We woke up later this morning after last nights effort to yet another beautiful warm blue sky day. We decided to first just go back to the beach at Antibes and chill for a bit and then go and have a look at Cannes just 20mins away.
The beach again was lovely with a water temp of 24deg and the air temp of 29deg and it was great to just relax here for a while.
We bought some lunch from the beach side shop and had a last dip and a rinse off under the shower on the shore before heading for Cannes later in the afternoon.
Cannes was again a very opulent city that is full of name brand shops such as Gucci, Lois Vuitton, Prada, Rollex to name just a few but they are all here.
We wondered around the beach, saw where the Cannes film festival is held and then had an iced coffee at a cafe on the street. Just watching the high fashion people walk past was worth the trip.
On the way home we went to a supermarket and bought food for tea. Bex and Andrew made a great pasta chicken dish which we had with some salad and St Tropez wine.

WOW! WOW! FU##KING WOW, is the only way I can think to describe this awesome day.
First we all packed into the car and headed to a town called Eze – on the Côte d’Azur in Provence. Chris and Gemma had been there before and he said the views were spectacular, over looking the bays that the wealthy play in. There was another of those steep climbs through the lovely little village of Eze. This was a mixture of French and Italian style with quaint skinny streets and stone clad homes, little hotels and shops.
Along the road before the town of Eze we had some pretty spectacular views but the views from the top here were just stunning (see pics).
From here we decided to go to Monaco. This is another country but only 30 mins away and you need to cross over an invisible border to get there. Jennifer the GPS informed us when we had entered Monaco.
As you drive down the hill into Monaco the opulence and wealth is obvious. From the plethora of huge luxury launches in the bays to the lovely clean streets and buildings even though they are old.
From here it was a five minute drive to Monte Carlo Casino and this car load of high rollers were going to show them how it was done…..yeah right.
Along the way electronic signs are telling you how many car parks are left at the casino of which 35 remained and one was for us. We wound our way down inside the depths of the casino to get our park. When we got out of the car it was very hot and stuffy and we all felt uncomfortable. We got changed into shoes and better clothes we had bought with us in case we could not get in. This proved unnecessary, however you did need 10€ each and ID to get in. Bex had no ID on her so Chris offered to stay outside with Bex while me Sheree and Andrew went in to make our fortune.
This place is very opulent inside and we were not permitted to take photos. We were very surprised how small it was, not much bigger than Dunedin Casino. However there was that feeling of being inside something very special. 4 staff watch every table and only a few of them had people playing at them. We headed for the slot machines as there was a minimum 25€ bet at most tables however some did start a 5€. Even Andrew was not happy to sit at any. The 2¢ slot machine received our 5€ note which went up and down in winnings until finally the inevitable when we headed for the exit. But not before trying the opulent toilets with some one there to wait on you inside and the self cleaning seats. Once outside we laughed about the fact we had been to Monte Carlo Casino and played the house.
Parked outside the Casino are some of the most amazing dream cars all lined up at the front and being watched by the casino staff. We watched the bling loaded owners come out to their pre started cars that would be driven 10 meters and pointed in the right direction for them to get into. 10€ would be given to the casino employer for his little effort and they would roar off in there new Ferrari or Maserati or Bentley or Rolls Royce or V12 AMG turbocharged Mercs or ……..the list just goes on.
We then wondered town to go for a dip in the Monte Carlo Bay. This was very clean and the sand was obviously imported but a very nice beach.
I noticed the Tandem Paragliding was on offer and tried to get Sheree to come with me but she was concerned she would hurt herself so Andrew offered to go halves with me and off we went. I can not put into words how wonderful this was gliding high above the boat with Bex and Sheree inside and Bex taking photos, while we took in the views of the beautiful Monte Carlo on this clear warm blue sky day, and all the yachts below us. After 15 mins of this we splashed back down into the bay totally pumped after an incredible experience.
We drove back home via Nice and noticed all the bands and discos setting up for a night of music to welcome the first day of summer.
Once home it was a quick bite to eat and then we all wondered down to the old town of Antibes to take in all the bands and discos playing there on this night also. We jived and drank the night away to some great music until after 2am when we happily and very contentedly wobbled home after such an amazing day.

Not much to report for this lazy day spent in the 28 deg heat of Antibes at the ‘Juan Les Pins’ beach. The water was warm and a nice sandy beach so we just swam and sun bathed until mid afternoon. Ohh did I mention about all the topless sunbathers who are soooo tanned….
Then we all went and did some grocery shopping. This was an experience trying to figure out what some of the stuff was. Anyway we got most of what we wanted we think. Andrew put some brains in the basket as a joke (see pic).
When we got home one of the Chickens we bought for tea smelled really suspect so we will attempt to take that back tomorrow.
The boys and Bex have all gone out to meet a mate of Chris’s who works on one of the countless luxury launches for drinks in Cannes, about a 20min train ride away, while Mum and Dad cook the chicken.
Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow but if today is anything to go by it will be great.
In the words of Bex today in the car going to the beach. “I’m having such an awesome time”.

It was time to hit the road again and say goodbye to Levanto and the Cinque Terre area. Our recommendation would be that if you should ever get the chance this is a must see area. It is just as beautiful as the photos and a true experience of an exquisite part of Italy.
We said goodbye to the owner of the Villa Gentile B&B and set Jennifer the GPS for Antibes in France.
We had to meet the lady, who manages the apartment we will be staying at with the boys, at 3pm. However Jenifer is telling us that unless we take the toll roads it will take over 8hrs…. so that is not an option, and set our course to use the toll roads and the 3.5hr trip.
Along the way we came up on the large city of Genoa and decided to turn off for a quick look…..Big mistake….First it was a bit of a surprise to have to pay 6€ (NZ$12) for that part of the journey, and then very quickly found ourselves going round in circles and getting no where. We forget about seeing Genoa and get back on to the tolled highway as quickly as possible.
A bit further down the road it was time for a pee stop so pulled in to a service area. We bought a snack and before getting back to the car we saw the traffic on the highway was slowly grinding to a holt. Not good…. as now we were getting behind in our arrival time and it would cost us another 20€ for picking up the key after 4pm. Thank god the traffic started moving along again and we arrived at the exit of the Italian highway and the Italian border before entering into France….Toll cost for that leg was 17€ (NZ$34)
We entered France at about 15mins after 3pm and surprise surprise another 2 tolls and another 5.50€ (NZ$11). We arrived to pick up the key at 3:30pm and got the car unpacked.
Next was to pick up Andrew and Bex at the Nice airport. We managed this without a hitch with instructions from the lady that manages the apartment who also works at the airport. We saw Andrew and Bex at the pick up point and flashed our lights at them so they could see it was us. Next was the trip back to the apartment. Along the way we stopped at some lights and the car in front did not move on when they turned green, so we tooted him. They quickly moved on to the next set of red lights, when to our surprise the male passenger jumped out of his car and was frantically pointing to the front of our car and hurling abuse in angry French. I wound down my window and yelled at him ‘”English!!” in and attempt to let him know that we had no idea of what he was on about. The lights turned green and he was quickly back in his car and roared off. At this stage we where all laughing, amazed but none the wiser as to why this had just happened. Along the road a bit further and an on coming car flashes his lights at us…..at this point Bex says “are you sure there is nothing on the front of our car”, when the problem dawns on us, our lights are on full beam, this would have happened when I flashed Andrew and Bex at the airport. Now we were all really laughing uncontrollably at the realization that the road rage would have been about us beeping them, and then having our lights on full behind them with our red number plates that mean ‘Hire Car’. Loosely translated that means Wally tourists. We finally arrive safely at the apartment and get our selves settled in.
The next day Sheree and I are up first, so we go for a wonder to the local bakery and shop about 5mins away, and buy some bacon, eggs, bread and a long ciabatta bread that we thought was a baguette (language problem again). Then we wonder back on this beautiful morning with our fresh bread sticking out of the bag and feeling very French.
After breakfast we all go for a wonder around the streets and have a look at the marina with some of the most amazing boats (see pics). We also visit a market selling local produce and buy some nibbles for later.
That afternoon at 2:30, we all get in the car with Andrew driving and make an uneventful trip back to the nice airport, to pick up Chris. we all get back to the apartment and settle in on the sun deck with the local olives, cheese and salami from the market and wash it down with the quality ‘Patron’ Tequila Chris got duty free. It was a lovely afternoon in the 28 deg heat on the deck and all together.
The weather forecast for the week is all sunshine and 28deg, so tomorrow we all decide is beach day.

Today dawned a little over cast which was some what of a relief for our burned skin and we would be on the ferry going between the five villages of the Cinque Terre. Having visited some of them by train yesterday this was another way to see these beautiful villages. Each one is different in it’s own way and you feel like you have gone back in time when you wonder around the quaint skinny streets that are alive with tourists as the locals carry on with their daily life.
We decided to head to the last stop the ferry makes which is the furthest away port called Porto Venere. This is actually not part of the Cinque Terre but well worth a visit, it was not as old wordily as the others but fascinating all the same. As part of our ferry ticket we went on a guided boat tour of 45mins around the islands of this port. It would have been great had the comentary not all been in Italian but we did manage to make out some of it.
We then slowly made our way back towards our starting point of Levanto our home port. When you look from the sea back to these villages you have to wonder why they built these towns in such hard places to get to, we guess it must have been for the fine grapes that grow on these hills that the area is famous for. On the way we visited Vernazza, which we think had the best sandy beach. We bought some pizza at ‘Fatti and Pizza'(see pic) and also another Gelato each(Sheree got 3 flavors on hers one of which was ‘Cinque Terre’ which was reeeeeeally nice). Corniglia the ferry can not dock into so we just sailed past this one. As it was high up in the hills it may not have had much more to offer than the others anyway. Then we went back to Monterosso and watched some of the local fisherman on the wharf catch a squid before getting the ferry home.
We were sad to leave these villages as they truly are just gorgeous. Also this was our last day in Italy as tomorrow we head for Antibes in the French Rivera and meet up with the boys.

16/6/2011

Today we visited Monterosso’ Manarola, and Riomaggiore in 3 of the 5 villages that make up the Cinque Terre. Literally, translated as ‘the Five earths’, the Cinque Terre is five small, old coastal villages built into the cliffs along hillsides in the province of La Sepzia in the Liguria region of Italy. They are difficult to access by car, but you can hike between each town.
The Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage Sit and is very beautiful.
We choose the walk between Riomaggiore and Manarola as this one was the shortest at only 30mins. This path is called the Via Dell’Amore (“Lovers Walk”). The other picturesque trails wind along the shore, varying in nature and difficulty from an easy stroll to a rough and physically challenging hike and take about 5 hrs to do the lot in one hit.
The marinas at most of the towns have wonderful deep swimming holes that make a welcome reprieve for those doing the full hikes. We were not doing much hiking but as it was such a hot day we jumped in anyway.
We decided to have a late lunch and no tea. We found a lovely restaurant under a cover from the sun and overlooking the ocean. We ordered a bottle of local wine from the grape vines around the hills and a seafood risotto. We did not finish here until later in the afternoon as we soaked in the warmth of the day, the views, the lovely food, and people watched. It was all just peeeerfect.
When we did move on it was by train again to the village of Monterosso. (The train winds its way through tunnels to the different villages). We had a swim here and sat in the sun for a bit, then wondered around the streets before catching the train to Levanto and our B&B.
It had been a wonderful day and one we will really remember.
Tomorrow we do the other villages by the Ferry.

14/6/2011

Not much to report for today. We just went to the beach, and lay in the sun, and had a few swims, saw some topless sun bathers, and went for a wonder around the streets, and had a few late afternoon drinks…..God this is hard work, I’m going for an afternoon nap.

14/6/2011

Today we fair well the town of Lucca and head for Levanto and the five villages of Cinque Terre in the Italian National Park.
The lady at the BB in Lucca advised us to go and see the Marble mining hills around a town called Carrara and their Marmo caves, on our way. We sure are glad we did this, as it was a real adventure climbing up the mountain in the car and going through some pretty daunting tunnels to get to the mine face(see pics). These tunnels are used by the same big trucks and machinery that work at the mine so as you can imagine our little car was like a speck in the dust. Speaking of dust..there was plenty of that when the trucks went by. Then there was the skinny gravel road and did I mention the shear drop to the valley below.
It was quite unique to arrive at the mine face to find the workers having lunch in their smoko shed that doubles as the souvenir shop. We bought some marble dice here but there were plenty of other items that would have been much to heavy for us to bring back, like a solid marble mortar and pestle.
Once back down the mountain we set ‘Jennifer’ our GPS for Levanto and the Gentile Villa B&B. After a very long, windy but beautiful road through this Italian National park area we finally arrived at Levanto.
Once settled in we took a stroll around this beach town on the Italian rivera. It was great to see that Google maps had not let us down and our B&B, as planned was only a one minute walk to the levanto beach front that is just gorgeous.
Tomorrow we will relax on the beach and then over the next few days explore the 5 Terre(villages) of this area.

13/6/2011

Today we went to Collodi the birth place of the story of Pinocchio.
Carlo Collodi, the author of the story of Pinocchio, was the pen name of Carlo Lorenzini, who was born and grew up in Florence. The last part of his pen name was the name of the Tuscan village where Lorenzini’s mother was born: Collodi.
You can see the photo of Sheree standing outside ‘Parco di Pinocchio a Collodi’, the Pinocchio Park of Collodi. It’s a rather old fashioned kind of park from the days when you didn’t need bloodcurdling death-defying rides to charm the kids. The park tells Collodi’s version of the story of Pinocchio through sculpture, mosaics and puppet shows. It features a museum with Pinocchio related items. There was a bewildering amount of Pinocchio souvenirs here. (see pic). Other than the park there was not much else here so we decided to go and visit the Pieve di Santa Maria with a church that dated back to 1086. Perched way up in the hills above Collodie it had some great views and was not very touristy so saw more of the locals just doing what locals do.

We were planning on visiting Pisa the next day but as we had time, decided to go today. Finding parking in Pisa was the next trick. Being a very popular tourist stop it was very busy. We found some parks but standing close buy were groups of colored people offering to watch your car if you bought some of their trinkets. This made us feel a little uncomfortable so ignored them as much as possible, bought a parking ticket from the machine and hesitantly went to the tower. There was a police man at the entrance to the tower so Steven asked him if the car was safe and he assured us it was (no proplemo).
The leaning tower, really is leaning a lot and we took some of the standard tourist pics. Even the church beside it looks like it is leaning over as well. There are heaps of little market type stalls as you walk up to it so we bought a little tower and a tea towel as a keep sake.
Walked back to the car and our friends were there again so we made a hasty departure to avoid them.
Back in Lucca and as it was such a lovely evening we went for a stroll around the town and stopped for tea at a lovely restaurant, that was popular with the locals and sat out side in the plaza. It was just lovely sitting here, as when other dinners saw people they knew who walk past or rode past on their bikes, they were greeted with a friendly and exuberant Italian greeting. Some would stop and come over for a chat or even have a drink. It was all very Italian and we loved it. It was quite late and with more than a little wine under our belts that we slowly wondered home….wonderful

13/6/2011

Putting aside the traffic Florence had grown on us, so again it was with a tinge of sadness that it was time to leave.
Our first stop was a little town high on the hills above Florence called Fiesole. The views from up here were magnificent and there were some lovely homes on the step climb to the lookout.
We had some time and Sheree had heard about a fashion outlet store in a town a little out of our way called Barberino Di Mugello. Unfortunately when we arrived it was closed as many business are in Italy on Sundays and sometimes between 12pm and 2pm. The upside for us was that we came across a large lake formed by a dam that was very obviously a camping and holiday area.(see pic)
We arrived early evening in Lucca and our B&B (see pic). Once settled in we decided to go for a stroll around this walled town as it was such a lovely evening and look for somewhere for tea.
Lucca appears to be more of a family town and it was just lovely wondering around seeing all the families just enjoying the evening and socializing in the many different Piazzas (little open squares) dotted around the town. We found a Kebab place so decided on this for a change. They made it up like they do in Greece by putting chips inside with the meat & salad. Yummy. Steven was proud of himself as he ordered everything in Italian.