Our plan had been all along to head to Marseilles from Arles, but when we looked at the distance combined with the climbs, we decided to go around our elbow and get there in two days.  We left this morning to overcast skies and a serious threat of rain. Though the temps were not far from the last several days, the humidity made it feel much warmer, thankfully, with the clouds shielding the sun, we did not roast.Huge birch trees formed beautiful canopies along our road, the best we’ve had in France so far; sometimes we even had a paved shoulder to ride.We rode through small towns bursting with flowers and past old farmsand churches.The sun started burning through the clouds
about ten and in less than an hour, we felt the heat that we had not missed the last several days.  Started climbing at exactly noon;

it would have been sooner, but we had to stop to fix a flat tire.  The ride up was beautiful but very steep and tough in the heat of the sun.The ride down featured hairpin turns and white rocks jutting out from the green.We arrived in Paul Cézanne’s charming hometown of Aix en Provence (founded in 123 B.C.) sometime before 3:00.  The city was bustling with people, yet it had a small town, unhurried fee.  Aix en Provence is sometimes referred to as the city with 1000 fountains, though you could say that about the churches, as they seemed to be everywhere.  Walking the narrow streets lined with exquisite doors, we heard the call of church bells and could see the tower in the distance. Arrived at the Cathedrael Saint-Sauveur, with two huge organs that mirrored each other, just before the service started.  We waited through the processional and listened to the organ play in this massive stone church, truly magnificent.  As was the nave and tremendous frescos that lined the surrounding walls.  Though this cathedral is not as “fancy, bright and shiny” as others we’ve seen, it will take your breathe away.  A little more window shopping (the smells coming from this dessert shop were incredible),people watchingstopping in galleries and then to dinner.  Found a great local Italian restaurant with a wood fire oven, but didn’t do pizza, just two incredible bowls of pasta.  Robyn, this Carbonara tops the one in South Beach…time to take a trip to France!

A cool crystal clear morning, as we left and immediately started climbing.  For an hour we climbed through fieldsand one small town.As we turned a corner in the middle of the countryside, we could see buildings everywhere.We dropped into the city on very rough roads with drivers pulling out, stopping or parking in some most creative ways.  There was road construction everywhere, making navigation slow and obscuring good photo opportunities,which did not stop us from trying.Reaching the Port of Marseille by 11:00, we decided to have an early lunch, see if we could find a hotel and correct a computer problem we were having.  Somewhere in this maze of construction and people, we opted not to stay in France’s second largest city (just too big for us).  So, we bypassed the 17th Century Fort Saint-Jean,the Opera House,this incredible buildingand the Notre Dame de la Gardeand answered the call of the sea.  The wind coming off the Mediterranean was cool and clean and we instantly felt better.  There were even a few sights in the neighborhood.Sunbathers, kids having fun and the War Memorial on the Corniche.We strolled for dinner; a little tapas at one place and then an incredible salad with goat cheese medallions (yum, yum) at another. We missed the sunset, but got the afterglow.  Time to say goodnight.

It was in the low 70’s when we left this morning, shortly after eight.  Started off along the coast, but within a half an hour we began climbing, as did the temperature.  It hit 85 before 9 am;

and with the sun directly in our face we were dripping. This was to be our longest and highest climb for the day; thank goodness as it took us an hour and a half to bike up the ten milesleaving the coast behind and stopping to rest/breath and take pictures along the way.The view at the top was far reaching and and the air cooler, but all the tall trees were gone and low shrub remained.  The fly down was fabulous, as there was a generous shoulder and we could see grape vines on the next mountain. We spent little time at the bottom, as our second climb began almost immediately.  No shoulder, but shade….the trade off was worth it.  And the scenery spectacular as we weaved our way up and around the mountaincatching glimpses of pretty coves along the way. At the top of the second climb, we lost our traffic to the interstate, so we had the downhill to ourselves along with other bikers out for a strenuous ride.  We had a long stretch of towns to go through before our last and lowest climb of the day and the scenery was just as fabulous.Our last stretch was through small townsand beautiful harbors,our favorite was Sanary sur Mer, both harbor

and beach were inviting.But we had already made a reservation a few miles down the road, so we continued.  The city of Toulon is a cruise ship stop and home to the French navy, this is the marine museum. An interesting town with the required town square,beautiful fountainsand statues and a very active harbor with a line of restaurants that makes you want to stay a week; somehow, we missed a picture, but got the dinner of salad with smoked salmon and steak with Roquefort sauce.  Think we are actually taking the day off tomorrow, so we will fill you in on more pictures then.

We had discussed taking today off and enjoying doing nothing as our legs rested.  But with not the best hotel room to do nothing in, we packed up and paddled out of town. In our research for this stretch, we learned there was a bike path created along the old railway, all we had to do is find it; something none of the web sites were very specific about.  Amazingly, we did find it.Not hard to imagine a train track on our course as we wound through small towns, the backyard of homes and vineyards. Occasionally our course rode beside the road,with vistas of the mountains

we hoped to avoid today.   That idea lasted until about 11:00, when our climbing began.  The shoreline of Cote d’Azur was obscured most of the day by large homeshigh fences or trees making the occassionl glimpse of the sea, that much sweeter.Every cove showed hillsides filled with homes also looking for that glimpse of the Sea.  Just before noon, feeling pretty confident with less than ten miles to go, we decided to slow down, take a break and enjoy lunch.  Little did we know (though history would prove otherwise) that we would have a good climb on a dirt and rock path; it slowed our last stretch down tremendously. Luckily, the last couple miles were paved, so we were able to enjoy our last downhill at more than 6 mph.  Checked into our hotel on the outskirts of this small beach village.  Strolled the white sand beach, but didn’t last long in the heat of the late afternoon.  Rested for the rest of the afternoon; we have some tough mountains to climb tomorrow.

Due to the ridiculous amount of pictures from today’s ride, we’ve decided not to post, just too overwhelming!

It actually was a thought, fleeting as it was, with almost 350 pictures.

The wind was howling when we got up this morning, trees bending, sand swirling kind of howling.  Luckily, we were headed for the hills.  For our three mile climb we were nestled in the trees,

protected from the wind and cars.  We saw lots of bikers, an occasional runner

We have a short ride today; one: because we are really tired and secondly: we wanted to spend a night in Nice which is not that far away.

The beach was already full as we pulled away at 9:30 this morning. The homes are just as gorgeous on the ride out as they were on the way in.One town connects with the other with very little interruption.  But the town of Antibes stands alone in uniqueness.  Besides the (apparently) required yachts, it features what appeared to be an old castle,beautiful narrow (albeit steep) streets and a lovely small town feel.  The view of the Alps in the distance was breathtakingand though it does not come through in photos, we actually saw snow on the highest peaks.Saw this structure from miles awaynot sure if we were more impressed with this condo’s architecture or the peaks of the Alps in the distance.  Once again our ride today was greatly assisted by the whipping wind; we tried hard to slow down, but at times actually had to apply brakes to do so.  Even in the heavy wind the beaches were packed, but there was no sand to blow, these beaches were all rock; guess we are spoiled with the soft sand in Virginia Beach.

On our way into the city, we biked by the Nice airport, that has more (big) private jets parked, than most airlines have in their fleet.  We easily found the way to our hotel and checked in to veg/relax, etc.  Of course that never lasts for long, before we itch to check out the city.  From what we saw, Nice does not have the tightly packed narrow streets, but it is not without it’s stunning architecture

attractive squaresand hordes of people shopping. By the time we reached the waterfront in the evening, the wind had picked up to 40 mph, turning the calm crystal blue waters into a stormy sea,

still just as breathtaking;but nothing as spectacular as Old Gloryone of the very few we’ve seen on this trip.

One last picture of the American Episcopal Church (1886) from our walk back after a spectacular bowl full of mussels and Bolognese.

Tomorrow we take a much needed day off; this time it will really happen as we’ve booked our room for two nights……..and we are sleeping in, so may be a while before we post 😉

Light day today. Slept in, then ventured out in much cooler weather for an old fashioned “American” breakfast, found a ham and cheese omelet to die for (‘course the bill almost killed us), first eggs we’d had since arriving in France; they just do croissants and incredibly delicious baguettes for breakfast.

Many of the building have obviously had the years of wear and pollution cleaned off, so they sparkled.

Though the rounded corners of the buildings are the most appealing to me,the difference of plants in front of this one was most interesting.And then there was the majestic Negresco Hotel offering a view of the beach for less than $1300. a night.

Today is Bastille Day in France, so we figured we see a parade or at the very least, everyone out and about on their day off.  With the exception of the few people scattered on the beach, it was like a ghost town.  We imagine they are resting for the night’s festivities.  On our stroll back to rest, we saw the Church of Saint Peter Arena

and another favorite, flowers in window boxes.

Our last night in France, we went Italian; a fabulous salad with anchovies, calzone and a bottle of wine. We’ll be in luck if the Italians can match this.

Based on the cars parked on both sides the road a mile inland, we figured the evening festivities had begun, so we strolled down to the water to check it out.  At the end of our street a band was playing American Rock N Roll and doing a great job.

So instead of relaxing and resting, we “shaked, rattled and rolled” to the music. Thankfully, they stopped for an incredible fireworks displayso we were able to cool off a bit.   We scooted out before the fireworks ended and the next band began; it was time to turn in, if we were ever going to ride in the morning.