In search of Roman ruins...

Monday, September 14, 2009

Bonjour!

Wow! What a marvelous day! Roman ruins and beautiful scenery combined – couldn’t ask for more than that! Having discovered that MANY things are closed in France on Monday (including in La Turbie, where we’d planned to start…) we decided to head to Frejus, down the coast about 40 km, to see what ruins there were to see, as Frejus started life as a Roman port city. Took the peage (toll-way) for most of the way, and arrived around 9:30 a.m. at the outskirts of town and the amphitheatre. Again, just amazing how everything is closed on Monday! The amphitheatre was (as was the archeological museum!) but fortunately, as with a good many Roman ruins, you can see most of all you need to see from the outside!! So, we circled around the grounds, which are not really in very good condition, unfortunately. There is supposedly a re-construction taking place, which should last for the next three years, but it didn’t look like much progress had been made as of yet!

From there, we headed to the port of Frejus, looking for Augustine’s lighthouse – of which there not only wasn’t a trace, but NOBODY, even at the Tourist Office, had ever heard of it! We did have a nice walk along both the beach and the harbor – hundreds and hundreds of beautiful boats, all bobbing up and down in the water – a lovely sight! By this point, we were rather hungry (as we’d gone off without breakfast) so we stopped at an outdoor café for drinks and croissants.

From there, we stopped at the Tourist Office for better maps of Frejus and Saint-Rafael, and did some wandering along the coast next to the beach. Sunny, hot day, with lots of people on the beach and in the water; just beautiful!
Finally, finding that the museum was also closed on Monday, we decided to try to find what traces of the Roman aqueduct were left. At this we had much better success – found it (and as it’s out in an open field, rather hard to close THAT on Monday!) walked around it, and then across the street into a small public park that contained some remnants of the ramparts that the Romans had built to originally fortify the city. (Editor’s note!! R just FOUND Augustine’s lantern on one of the maps he picked up – boy, were we off! Don’t know why we thought his “lighthouse” would be by the water, but it certainly wasn’t! Oh well!)

By this time, we were both a bit tired of the hectic beach scene, so we headed inland, toward Fayence, before starting to work our way back to Vence.

Talk about hitting the jackpot! As we climbed up and away from the coast, we hit a beautiful forested area, popping out very high up on the hill, into one of the villes perches (perched towns) – and perched they certainly are! Looked rather like some Italian hill-top towns we’ve visited! Fayence is really lovely. Lots of flowers everywhere, and some lovely sidewalk cafes – although I felt rather “mountain-goatish” as my chair was definitely on the downhill slant! Found an outside table in the center of town, and had lunch. R had duck breast, served rare, with French fries and salad, and I had Entrecote, again served rare, with potatoes Dauphinoise and salad. Washed things down with a bottle of sparkling water and a half-bottle of local white wine. GREAT!

Did a bit of walking through town after that (or waddling, as the case may be…) and finally, regretfully, back into the car, D-O-W-N a VERY winding road and toward Vence. We also passed through Grasse – the perfume capital of the WORLD! Just a lovely, lovely city – and should we ever pass this way again, I’d really like to stay there for a day or two…although the air around town is just filled with perfume smells – you can smell them everywhere! Lots of perfume houses (Fragonard, etc.) hosting free perfume tours; lots of stores selling all kinds of products – very Belle Epoque and fun!!

Fortunately, we both love to drive, and between R and Emily, their directions are superb, and we can wind around back roads for hours at a time without being the least bit bored! MUCH prefer that to the toll-road, that’s for sure! Did find a place to gas up, which also included a restorative Magnum Classic for me! AND – Ta Da! The gas station actually had A COOLER HOLDING ICE!!!!! This is for sure a FIRST for us! When we were doing the Tour-de-France, we looked EVERYWHERE, and NOBODY knew what we were even TALKING about; they kept taking us to the ice cream cooler, or to trays of blue ice which we had nowhere to freeze!! And now at least ONE place in France has an ice machine!!

Got back to our room at La Floreal about 4:30…we both took naps, and are now contemplating what, if anything, we’re doing to do for dinner! R says he is full and done for the night…I’m not so sure … although it’s definitely possible I’m through too!

Tomorrow, on to Cassis, which is right on the coast, about 50 km east of Marseilles!!

More later!
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