After the excitement of the Grand Prix we meandered our way towards the French Riviera via Acqua Terme which is an old spa town.  We stayed over on the local sosta / aire there and went to the spa in the town centre hotel the next morning – have to say it was very disappointing as it desperately needed a decor update aswell as better heating in the relaxation areas.  We should have paid €23 each but got a discount as we left after an hour and the sauna wasn’t working.

On the bright side this gave us a better opportunity to wander around the town and we discovered the sulfur smelling hot spring where the locals were filling up various containers with the egg-y smelling water.  On the whole this is a lovely town and very friendly (we were given a tourist map in the first shop we went to) and the sosta was quiet with electric and free services for only €8 per night.

Next we stopped in San Remo, a busy seaside town with a fantastic cycle and walking promenade that goes from one end of the town to the other.  We stayed on a big car park which also had sea views and was €15 per night and had basic water fill-up and empty but no electric.  The next morning I took the bike into town leaving Steven to do some work.  It was about 10-15 mins cycle ride to the port area and centre of town followed by a walk around trying to find a nail salon (an ongoing saga to get infills for my acrylic nails which I have now given up on).  Having spent a very pleasant hour drinking coffee and eating a croissant in a little cafe, I cycled back via the Russian Orthodox church which was very ornate and a smaller version of something from Red Square.

From San Remo we headed along the coast and crossed the border to France at Menton, fuel prices dropped and food prices went up.  Also going up was the side of the hill in flames – a forest fire was raging and there were aircraft dumping sea water onto it as quickly as they could.  It looked like one house might have been in the middle but it wasn’t easy to see.  We believe that they extinguished it the same day as we couldn’t see any smoke later in the day from along the coast.

Further along the coast and we headed into Monaco – Monaco in a 16 year old motorhome amused me greatly alongside the money that’s there!  We even drove through the tunnel they use in the Grand Prix but it was a flying visit and we headed on towards Nice eventually staying at a freebie aire in St. Laurant Du Var which was packed.

Another day another well heeled French seaside town and this time it was St. Tropez.  We stayed just down the road at Ramatuelle on a private aire next to the beach.  This was €18 (€25 including electric) and services were extra so it was very expensive for something very basic, but of course we were paying for location, location, location.  The next morning we headed into St. Tropez for a rushed visit around the village centre which was actually really pretty and busy with a cruise ship load wandering around.  Wouldn’t have minded a few days on one of the beautiful yachts there either!