October 10, 2015
To Nice
I think that despite all the steep streets Haut Cagne is about my favourite little village of the whole trip. May be it is because of the steep streets there were all sorts of interesting things tucked into corners and they are all sorts of shapes. I would hate to think what would happen in an earth quake - there would just be a big pile of rocks and stones left. And there are the cats, there are cats everywhere, and they are healthy looking friendly cats with flea collars. Ken really liked getting his cat fix. The Villa Estella helps, on the street it looks just like a grim stone wall with a huge door in it. You ring the bell, the door is opened and the magic is revealed. There is a big terrace with orange trees and other tropical looking plants with a view over the surrounding country and the villa is built around this. Our room is to one side with its own little patio on which the trusty bikes are living. The room is of course gorgeous with an antique but extremely comfortable bed and original art work on the walls. Inside the main part of the Villa is an elegant sitting area with huge squashy comfortable leather chairs, I am looking forward to breakfast when it is served at 8.30. Just one thing about it though Ken always says the more expensive the hotel the worse the Wifi and this bears him out. The Wifi here is only available in the common areas and absolutely crap, I could only get one photo on last night so will have to wait until we are in a more humble abode tonight to put the rest on, Last night we climbed back up towards the centre and saw a tiny restaurant opening onto the street. It only had 5 tables in the little room and the chef and his wife were at one end in the kitchen. The place was soon full, and others had come in to order a table for later. We were the only ones there who were not know to the pair that ran it. As you can well imagine the food was delicious. I had fois gras, moules with a white wine and cream sauce (these were the juiciest and tenderest I have ever tasted) followed by nougat with raspberry coulis. Surprisingly this was not an expensive meal and the local wine we had was only 10E a bottle - certainly the best value we have had. The lady even ran down the road after me with my jacket when I left it behind.
This morning reading old newspaper cuttings and talking to our host I learnt more about the reason Pat and Amand came to Cagnes. There was a very close association between the artists in Montmatre and those in Cagnes and this association continued until about 1960 so obviously this was the place that they would have come to escape the Germans. He also said thet very many people came to Nic for that reason.
After an elegant breakfast we very carefully pushed our bikes down the hill - it was far too steep to ride then back on the bike track through the Saturday Market and we were once more beside the sea. We certainly weren't alone it seemed as if everyone was out on bikes, on roller blades, running, scooting or walking. The dedicated bike track even had a speed limit of 10km per h on it, about impossible to keep to on such easy going. We rode along the Promanade de Anglais and went on and had a poke around the Port before we came back into the centre to find the Hotel Rex. This is in the pedestrian area of the city and the location is perfect and the tiny room comfortable. One problem only it has is that the hotel starts on the second floor and there are narrow spiral marble stairs leading to it. The bikes had to be unloaded and carried up, Not easy! We have bought a tram pass and had a bit of an explore and will continue with that tomorrow but now it is time to go and search the many restaurants near us. Slight delay The Aussie Wales Rugby match is direct on the TV
Today's ride: 20 km (12 miles)
Total: 3,409 km (2,117 miles)
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