Aix-en-Provence and the French Riviera

How time flies! It is now 4 months since my last post and I was rather busy (and lazy) to post. My eldest daughter got married in January, then it was Chinese New Year followed by Lent and Easter. I was then busy playing with my new HP laptop (handed down by my son-in-law) and actively downloading books for my Kindle all this while and it is now time to finish off what I started, if I can still recall details of my visit.

Here goes. From Arles we left for Aix-en-Provence for our lunch stop. Choosing a place to eat can take some time since I have to look at the menu (as if I understand what is written) and check on the price. This time I decided on a tapas cafe where you can have 3 tapas of your choice for 9.9 euros which is much cheaper than back home and the place is crowded with locals.

Below are some of my choices of 6 tapas and they are good.

By the way, this was the only restaurant in France that I have visited that served plain water with ice without being asked.

After a satisfying lunch we walked along the side streets.

Step into a church, we found along the way.

We were then back at the main street of Cours Mirabeau.

The landmark here is the La Rotonde fountain.

Since Aix is associated with the artist Paul Cezanne, you get to meet him in person.

Beyond the Rotunde fountain is the new part of Aix.

We left Aix and headed for the coast of the French Riviera.

It was a great disappointment as when we arrived, it was raining and rather cold. What happened to sunny Riviera??? We checked into the Holiday Inn at Cannet (just outside Cannes) and there is nothing special here. Its saving grace is its location; there is a minimarket across a sideroad and a bakery across the main road and a bus stop further up the road where the local bus will get you to the centre of Cannes for 1 euro. After some rest, we went into Nice for our optional dinner. These shots were taken from the bus. Note the rough sea in the first shot of the promenade.

Dinner was at a restaurant in Nice and the stewed beef of the main course was very nice. The shot is of the starter.

After dinner, we walked to our bus through the city square but it was not very nice because it started to rain again.

Ronald Kwok