Villefranche-sur-mer v.4

Dear Friends,

One of the things that we love about traveling is that we seem more open to unusual adventures.  Yesterday, we had a really fun one.

We arose at a much more normal time and had our regular breakfast.  Since it was a beautiful day, we decided that we would walk to the port of Saint Jean on Cap Ferrat.  The harbor of Villefranche is made from a peninsula that extends out from Beaulieu on the east and the point that separates Villefranche from Nice on the west.

Saint Jean Cap Ferrat has some of the most expensive real estate in the world and is an incredibly beautiful peninsula.  We have walked there often to visit the port and the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild which is now a wonderful villa and garden open to the public.  There is a great walking path around the point which we have never taken but will some day.

It is about a 5 km walk from our apartment to the port if you walk to the east side of the beginning of the peninsula and then walk out the peninsula along a wonderful walking path past David Niven's old house which is the only house on the water side of the path.  Anyway we love this path.  The port was still decorated for Christmas.

Yes, that is a barge in the marina with a nativity scene on it.

At the port there are quite a few choices for lunch.  We chose a nice looking Italian one and ate outside.

While Jane was having the spaghetti napolitana I had the ravioli with fresh tomatoes.

After they finished their meal, paid their bill and were about to leave, the couple next to us struck up a conversation in French.  They were from Luxembourg but had a villa in the hills above Villefranche and Beaulieu where they spent a lot of time.  At first we spoke about easy topics, the weather, Villefranche, Beaulieu, the French language, etc. but then we switched to politics.  At first I was worried, but it then became clear that they thought that Hillary Clinton was great.  They did not seem too put off when we said that we supported Bernie Sanders.  

Sometime during our conversation, all the other people in restaurant and outside left.  When we realized that the couple offered to take us on a tour of Cap Ferrat in their car.  It seemed like a fun idea particularly since we had gotten lost the last time we tried to walk home over the hill and along the west side of the peninsula.  They took us past numerous incredibly large and beautiful villas, including those of the king of Belgium and Bill Gates.  Then they took us to the farthest point on the road to the Chapelle de Saint-Hospice.  It had been used as a hospital particularly for soldiers who had been gassed during one of the First World War so there was also a cemetery.  There was also a huge statue of the Madonna and Child.

The nice looking couple in the photo above are our hosts for this tour of Saint Jean Cap Ferrat.  They then drove us back to the end of the beach of Villefranche so we could walk home.  We introduced ourselves, but they never gave us their names.  That was rather strange, but since you cannot recreate adventures like this one, we will likely never see them again.

It was almost dark by the time we arrived back at our apartment where our laundry was trying hard to dry but it was a very humid day.

We had a wonderful adventure and spoke a lot of French which got us ready for this morning when we had our first tutoring session of this visit to Villefranche.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal