Final post: Cote D’Azur, L’Arc de Triomphe and Oscar Wilde

Final post: Cote D’Azur, L’Arc de Triomphe and Oscar Wilde

01 Oct I arrived in Saint Tropez this afternoon and was surprised that it was a small fishing village/town with an overdeveloped Maritime tourism sector. I couldn’t find a beach either but that said the town was lovely and there were some lovely boats there. An hour or so later I started moving up along the coast to find a beach and take a dip. The next village was Saint Maxine and there were some nice beaches there. I had a swim and a shower and made some Lunch. I continued on along the coast toward Nice and to the airport to collect Eilis who was flying in to travel with me for another week. After I collected her we made our way to Monaco/ Monte Carlo and it was quiet a sight. It’s a city on a hillside and is immaculate. Its very over built with no open areas and is very expensive. We walked along the harbour and looked at the endless rows of exotic boats and then walked up to the castle, the home of the Grimaldi family who are the royalty of Monaco, and had a look around there and admired the view. After that we hit the road making our way toward Nice before stopping for the night.

02 Oct Into Nice this morning for the second time and for a look around. Didn’t do anything much different but went to the tourist office and got some info on a town nearby called St Paul De Vence. It was a incredible little place on a hill walled in and only pathways as streets. After that we made our way to Cannes and it’s a beautiful place with a fabulous promenade but very overstated. There are beautiful people, wealthy people, some with both and the majority are the wannabees that sit around pretending they are rich and cool but are the ones I feel sorry for. There are old ladies with more plastic than Fisher-Price with their Gucci handbags, Prada shoes and Peugeot bicycles. We walked around and looked at the place where the film festival is held. They were preparing for some Disney cartoon launch and were dolling the place up. Its quiet a plain old building without the glitz but that is all added on, on the special occaisions. Next stop tomorrow will be in Avignon and on our way there we had a run in with the local Cannes Police. Apparently I ran a red light and they drove in front of me to stop and have a word. Through a loss of communication, I mistook their raised finger as an indication that I was about to go down a one way and to detour. I gave them the thumbs up, turned a corner and drove off. All sirens started blaring as they chased down the road after me, the finger meant that they wanted a word and according to them Muggins made a run for it. They were furious and with my best French bleated out the excuse moi monsieur, je suis desole. To make matters worse they wanted to know why I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. I tried to explain that I had just taken it off so I could get out to talk to him but with his English and my French we might as well been a sheep and a pig having a discussion. It probably worked in my favour as they abandoned the situation as a genuine mistake, La feckin Irlandes and we were more trouble that it was worth. My first thoughts afterwards were, at last a good yarn for the blog


03 Oct Drove to Avignon this morning; it is a nice walled in city with lovely cobbled streets and typical French cafés and restaurants everywhere. The big draw in the town was the Palais des Papes or the Palace of the Popes. Not much in the place but a fine medieval building. After that we were on our way to Grenoble, a city on the edge of the Alps. It was a pleasant enough place but not much there for the summer visitor but apparently comes alive during the ski season in winter. We decided as time allows that we would go to Geneva and made our way towards there. It seems like I have developed a problem with my Alternator (the device that charges the car battery from the engine). It’s grinding away so we are now driving during the day to save power on lights and no radio, fan, laptop, fridge and minimum use of Mary etc. It’s a pain in the arse and its Saturday today with no hope of getting it fixed or tomorrow for that matter and the next day or two after that we will be in Switzerland and a breakdown would cost the earth. So, minimum demand on electrics (= minimum alternator use) and all going I’ll get home in a weeks time still intact.

04 Oct Drove to Geneva in Switzerland this morning and it’s a lovely place situated on lake Geneva. As it was Sunday there were a lot of people around enjoying the sun but all the shops were closed. We walked around the lakeside and through the malls of expensive shops selling the best watches in the world. After that we headed further up the lake and into Lausanne, a similar city in lots of ways and very pleasant. I think I would go back to Geneva but is very expensive. We drove back into France and stopped short of Dijon for the night.

05 Oct Into Dijon this morning and the cold and wet of northern Europe was as evident as home. We walked around Dijon for an hour and headed off toward Paris. About 5 hours later we hit the Paris evening rush hour. We crawled through the city to our accommodation and found out that their car parking does not accommodate vehicles as high as mine. The car park across the road quoted me €49 per day and they were told where to go. I spoke to reception and they called them and asked them to try and revise the price. €40 was their best price but still too dear (cars were €15). I parked out on the street instead. That night we had a walk around the locality and had a meal in an amazing Thai restaurant. It was like been back in Ko Samui. We headed to a wine bar and had a couple bottles before heading back to the hotel for the night and boy was I looking forward to a nights sleep in a proper bed.

06 Oct Up and out of bed this morning at 8.30am and down to the van before 9am (ticket warden time). I said goodbye to Eilis for what was a short trip but good fun all the same. I pointed Mary to Lorient in Brittany, a 6 hour drive away. I had decided to visit and surprise an old buddy of mine Jean Marc Pierre, a French friend of mine that lived in Ireland for over 5 years and had opened his own restaurant in his home village outside Lorient.
Driving out of a wet Paris in morning rush hour was interesting. It so less hectic than I imagined and drivers are remarkably courteous and the pace is quite sedate for a capital like it. I wanted to drive around the notorious Arc de Triumphe roundabout but didn’t know whether my route would take it in or not, but lo and behold there it was straight ahead. The roundabout is huge, has no markings, no traffic lights and no apparent order other than Parisians know how to use it, and it processes an unbelievable volume of traffic from its 10 exits/entrances. The only way to tackle it is no fear and constant momentum, stop and you will be swallowed. What a buzz. I was driving on for about 3 or 4 hours and started seeing the signs for Cherbourg. I had my ferry from Cherbourg booked for the 10th of Oct and it was now only the 06th. The ferries go every 2 days and I thought that I might just go home now rather than drive all the way to Lorient and risk Jean Marc not being there, too busy to see me or the 15 years since seeing him may be too much. The weather forecast was bad for the next few days and there is little to do in France when it is wet and now cold. I stopped the van, turned around and set course for Cherbourg. I arrived in Cherbourg a couple of hours later and changed my ticket to tonight’s sailing. I went down to the local wine warehouse and bought 4 cases of wine for the family and by then it was time to go through to boarding. As I was driving through I saw this girl in an army uniform with a huge machine gun that must have weighed a ton. She was no more than 19 and had raindrops all over her glasses (god help us if she started shooting) She looked so innocent and had a hard man frown to help her look more intimidating. I couldn’t help but smirk. I was told to stop and open the doors of the van. As punishment for my smugness they went through the van with a fine toothcomb and took everything out of its place and didn’t put anything back. With all the doors wide open they did it in front of all the other cars and they looked on as my home was turned upside down. Bloody frogs. After all my heroine and other concealed narcotics were confiscated I finally was on the ferry and settled down to dinner. Later in the evening I met Harry Belle, a Galway solicitor and had a good chat with him. I found a couch in a corner of the front lounge and set up the laptop, with a bag of sweets from the pick and mix, & I sat down to 2 episodes of ‘Only fools and horses’ and a movie before retiring for the night.

07 Oct This is my last entry for the European blog and I suppose is one of mixed emotions. On one hand I’m looking forward to going home to family and friends and on the other it’s a facing of reality and the prospect of jobs etc. I will miss life on the road and the seeing of new places but it was also a life of uncertainty, risk and constant struggle of sorts, but maybe that’s life in general and presents itself in one form or another.
I am travelling on the Irish ferries vessel, the Oscar Wilde. Throughout the ship there are pictures, brief accounts of Mr.Wildes life and his quotes which are hilarious. My favourites are ‘Everything in moderation, including moderation itself’ or ‘the basis of a good family life… Fathers should not be seen or heard’. On entering America he told the customs official…. I have nothing to declare but my genius. Class stuff.
I had a grand nights sleep last night, the ship is very quiet and I had 2 sleeping bags and my pillow laid out in the front lounge and a lovely sea view in the morning. As I sat there this morning with my coffee and croissant, I could have been in the presidential suite with the whole front lounge overlooking the oncoming seas to myself. I saw a seagull 6 hours from shore which must be 150km away from land and a little further on the Irish Navy had stopped a ship and were boarding it. The seas are choppy enough but not rough. I felt like a baby being rocked to sleep last night.Finally I got off the boat in Rosslare at 2pm and drove 5 hours to Galway. As usual I didn’t let them know of my arrival beforehand and just walked into the kitchen. 14,000 miles and 12 weeks later…T’was good to be back.

Sicily, Sardinia and the Sistine chapel (Part 2)

24 Sep Out of the petrol station after a night of torrential rain and high winds in my memory and a cappuccino and croissant in my belly. It was great being all snuggled up in the sleeping bag with the wind rocking the van and the rain pelting it from all sides in the full knowledge that I was warm and dry and there was nothing nature was going to do to change all that. I arrived in Pula (about 20km outside Calgiari) and met up with Mum and Dad. I had been driving around and around Pula looking for the hotel with no luck. I asked a gardener and he waved me onward and then I asked this auld lad on a bike (which happened to be my father) where it was and he was kind enough to have me follow him to the hotel. It was great to see them both again and we got on the hotel bicycles and headed into town. It rained very heavily for the whole afternoon and after a look at the wedding hotel and a bite to eat we retired to the hotel to read and have a siesta (well, I went to the van). That evening we went to a restaurant for dinner and dad was looking up his dictionary for the word for ‘sauce’. I told him it was ‘Formosa’ which actually means ‘Buxom’. Not letting him embarrass himself I told him its real meaning and ‘salsa’ was the correct word for sauce. After a great laugh at that Dad though it would be really funny and called over the waitress and while pointing at me said ‘He thinks you are really Formosa!’ how embarrassing. I guess she spat in my Pizza. After dinner I drove to the airport to pick up my sister Dearbhla who arrived in at midnight. I retired to the car park in my van for the night.

25 Sep Out of the van this morning and had a bit of discreet brekkie in the back and into Dearbhlas room for a shower. Later that morning the 4 of us drove into Cagliari with Mum and Dearbhla up front with me and Dad lying on the bed in the back. We had a look around the town for a couple of hours and due to Louises late arrival into Cagliari on a delayed flight we went to pick her up from the airport instead of Thelma. We got times mixed up due to the time difference so we sat out on the little park in front of arrivals and had a little picnic as we basked in the sunshine. Louise finally arrived and we all were there to greet her. We all piled into the van liked the Travellers with more passengers than seats and drove 40mins to Pula. We sat by the pool drinking beer for the afternoon and went into town for dinner that night.

26 Sept Up and out this morning and having decided on a family day out, we all headed down to the supermarket in the van to get our bits and pieces for our picnic. We headed of to a town called Chia 15kms away and drove right down onto the local beach with the van. We walked around the area and afterwards made up a fine picnic with all the trimmings complete with table and chairs all laid out. Afterwards we walked across the headland to one of the postcard beaches and we all went swimming. It was like being back on a family holiday again. That afternoon we met up with Mgt and Bryan Flannery in their hotel apartment for drinks and a chat before a quick shower and change and off then to a drinks reception in Sean & Miriam’s hotel apartment. After that we went down to a local restaurant where 60 of the brides guests were fed and watered (too much watering) After a lot of shouting, roaring and singing we fell home after 12 having had particularly good craic with the Ballyburkers and Sheila McManus.

27 Sept After breakfast and elevenses at Bryan and Margarets, me and Dad cycled into town to see a museum. I have to say I don’t know much about it but it was a bunch of auld pots from an ancient civilisation that existed on the island thousands of years ago. I wish I found it more interesting but I don’t and was out of there in 10 minutes. Off down the town on my own I saw a procession of bulls outside the church and they were the biggest bulls I ever seen They were as wide as I’m tall and about 7ft in height. They were marched around the town in ceremonial gear but I didn’t catch what the whole thing represented. Later on myself and Dearbhla went swimming from a nearby beach before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. At 3.50pm, I piled the whole family into the van and the Geraghty tinkers went to ‘Da Weddin boss’ I pulled up outside the church and they all piled out much to the delight of the Irish contingent. Thelma arrived and looked lovely in her white wedding dress and the mass was all in Italian. Everybody commented how lovely the service was but I wouldn’t have known as I didn’t understand a word. At the end, the congregation poured out before the bride and groom and we were all armed with rice and things to throw at them as they came out. The mothers broke plates in front of them and was very nice and ritualistic at the same time. We headed to the reception via Bryan and Margarets (for tea) and were entertained by musicians during our 7 course dinner. It was a good night and different and interesting. At 2 am we went home.

28 Sept I headed off today from the family and the wedding party on my tour of the island. Going was slow and tight narrow mountain roads of the southwest corner of Sardinia didn’t pass fast enough. In my loop of the area I was longer doing it than I expected and as light started to fade I found myself within 30kms of where I started. I decided than instead of trying to find a place for the night I would go back to Pula and rejoin the wedding party for one more night. I explained to them all many times the reason for my return but Sean McManus preferred his version that I got lost and ended back where I started. We had a great night tonight in Sean and Miriams apartment for drinks and snacks before heading down to the hotel restaurant for a lovely 4 course dinner with Fionnuala and Brian. I said my last goodbyes to a very nice bunch of people and was a great end to an enjoyable stay at Pula with family and freinds.

29 Sept I finally hit the road once and for all this morning bound for my friend Tino up North in Mamoiada. I was on the road for over 4 hours and finally got there about 90 minutes later than expected. I drove to his girlfriends museum and she arrived to meet me. Unfortunately he could not and was caught up at work. She gave me a personal tour of her Museum (Museo Delle Maschere Mediterranee) a museum of ceremonial masks used in the Mediterranean region over the last thousand of years. There were some amazing masks and costumes (including one from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland) and was very interesting. She decided to bring me up to the workshop where a lot of the ceremonial masks are made and I met the craftsman who was telling me that his brother lives outside Galway and is married to an Irish girl. After that I headed on towards the port, Olida, 160km further North to get the ferry to Genoa in Northern Italy. The ferry journey is 10 hours so I decided to get a couch and kip there for the night. Unfortunately a staff member said I wasn’t allowed sleep there so I thought maybe I could sneek down into the van a kip there. I did that and the heat down there would knock a horse so had to come back into the main area again.

30 Sept Off the ferry in Genoa this morning and into the Italian morning rush hour. Genoa has more tunnels, flyovers, bridges and underpasses to confuse the best motorists and sat navs and Im afraid me and Mary were no match. Completely lost I managed to get out and onto the motorway. I saw a bit of Genoa from the van but unfortunately that was that. On then towards Nice, I pulled in for a rest along the way and was in Nice that afternoon. Nice is a beautiful city on the sea with a fabulous coastline. I desperately had to do laundry and after that walked down the main street, looked at the cathedral and walked part of the promenade. Lined with swanky hotels and casinos, I feel it is very representative of the French Riviera or the Cote D’Azur as they say locally. After a half day in Nice I started making my way to Saint Tropez.