Day Four, French coast roadtrip

We checked out of our hotel in Nice in the morning and hopped in the car to explore the southern coast, west of Nice. Our final destination was Aix-en-Provence, but we didn't have a specific itinerary in between the two cities, just to explore the coastal towns and visit St. Tropez. We drove through Cannes again, but this time on a bypass and through a traffic jam, realizing what a normal, big, not-so-pretty city it is. Then we hit the beautiful towns of Antibes, Theoule-sur-Mer (on the Golfe de la Napoule, everyone's favorite quiet cove of all), Frejus, Saint-Raphael, and Sainte-Maxim.

We hit dozens of little villages on the way that were too small and numerous to remember the names, but all beautiful and bustling with people. It was great fun to have the freedom to spontaneously decide which direction to go, which sign to follow, which panoramic view or other points of interest to stop for... I navigated our trip and announced place names, Daniel drove fast (zooming around on the narrow coastal roads), and Allen and Sandra held on for dear life. Not too far out of Cannes we stopped at a point of interest (not sure what it was, we just followed a little sign). We parked in what we were afraid might be someone's yard, took a path to the water, and found a spot with some Roman ruins. Hundreds of years ago, they had built a series of gatesand pools in the water to hold fresh fish (below, right)!

We just kept stopping the car to get out and enjoy the views of the water, the coast, the mountains, the villages, the scenery.. We all agreed that one could spend months here and not see everything. We would love to visit again, and spend some more time in this lovely area.