Leaving our hotel east of Florence we head for the iconic leaning tower of Pisa. Debra, once again, has lots of interesting information this time of an engineering nature about the history of this building and the city of Pisa. As it turns out we get time for a few pictures in the sunshine and then slip,off to a cafe adjacent to the tower just before the heavens open and there is a downpour.
What a great place to enjoy a coffee and shelter from the rain in 'dolce vita' which means enjoying the moment.
The drive from Pisa to the French border is punctuated with 157 tunnels, some quite long, and probably as many bridges. The terrain is naturally hilly but our road is smooth which is lucky for us because it is our turn to have the back seats in the coach today. Although we can't stop we catch glimpses of some hilltop towns and the villages overlooking the Cinque Terra. Also worth mentioning are the paddocks with slabs of marble all lined up ready. For export which have been extracted from nearby hills. The stone for the Statue of David was sourced from this area.
After our very nice lunch at a Roadside Auto Grill we make our way into the Principality of Monaco. Here we stop for an hour and a half and walk about the old part of this very exclusive village. We visit the Cathedral where the tombs of the princes of Monaco including Princess Grace (Kelly) can be found. We stroll around the narrow streets, the shops and then finish with a walk in the beautiful park overlooking the Mediterranean. The bay on the other side is home to millions of dollars of boats, yachts and Monte Carlo.
We leave Monte Carlo via the Grand Prix track. The starting grid is adjacent to,the swimming pool and flagpoles pictured. We push on just a little while longer to Nice where after a short drive around the city to give us some orientation we check in at the Novotel where we will be staying for two nights.
Dinner with three other couples is enjoyed in Grimaldi Square savouring French cuisine in the old part of the city.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment