Next stop- Village number 2,795

Hello all! I am finally back.. Sorry it has taken me all week to get a post up! For whatever reason it has been a rather hectic week around Maison de Halliburton and I just can't get my bootie in a seat long enough to write anything! 

John and I had a wonderful weekend, the weather was a bit cloudy most of the time (Volcanic ash? Quite possibly.) but we still managed to make the most of it and see some more of our beautiful surroundings.We have become quite the "village visitors" lately but we just really love getting outside of the city. I don't think I could ever live in somewhere like the villages (I mean, being an hour away from a grocery store would be difficult for anyone.) yet they are so very peaceful and very different from what we normally see and do in Nice.

Looking out of the village

The village this weekend was Lantosque. Beautifully swished between two mountains, the town is quite large by village standards- about 4 restaurants, small clothing store, book store, even a hotel in the summer months. John had been told that it is actually quite touristy but while we were there we didn't see any tourists at all. Except for us of course... :-) Running beneath the village is the Var river which eventually makes its way to the coast not far from our apartment. The river can be heard from just about anywhere in the village and is just the most beautiful noise to accompany an afternoon of wandering.

We both love to visit the old churches inside the villages. Lantosque had 2 churches, only one of which still had services. Like many of the villages, there are not enough people or priests to go around, so they have a schedule. One week the Father would be here, next week across the mountain at a different church.

We had a fantastic afternoon as always. We even ate out for lunch! Woot! I had a pizza,which was delicious. John had a sandwich and then helped me with my Pizza and I had my Orangina.

I wish you all a wonderful week! 

More pictures from our trip are on my Shutterfly site.

Village Hopping

Once again we had a fantastic weekend. This past Saturday was a beautiful day so we decided to get out of Nice and explore a couple more of the perched villages. First stop- Luceram! 

Luceram was by far the most beautiful perched village we have visited as well as the most alive and "lived-in" village we have visited. We were both amazed by how active it was- there were 2 restaurants, a post office, a library, and 2 churches that are actually still used as a church. It was great to see. Luceram is well know for it's Christmas decorating and during the holidays everyone in the village hangs pine branches and ribbons around their doors. Some even put nativity scenes outside. For us, it was just the perfect place to walk around and explore. You never know where a little medieval alley is going to take you or where you are going to end up when you walk around in these villages.

When we finished up at Luceram, John remembered that there is another village that is pretty close so we figured... why not? One quick destination change in the GPS and off we went, up one of the curviest, twistiest roads I have ever been on but it had some of the most amazing views! By the time we reached our destination, Peira Cava, I had already decided that what I had seen from the car had made the trip more than worth it. And then we got out of the car. Breathtaking. John and I have seen some beautiful things since moving here, but the snow capped peaks in the distance with the lush green of spring surrounding us really blew us away. Even Sadie was a little breathless... but that could be because she was tired..The trip back down the mountain was a bit "breathtaking" too. We found ourselves on the receiving end of a rally car race! I am quite sure that upon arrival at the finish line all of the drivers hopped out of their cars and said,"Did you see the crazy vw polo coming down the road while we were coming up!?!?! geezzzzz"

Sunday did not live up to our expectations weather wise- rain, incredible winds, just generally nasty but we made the best of it. Church in the morning, reading in the afternoon, and a trip to the parking garage with Sadie and her tennis ball. 

More pics of our trip are here.