, he vowed to hang a star over his village if he returned. The current star is about 50 years old , when the chain snapped recently it was rehung by a helicopter, no idea how the earlier ones were hung. 

Lovely church, part Romanesque part gothic - note the flying buttresses, it was a wee joke between an Australian couple and I whenever we were looking at churches - whether the buttresses were flying or not? 




Lots of wonderful views, and interesting sites around the village.







kamikaze pussy cat on the window ledge - 



From village to nature, stunning nature, the Vernon gorge, a man made lake to help control the water levels of the river, then the gorge itself. A little hard to convey the depth, but it was a long way down!





There is some lovely blue/green water at the bottom of the gorge. there were also some vultures - not the really ugly ones - that have been reintroduced to the area, and doing well. Unfortunately an IPhone more or less gives you some specks in the blue, they were great to watch gliding around.



Next stop Castellane, for lunch and a wander, I found the is lovely river to walk alongside for a little way down the road, very picturesque.



The bridge had beautiful flower baskets attached to the railings to add a little colour to the scene. From the town looking east I believe.


Found this little fellow on the way 


Looking back towards the town and the church spire.


A winding road on our journey back to Nice, just stunning scenery, shots out the window on the way



Finally some animals, cattle I have seen very few, they seem to hide the animals here in Europe, saw some sheep and some donkeys, but not fast enough with the camera.




On the last stretch, the motorway in to Nice, a sparkly gold Bentley, Monaco number plates, no surprises there! Nor was the pretty young blond driving it.


I was going to stay at the hotel and catch up on this blog, but I got a message from the American ladies on our tour to join them for dinner, didn’t take much arm twisting, so an evening Nice, walking to Old Nice, by way to and from of the Boulevard des Anglais.

Old Nice 





A patch of sand on what is essentially a stony beach, I have a feeling it has been imported. A cruise ship on its way out. 


Sculptures along the walk, silhouetted by the sunset



A sample off the beautiful buildings along the boulevard.


Les americannes et moi, enjoying the sites. That concludes the tour, squeezed a lot into a week, and got a good spread of experiences, some places would have been nice to stay longer, or go back to  maybe?


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