We continue to enjoy our life in Villefranche. Today's post covers a variety of topics with no particular connection except that they are all part of our wonderful adventure.
First of course we must discuss food. Unwittingly we have been sampling the wide variety of salade de chèvre chaud available in the various restaurants in and around Villefranche. There are several ingredients that are essential to une salade chèvre chaud - lettuce (your choice of variety), small pieces of bread and of course warm goat cheese. Beyond that, do what you will. Here are three examples of salade chèvre chaud that we have had since we arrived in Villefranche.
The one above is, I think, my favorite. It is from La Grignotière. In addition to the required ingredients, it has red onion, that wonderful mustard vinaigrette dressing and the best part, pesto on top of the warm goat cheese. The toast in this salad was perfect. The bread had not been toasted when the chèvre was put on it. The toasting occurred at the same time as the cheese was heated. The bread under the cheese is not toasted at all, and the rest of the bread is golden brown but still soft.
The next one is from La Taverne d'antan in Eze. The special ingredient for this salad is that there is really good syrupy balsamic vinegar heavily drizzled over the warm goat cheese.
The last one is my least favorite, but it was also the least expensive. It comes from Les Palmiers.
As you can see there is less cheese and lots more lettuce. Nevertheless, it had three special ingredients - walnuts, honey and lardons, all of which added great taste.
But we have not just been eating. We also had a great adventure last Wednesday. We decided that we would visit the ancient hilltop town of Eze. It is a tourist heaven and generally priced accordingly, but for some reason nobody goes there in January so many of the art galleries and restaurants are closed. Our adventure began when we decided that we would rent a car for the day. We could technically have visited Eze by bus, but they run every hour and 10 minutes or so, and we could only have visited Eze. We reserved a rental car online on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning we took the bus to Nice to the port and changed to the tram to get close to the car rental place and walked there. They had our reservation and our car. In a mixture of French and English we got all the instructions and started our trip to Eze. To make my life easier, I took the way I knew rather than the most direct route. As a result we had a wonderful drive along the coast. We stopped at one point to take in the view.
The plan shows the area of the old city which was started sometime in the 1200s. Only pedestrians are permitted. It is quite a climb to the top but well worth it because of the views. Also there is a wonderful cactus garden there.
It is a beautiful old town with narrow streets and surprises at every corner. The best part for us is that in January it is virtually deserted. The cactus garden is wonderful because of all the amazing varieties of cacti. Here is one that we liked because it represents the renewal of life.
Since the top is about 700 meters above the sea, the views are spectacular.
This picture is looking back along the coast toward Nice which you can see very faintly in the distance. The first point that goes out quite far is Cap Ferat. It is the point that separates Beaulieu from Villefranche. The second point is Cap de Nice which separates Villefranche from Nice. Hence these two caps form the natural harbor at Villefranche.
After walking around (more like up and down) Eze, we drove to another picturesque hilltop town, La Tourbie, which is about 650 meters above the sea. The road from Eze to La Tourbie is really great if you love switchbacks and narrow roads on cliffs. The views are also fantastic. We thought we might see the Roman ruins, but it being January they were closed. Nevertheless, we got a picture.
We drove back to Nice and since we had come from La Tourbie, we arrived in a different part of Nice. Amazingly enough we filled the car with diesel, found the car rental place and returned the car with no damage to us or it. We had a great day.
In addition to walking along the sea and up and down hills, I get my exercise playing patétanque (aka boule) once a week on Saturday mornings with a bunch of expats. We are not very good nor are we anywhere as serious as the French are, but we have fun. A very important part of our game is kibitzing. The game is simple to understand but difficult to play well. A player draws a circle in the sand to stand in and throws a light small ball (la chochonnet) which then becomes the target. The team with one of its balls nearest la chochonnet gets a point for each ball that is closer than any of the other team's balls.
The guy in the foreground with the small green ball (la chochonnet) in his hand is the only French person in the group. This group included 2 from the US, 1 Australian, 1 Scotsman and 1 Canadian in addition to the sole Frenchman. This picture is from last week when only one woman came and she came late. This week the group was expanded by 3 women (2 French and 1 Canadian) and the Scotsman was replaced by another American male.
After Pétanque, Jane and I went to the Saturday market where we bought some beautiful tulips, some homemade soup, two wonderful homemade tapenade type toppings, one was made with tomatoes and one with onions. That same guy also makes his own olive oil, so we got some of that as well. We then took a long walk along the sea before having lunch outside where we (and everybody else) were serenaded by a guitar and fiddle duo playing swing music.
When we returned to our apartment, we understood yet another difference between January in Minnesota and January in Villefranche. Here is the view from our balcony when we returned.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
I went to Eze when I went to Europe! Such a wonderful town and beautiful views! Did you see any of the glass blowing places? Just gorgeous! Love your adventures. xoxo
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