The Week in the French Riviera

Original Post Date: July 21, 2019

Original Post Location: NICE, FRANCE

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This week was incredible. I have always heard that the South of France is beautiful, but I didn’t realize just how beautiful until I was actually there. The sea was always just as clear and blue as the sky and I finally got to experience the summer weather that I am used to. Along with the Mediterranean Sea, there is also the mountains and rolling hills scattered with vineyards and little farms. We spent the week exploring the ways the different philosophers found the good life in France. Some of them found it by the sea in the bustling town of Nice, and others found it in the countryside with the refuge of small quiet villages. Throughout the week we hiked the mountains, swam in the sea, and enjoyed endless amounts of bread and wine.

7.15.19

I started this Monday morning bright and early at 2:30 AM to shower and get ready to head to the airport to meet my class at 4 AM. For it being so early, everything went smoothly, and I arrived at the airport on time. I am beginning to get comfortable with the Copenhagen airport and made it through security and arrived at my gate by 4:30 AM. We all then began the waiting process until we could start boarding at 5:45 AM. While waiting we all witnessed a couple break up, in the middle of the airport, when they were supposed to be getting ready for a trip together. When we were finally able to board, I ended up sitting next to a family with wild children that made it really hard to sleep or focus on anything else. It was a two-hour flight, so we arrived in Nice, France by 8:30 AM. After exiting the airport, we rode a bus to our hotel, but could not drop off our luggage yet because we were earlier than expected, so we went to a neighboring café for coffee and smoothies. After we were able to drop off our luggage, we set off for our walking tour of Nice. Thankfully the hotel had umbrellas that we could borrow since it had just started raining. Shortly after our tour started, we had to cut it short due to lightning and thunder. We then walked to the restaurant that we were going to be eating at for lunch where our tour guide finished the rest of his stories about Nice while we ate lunch. For lunch we had meatballs on top of bell pepper, tomatoes, and eggplant. The main course was gnocchi with a meat sauce and then we all received a quarter of a pineapple for dessert.

After lunch we walked to the top of a viewpoint near a waterfall to get a good view and perspective of Nice since we were not able to go on our walking tour. Once we had climbed to the top and seen the view, we then made our way to an art museum where we received a personal tour throughout the museum and an explanation of each piece of art. The artist displayed at the museum had created narratives of various stories in the old testament through his paintings. After the museum we walked back to our hotel and had the rest of the evening to ourselves. I later went to dinner with my roommate and some of her friends to a restaurant near the water.

7.16.19

We started the day with free time before our first activity, so my roommate and I, along with a couple of other people, got up early to eat breakfast and then walk down to the beach. At the beach we swam and enjoyed the sun for about one and a half hours before heading back to get ready for the day. The first item on our agenda was lunch at a Lebanese restaurant. Here we enjoyed various courses of food that included hummus and pita bread, as well as beef or chicken kababs with couscous and some dessert samplings. My favorites from this meal was the couscous and the honey cookie that we had as one of the desserts. After finishing lunch, we rode our bus to a nearby winery called Château de Crémat, which produces its wine in a castle that was built in 1904. While here we received a tour of the facilities along with stories about the history of the place. We then had a tasting where we sampled their three wines; red, white, and rosé. During the tasting they also had snacks out for us that included bread, cheese, meat, and onion pie. While sipping the wine and enjoying the snacks we learned more about their process for making each wine. Their specific wines are made with a certain combination of grapes that are harvested with the help of the surrounding community. After the tasting we were able to walk around the grounds for a little while before getting back on the bus and calling it a day. When we were all back at the hotel we decided to go to Monaco for the evening since we had more free time built into our schedule. After deciding this we all hurried to get changed and ready to leave so we could catch the next train. We left the hotel at 6 PM and were able to get tickets for the 6:22 PM train. We all got round-trip tickets for the evening and boarded the train for the quick twenty-minute ride to the country of Monaco. When we got off of the train we were immediately surprised by the beauty and grandeur of the area. We then began, what would turn out to be a longer trek than we expected, our journey to the beach. On our walk we climbed down countless stairs, walked past $150 million-dollar yachts as well as Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, and Bently dealerships until we finally arrived at the small beach. To put into perspective just how small Monaco is, during our walk along the coast looking for the beach, we almost walked along the entire coastline of Monaco. After arriving at the beach, we swam and explored the various platforms and wave breakers that we could climb on and jump off of. The water was so clear that we could see the fish swimming around in the water, even when we were a ways from the beach. We swam for over an hour before drying off and heading out to look for a place to eat. We ended up choosing McDonalds because it was the only place that we could afford. After eating we decided to walk around and explore some more because by now the sun had gone down and we wanted to see the city all lit up. We walked back along the coastline the same way that we had come from, and once again was in awe of the ginormous yachts and fancy cars. When it was getting close to our departure time, we made the trek back up all of the stairs to the train station for our 11:15 PM train ride back to Nice.

7.17.19

This day began with us checking out of our hotel and getting on the bus for a three-hour ride to the town of Cadenet, where our hotel would be for the night. Traffic and road construction made this a very interesting ride. When we eventually arrived at the hotel, the bus had a heck of a time getting down the narrow driveway and then turning around in the small parking lot. When the bus was finally situated, we unloaded our luggage and dropped it off inside, just to get back on the bus in order to drive to the town of Lourmarin for the day. When we arrived at the small town of Lourmarin we had some free time in order to find food for lunch before our walking tour of the town. The majority of us ate at a small café that only had outdoor seating, which was nice because the weather was beautiful. At this café we were able to get a full meal, including an ice cream cone, for nine euro. After lunch, we met with our tour guide and started our guided exploration of the town. Our tour was based on the Albert Camus, a philosophical author whose work we have been reading. Throughout the tour we visited Camus’ former home, his favorite place to eat at and where he would spend his time. We finished the tour with a visit to his grave and a reading from his autobiography. When the tour was finished, we had some free time again to further explore the town. During this time, we all weaved in and out of the small shops that lined the streets purchasing things here and there as souvenirs or gifts for people back home. A short while later we walked up the nearby hill to the Château at the top for a self-guided tour. As we were wandering through the castle a woman began a small concert, playing the piano in one of the rooms off of the staircase. The staircase was made of stone which allowed the beautiful sound of the piano to echo up through the entirety of the space. When we finished up our tour, we got back on the bus to head to our hotel. We had an hour at the hotel to relax before walking to the restaurant La Source for dinner. For dinner we were served three courses over the span of two and a half hours. We all casually chatted and shared stories while working our way through the meal. All of the food was amazing and made for an enjoyable evening. By the time we had finished everything it was well past 10:30 PM.

7.18.19

Similar to the day before, our day started with a long bus ride. This time we were going to the mountain that we would be hiking. We arrived at the mountain three hours later, after our giant bus had maneuvered around multiple switch backs and steep roads, successfully making me motion sick. I was very excited when we arrived to finally be off of the bus, but I did not receive much relief because we started hiking before my head had a chance to stop spinning. Towards the beginning of our hike we gathered as a group to read and discuss a reading relating to the hike that we were getting ready to complete. The author that we were reading from had actually walked the path we were getting ready to take years before. This path has also been hiked by pilgrims to reach the Grotto at the top for thousands of years. This turned out to be a fairly intense hike with a steep incline. We hiked up for approximately 45 minutes before reaching our destination, the Grotto of Sainte-Baume. This grotto had a lot of tributes to Mary Magdalene and even had a relic from her because the cave was believed to be a refuge for her after Jesus ascended into heaven. At the top we took some time to explore the grotto, pray, and enjoy the amazing views.

We then began the decent back down the mountain and about a third of the way down found a great place to stop for our picnic. For lunch we had a spread of pizza, bread, cheese, and tomatoes. After we all had more than enough to eat, we again began making our way back down to the bottom. Once we reached the bottom, we shared another reading and looked back on where we had hiked from. We then got back on the bus for another three-hour ride back to Nice. We arrived at Nice with a couple hours to relax before dinner. With this free time a group of us decided to leave the hotel early in order to explore streets of Nice that we hadn’t seen yet on our walk to dinner. On our walk we stumbled upon a couple of street concerts. One was a band called The Phly Boys, and they were really good at getting the crowd to engage in their performance. We ended up listening to them until their set was over and then we continued our walk to the restaurant. For dinner we ate at La Safari. Each meal we had as a group this week came with multiple courses that included an appetizer, main dish, and a dessert, and most of the meals lasted over two hours. During this time, we simply ate the good food and enjoyed each other’s company. After dinner we shopped along the street markets and weaved our way through the crowds for jazz fest on our way back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel I worked on creating my Instagram takeover stories for DIS.

7.19.19

This was the last day of our Study Tour in France. In the morning we checked out of our hotel and boarded the bus for a short ride to the town of Èze. This was a small village on top of a cliff. When the bus dropped us off, we immediately had free time until we needed to meet as a group for lunch. We used this time to explore the small town and visit the viewpoint at the very top of the town to look out over the Mediterranean Sea. We spent the rest of our time walking through the winding streets that sometimes would randomly provide a gorgeous framed view of the landscape and exploring the small shops that lined the streets. After enjoying our lunch in one of the small cafés we made our way to the trail head of the path we would be taking to Èze-sur-mer (or Èze by the sea”). This trail was actually walked by Obama a few weeks earlier when he was visiting. Before we started the hike, we completed our last group reading of the trip. We then started the hike to the bottom. Since we were going down for the majority of the hike, it was not terrible, although it was insanely hot, humid, and sunny. On the way down I shared some good conversation with a few of my classmates and my professor. Once we made it to the bottom, we had over three hours of free time until we needed to meet at the bus, and we all chose to spend this time at the beach. Spending the afternoon swimming in the beautiful Mediterranean Sea was the perfect way to spend our last day in France.

Over the course of this Study Tour I swam at three different beaches along the Mediterranean Sea, and this beach was by far the clearest. After spending a couple hours at the beach swimming, playing frisbee, and enjoying the sun we all got changed and walked along the beach until we reached the Papaya Beach Restaurant where we decided to eat dinner. While we ate dinner under the beautiful cabana, we had the sound of the ocean gliding over the pebbles just a few feet away. We hung out at this restaurant until we needed to head towards the bus. Once on the bus we had a short drive to the airport. When we arrived at the airport, we began the self-check-in process, although I was not able to check-in because my name had been spelled wrong during the booking process. After a little extra work and discussing the situation with one of the employees, my professor was able to get the problem worked out and we were able to receive our boarding passes. Everything else with the flight went smoothly and we were back in Copenhagen at midnight.

7.20.19

After a busy week like this one, I decided to take it easy on Saturday. I had brunch with some friends at Souls café to catch up and chat about our Study Tour experiences. After brunch I headed back to my apartment to unpack, clean, submit photos to DIS, work on homework, and call my family. I also went to the grocery store in order to restock my very bare shelves. Now that I have gotten used to the local grocery store, I made my fastest trip yet at twenty minutes. It really helps that I can read, or at least recognize a lot of the names now, and I know where everything is. Later, as I was getting ready for bed, I heard Tivoli start up their Saturday night fireworks, so I went up on the roof to watch them before calling it a night.

7.21.19

What. A. Day. My friends and I had plans to visit Møns Klint, which are chalk cliffs located on the south east side of Denmark. In order to get to the cliffs in a timely manner we needed to rent a car. This would have been fine; except they accidentally rented an electric car. This car also had a small battery that only allowed us to go approximately 100 km before it needed charged again. After a mix up with the rental car company and a few other small problems, we were finally on the road at 9:30 AM, an hour later than we had planned on. We had only been driving for little over an hour before we needed to find a charging station to charge the car. This was the last charging station on our way to the cliffs, so we made sure to charge the car enough in order to be able to make I back to this charging station on the way home. We let the car charge for thirty minutes while we explored the rest area that we were parked at. After the car was done charging, we continued on our journey to the cliffs. On our way we passed through some cute small towns and down some very bumpy gravel roads before we arrived at the visitor’s center. By this time, it was almost noon, so my friends ordered some food from the café and I ate the sandwich that I packed. After lunch we walked down the 992 stairs to the ocean where we could view the cliffs. They were pretty magnificent, but it was incredibly windy and somewhat cold, so it was not very enjoyable. Once we felt like we had looked around long enough we decided to start making the climb back up. These 992 stairs were steeper than normal stairs, which made it harder to climb them. When we eventually made it back to the top, my friends got a couple of things from the gift shop and then we walked back to the car. When we were trying to leave the parking lot our pass was not working because we had not realized that we needed to pay for it inside and not at the machine. So, after creating a traffic jam we backed up and out of the line and one of us went inside to pay for the parking pass. After getting all that figured out, we were on our way again. On our way to a charging station we stopped at one of the small towns for ice cream. By this time John had decided that he did not want to drive anymore, so I took over, which I really enjoyed. After our ice cream stop, we headed to the nearest charging station, although it ended up not being compatible with the app that we had, so we drove back to the previous charging station with just 40 km left on the battery. When we got to the charging station, we plugged the car in and let it charge for an hour in order to get it up to 65% charged. This would be enough to get us back. On the way back I tried my best to drive efficiently so as not to use more energy than was necessary to get us home. After an hour or so we made it back to the rental place and dropped the car off. We all then walked to the bus station to get the rest of the way home. Once at home I made dinner and began working on homework. Overall, I was a little intimidated to drive in Denmark and Copenhagen, but it ended up not being as bad as I thought, and I actually enjoyed it.

Weekly Overview – The French Riviera:

1. Places Visited

• Nice, France

• Restaurant Le Cédre

• Château de Crémat

• Monte Carlo, Monaco

• Cadenet, France

• Lourmarin, France

• Château de Lourmarin

• La Source

• Bouche-du-Rhône

• Grotto of Sainte-Baume

• Le Safari

• Èze, France

• Èze-sur-mer, France

• Papaya Beach

• Møns Klint, Denmark

2. Favorite Moment

Using our free time to explore Monaco on our own.

3. The Best Food I Ate

The chocolate mousse dessert that we had at La Source.

4. A Helpful Tip

If traveling to Nice, France, make time to travel to the little towns around Nice. They were often times prettier and helped provided a better perspective of the French Riviera. I would definitely recommend Lourmarin or Èze.

5. The Best View

The top of Èze overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.