Castelnaudry

We had a little visitor to the boat on the last night.  Apparently he's not a rat, he's a Kai Poo whatever that is.  Looks like a rat to me.  He swam up the boat and people we were throwing bits of bread to him.

Castelnaudry our final port of call

Castelnaudry

I celebrated my birthday on the boat.  They made a huge cake and decorated it with sparklers.

Me relaxing and sunbaking on my birthday

My birthday dinner with our fellow passengers

My birthday cake that Tom the chef made for me

The boat travels along the canal at about 8kms an hour and during the entire trip travelled about 100kms and negotiated 140 locks.  When the boat is a lock that is the best time to get on or off.  They provided bicycles for us to use or you walk along the tow path.  Colin went for a couple of bike rides during the trip.

Colin cycling on the tow path

He even got to drive the boat

A lock keepers cottage

Canal du Midi

Every day we sailed blissfully along the canal.  Some days we had triple locks and even quadruple locks to go through so there was never a dull moment.  There was always a small crowd of people around the lock to watch the boats go through and wave to us.  It was always busy.

Narbonne

The produce market at Narbonne

Here's some photos of our beautiful boat cruise.

Getting ready for lunch on deck

some of the bridges we went under were pretty low

views of the canal as we sailed along

view from the Anjodi

Carcassone

Our boat the Anjodi sailed peacefully along the Canal and each day we arrived at a new destination.  We had a mini bus that took us to the nearby towns and villages.  We usually did our excursions early in the morning before it got too hot and before places became too crowded.

On day two of the cruise we visited the medieval city of Carcassone. Dating back to the Gallo-Roman era, this is the most complete medieavil fortififed city in existence today.  It has 52 watchtowers, portcullis and andextraordinary number of defences that resisted the many armies that tried to storm this Camelot setting.  As you approach the city you see the intact wall the surrounds the city and the many turretted watchtowers that give it a fairytale castle appearance.  Inside the city walls the cobblestoned streets are lined with shops, restaurants and cafes.  We spent several hours wandering through the streets.

sailing along the Canal du Midi

Carcassone

Arriving on the Anjodi

Our next destination was the Canal du Midi and a trip on a hotel barge the Anjodi.  The Anjodi was built was a barge in the 1920's and later refurbished into a luxury hotel barge.

The cruise was magnificent. Definately the highlight of the trip and an awesome way to celebrate my birthday.

The Canal du Midi is the most beautiful of the canals in France.  It is lined with plane trees that form a green canopy over the canal.  We spent 6 nights on the Anjodi.  8 passengers, 4 crew and 6 bicycles to use whenever you like.  And, a Jacuzzi on the deck.  The boat travels at about 8 kms an hour so you can get off and on the boat whenever you wish and walk or ride along the tow path.  Colin rode 10kms one day and a shorter distance on another occasion.

Every day we got off the boat, usually in the morning and visited nearby towns and villages.  Our first excursion was to Minerve a medieval hilltop village, the ancient of the Minervois which boasts a 12^th century Cathar fort surrounded by deep limestone gorges.  The fort is now almost gone, only a tower remains.  We walked up all the steep steps and paths and the views were awesome.  We then walked right to the bottom and walked along the dry river bed and through a gigantic tunnel or cave where the river goes.  It was hard work.  The river bed is full of boulders.

Minerve

Minerve

Le Pont de Avignon

Our next destination was Avignon.  You know the song Sur le Pont de Avignon ......etc.  Well that's the place and the bridge is still there.  It now only spans 1/2 the river but over the centuries it spanned the river and went all the way from Popes Palace to the now ruined castle.

Le Pont de Avignon

The Popes Palace

Roussillon

Roussillon

Another of the perched villages that we visited was Roussillon which sits on a rocky outcrop of Ochre.  The Ochre is used to paint all the houses a terracotta type of colour.  I found that surprising.  I thought Ochre was only found in Australia.

Ochre cliffs Roussillon

Cannes is famous for the film festival held every May and it attracts the rich and famous year round.  The Boulevarde de la Croisette is lined with grand old hotels and top designer shops alongside a picturesque sandy beach and graceful palm trees.  Many of the beaches are private beaches of the fancy hotels but there is plenty of free public beach to enjoy.  The weather is similar to that of Nice and Monaco, hot and dry and the water of the Mediteranean sea is warm.  Normally at this time of year the grand hotels of the Bouvlevarde de la Croisette are full of Arab Shieks who book out an entire floor of the hotel for their family.  This year, Ramadan is in August and they haven't come.  So most of the hotels are only half full.

Me at  the free public beach

Looking back over Cannes from the Old Town on the hill

After spending two nights in Nice our next destination was Cannes.  We spent two nights there as well and did some day tours from there.  We visited St Tropez which we really liked.  Lovely sandy beaches, a medieval city with a citadel on the top of the hill with magnificent views.

View from the Citadel overlooking St Tropez

St Paul de Vance

St Paul de Vance

St Paul de Vance

Us overlooking the village of Tourrettes-Sur-Loup

The view from the village of Gourdon

Us with our guide/driver Adam on the way to Tourettes

From Nice we did a day tour of some of the surrounding hilltop villages.  We visited Gourdon, Tourrettes-Sur-Loup and St Paul de Vance.

Gourdon is one of the most stunning of the 'perched villages of Provence' and the main attraction of the village is the view. It is known as the Eagles Nest.

The village itself is very attractive, beautifully restored with medieval streets lined with beautiful old houses, artisan shops selling perfumes and crafts etc.

The village of Tourrettes-Sur-Loup is another perched village about 7kms from Gourdon.  Full of narrow winding streets and art and craft shops and the famous Provence products.  Every October to March Tourrettes holds a violet festival.  From the Belvedere, there's  a sweeping view of the Cote d'Azur from the Esterel mountains.

St Paul de Vance was the biggest and busiest of them all.  Very arty.  Every famous artist you can think of has been there.  It is the second most visited town in France.  The most visited is Mont St Michael.

Gourdon

Us at a viewpoint along the way to Gourdon

Lavande oil production

Our next destination on the Cote d'Azur was Nice.  We spent two nights there.  The beach if you can call it that is nothing more than an expensive strip of grey stony rubble and for about 25 euro you can rent a chair and umbrella for the day.  Alongside the beach is the Promenade de Anglais, or walkway of the English.  Finanaced by an english minister in the 1800's  It is a long paved strip running parallel to the sea.  Always busy with tourists and locals, joggers and roller bladers. There are plenty of bright blue benches to sit on to take in the view.  Lots of stalls selling gelato and cold drinks.  Grand hotels sit on the opposite side of the road with stunning views of the azure blue sea.

Me overlooking the Promenade des Anglais

Away from the sea, Nice has a lovely old town centre, great open air markets a lovely park and remains of a citadel perched high on a hill with stunning views of the Cote d'Azur.

The Casino Monte Carlo

Us in the garden of the Palace of Monaco

We werent allowed to take any photos inside the palace as it is a working palace and Prince Albert currently lives there.  We could take photos in the small garden though.

Our hotel in Monaco was situated right on the Marina and even though we were on the ground floor we had an outdoor terrace which looked straight out onto the Marina and these gigantic sparkling yachts.  They were quite a sight.  It was mostly crew onboard and at night it seemed to be a backpacker who had the job of minding the yacht and keeping the lights on etc.  Not a bad job at all.

View of Marina from our terrace

Night view of Marina

We did a day tour from Monaco to the medieval hilltop village of Eze. While walking the very steep and rocky paths of Eze, you can easily see that it was once surrounded a 12th century fortified castle. The castle was torn down in 1706, but the village remains, and forms a circular pattern around the base of the castle. Many of the residents are now artisans, and you can spend a lot of time wandering in and out of the cave-like shops. There are also some perfumeries, and a wonderful aromatic selection of spices for sale.  The day we were there, there was also a number of market stalls selling fresh produce such as sausage and cheeses galore.

Eze

Colin in Eze