If you’re already familiar with Barcelona’s five top tourist sights, what next?
1) If you’ve seen the Sagrada Familia, then visit a secular masterpiece of Modernista architecture the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. Another of Barcelona’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites this one was designed by Lluis Domènech i Montaner in 1903 to express his belief in architecture as therapy. It is still a fully functioning hospital (though it appeared as language school in Woody Allen’s film, ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona.’) Guided tours in English at 10:15 and 12:15 daily. www.santpau.es
2)If you’ve visted the Cathedral of Barcelona with its ornately carved organ stalls, discover Santa Maria del Mar, the church beloved by Barcelona’s residents. Despite being torched by anarchists in 1936 this medieval basilica with its beautiful 15th century rose window, still exudes an impressive serenity. The building of the church during the Spanish Inquisition is the background to a prize-winning novel ‘The Cathedral of the Sea’ (lldefonso Falcones 2006).
3)If you know the Boqueria Market. wander through the Mercat Santa Caterina, just down the street from the Cathedral. From a distance you will spot the huge undulating canopy – a mosaic of 325,000 multicoloured Spanish tiles- that stylishly covers what was a rundown neo-classic market. Enric Miralles who also worked on the Scottish Parliament Building was one of the building’s designers.
4)If you’ve been to the Picasso Museum, take the funicular up to Monjuic to the splendid Fundació Joan Miró. Housed in one of the word’s outstanding museum buildings (designed by Sert) Miró’s vibrant abstracts have a worthy home. Calder’s ‘Mercury Fountain’, a tribute to the mercury miners of Almaden, is here too.
5) If you’ve walked the length of the Ramblas. you surely will find yourself walking it again. Built over a dried-up riverbed it is itself like a river – its population of strolling pedestrians, bizarre living statues, flowers, birds and small animals for sale is constantly changing. And look for the inlaid mosaics by Joan Miró. .. a large white circle bordered in grey with blue and yellow circles within it. The artist’s signature is on a tile on the perimeter.
If you tried to invent the perfect destination for a day out from Stockholm, it would be hard to improve on Sigtuna. Situated not far from Arlanda airport, it is a picturesque, lakeside village full of history, old buildings, and enough cafes, restaurants and little shops to round out a visit nicely.
Sigtuna Main Street
From the point of view of history, Sigtuna has a head start. It is Sweden’s oldest mediaeval town. Dating from 980 AD, its single main street still winds along the same narrow route as it did in the middle ages. Of course many of the old houses have disappeared and all but one of the churches, but those that remain are original, standing where they were built. Beckoning laneways- some of whose Swedish names translate evocatively into Crooked, Broad, Cross, Long and Noisy – lead down from the main street to the lake.
Sigtuna’s main street is lined with tiny shops. Its tiny ‘Main Square’ holds an even tinier town hall, the smallest in Sweden, maybe in Europe. Built in 1744, it contains royal portraits, baroque chairs and a crystal chandelier. It’s small but sophisticated, and the same can be said of Sigtuna. The shops may be picturesque old wooden buildings, but the merchandise is surprisingly stylish with cutting-edge clothing designs and expe nsive handicrafts, too. In addition to clothing shops, Sigtuna’s bookshops, antique shops, and toyshops can keep a browser entertained for hours. Take a break, though, in the ice cream shop or perhaps ‘Tant Brun’s, where homemade cakes are served with coffee from a copper pot. The café is in the oldest house in Sigtuna-late 17th century. Most visitors will have to bend sharply to enter through the low doorway.
Thanks to the curious custom of jettisoning rubbish into the street and then covering it over with planks as needs be, recent excavations have revealed the town’s domestic history. You can explore it for yourself in Sigtuna’s appealingly undemanding museum, housed in a red wooden house at the end of the main street.
Staying overnight in Sigtuna
This could become the highlight of a visit if you secure a booking at the 26-bedroom “1909 Sigtuna Stads Hotell” at the Western end of Sigtuna’s main street. Sweden’s ‘smallest five star hotel’ it is one of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World and routinely plays host to visiting dignitaries; US President Lyndon Johnson stayed here when attending the funeral of Dag Hammarskjöld’s funeral in Uppsala. It has all the facilities of a very modern hotel, but was meticulously restored in 2001 in pure 1909 style. Wooden paneling and carvings recreate the atmosphere that King Gustav V knew on his visits. The rooms and restaurant, which serves Swedish food with an international touch, are decorated in pared-down Scandinavian style. The hotel is a 15-minute journey from Arlanda airport. Details at www. sigtunastadshotell.se
Il Palazzetto has its feet on the ground on Vicola del Bottino but its head in the air. Its rooftop terrace looks out across Rome’s famous Spanish Steps. In between are the five elegant floors of the International Wine Academy of Roma.
For centuries, Il Palazzetto was one of the favourite residences of an aristocratic Roman family. Abandoned in 1980, it lay empty until 1998, when film director Bernardo Bertolucci used it as the setting for L’assedio (The Besieged), the story of a pianist’s romantic pursuit of a beautiful African servant.
In September 2002, Il Palazzetto opened as the “Wine Academy of Roma,” an informal club and meeting place for wine lovers. Today, a pre-dinner guided wine tasting in the library, or a gastronomic lunch or dinner in the garden (roofed and heated in winter), is the kind of refined delight which makes Rome “Rome.” The work of transforming an abandoned historical building into a luxurious and welcoming setting for the appreciation of fine wine took three years. It began when Roberto Wirth, owner and manager of Rome’s ultra-prestigious Hotel Hassler, acquired Il Palazzetto in 1999. He decided, along with a group of like-minded friends, to express his own enthusiasm for fine wines and food by making Il Palazzetto the headquarters of an International Wine Academy.
The subsequent renovation of the palazzo brought to light ancient materials and finishes such as the original marble pavement of the ground floor which dates from the year 500AD, and the wrought iron of the magnificent spiral staircase, dating to the end of the 1800s. As other architectural details were uncovered, they were restored and reinstated, bringing the building back to harmonious life.
Responsibility for coordinating the educational activities of the Academy was entrusted to Steven Spurrier, who established the Wine Academy of Paris in 1973 and the wine course at Christie’s in 1982. He orchestrates the daily wine tastings, the lunches and dinners at which food and wine are carefully matched, and the various educational courses, which are held at the Academy on a half-day, weekly or full week basis.
Four beautiful bedrooms – one with frescoed walls – have been opened on the upper floors of Il Palazzetto making it possible for a lucky few to stay in an historical palace in the heart of Rome.
Wine tastings, guided by a master sommelier, are held Monday to Friday between 6 and 7 pm. A platter of gourmet cheeses and cured meats accompanies the tastings. €20 per person; reservations are essential. For those who prefer to taste wine on their own, Il Palazzetto’s wine bar is ideal for a casual glass of wine; there are 400 to choose from, along with a cheese and meat platter or an appetiser. Il Palazzetto’s restaurant, under Chef Antonio Martucci, serves modern Italian fare combining fresh ingredients in adventurous ways.
For more information, or to make a reservation for a wine tasting, lunch or dinner: telephone +39-06-699-0878; email info@wineacademyroma.com; visit www.wineacademyroma.com; or write Il Palazzetto, Wine Academy of Roma, Vicolo del Bottino, 800187, Rome, Italy.
Il Palazzetto’s bedrooms each come with stylish bath en suite and continental breakfast. For full details and to book visit www.ilpalazzettoroma.com
Rome is built on a crust of history. It seems that wherever they break through, a secret museum is found lying beneath the ground. Currently, some 400 excavations are accessible, varying in degree of difficulty presented by the site and in terms of the amount of red tape required to arrange a visit.
One which requires no forward planning, but offers an easy walk through a four-layer cross section of Roman history, is the medieval Church of St Clemente. Simply descend a staircase in the nave to arrive in an earlier Basilica, larger than the one above it, built around 375 AD.
Both churches are richly decorated, the 12th century church with mosaics, the earlier one with frescoes. Sacked by the Normans, it became the foundation for the present church and lay forgotten until 1827 when a determined priest started the 40-year excavation project that brought it to light.
Down a further level is one of the best preserved shrines to Mithras yet found under Rome. This Persian religion, popular with the Imperial soldiers, had more followers than Christ at the beginning of the 4th century. The religion involved the sacrifice of a bull, and in the floor is the channel down which the blood of the animals ran. There are rooms with stuccoed ceilings, the dining room with stone benches, and what is thought to have been a schoolroom for young initiates.
Finally, under this pagan temple, you visit the still unexcavated foundations of the Roman buildings burned in Nero’s great fire and walk the cobbles of a 1,900-year-old Roman street, now 30 feet underground. The Church of San Clemente is at Via San Giovanni in Laterno, open every day from 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and from 3.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.
Syracuse, on Sicily’s southeastern coast, has been an important city for 27 centuries. It has broad avenues, a busy harbour and some splendid baroque architecture.
It also has some of the best Grecian ruins on the island. In the Piazza Pancali, flanked by an open market and a row of office buildings, stands the enormous temple to Apollo, the largest existing Doric temple in Western Europe.A few streets away, an ornate 18th century cathedral has all but swallowed the imposing remains of a 6th century BC temple to Minerva.The massive columns stand out clearly against the Duomo’s interior walls.
Near it are stone quarries and enormous caves. One of the caves is called the “Ear of Dionysius” because its extraordinary acoustics supposedly allowed the tyrant Dionysius to eavesdrop on the prisoners held within it.The tomb of the scientist Archimedes, who was born in Syracuse in 287 BC, is in the northwest corner of the Neapolis.
A modern Archeological Museum was opened in 1988 to exhibit the fruits of a 20-year dig in the area. Its outstanding treasures are the “Venus Anadyomene,” a Roman copy of a Greek statue and an enthroned goddess dating from the 6th century BC. It’s an easy-to-visit museum with a wealth of geological and historical artifacts. In the centre of one room stand two rather forlorn plaster casts about the size of small ponies – the skeletons of prehistoric male and female dwarf elephants.The female seems to have a huge eye socket in the middle of her forehead and it’s thought this gave rise to the Cyclops legend. It was actually part of the respiratory system, but you can see how the story started.
It’s not too late to see what the south of France was like before it became the South of France. Go to Corsica. Not in the months of July or August, when Italian and French holidaymakers overrun this small granite mountain marooned in the Ligurian sea, but in spring or autumn. Then the sombre peaks, the translucent sea, the vibrant light of the Mediterranean sun will seem to be your own happy discovery and the locals will be pleased and slightly surprised to find you in their midst..
My first visit was in May, the maquis was in bloom… the nearly impenetrable ‘maquis’ which first sheltered Corsican outlaws and then the resistance fighters of WW2. A soft sweet fragrance rose from the tangle of vegetation on the lower slopes of forested, brush-covered mountains….rock roses, lavender, thyme, sage, tree heather cistus, asphodel. It drifted through the open windows of the early morning train from Ajaccio to Bastia where I was going just for the ride, just because the route was called the most picturesque in Europe when the narrow-gauge tracks were laid in 1888.
We travelled north along a spine of mountain ridges on tracks which seemed no wider than a tea tray, often hugging the mountainside so closely one could have picked wild flowers from the rocks in passing. The views on the other side, over bottomless ravines and dark green valleys, were like 19th century engravings with seldom a house or a glimpse of a road. In the distance lay jagged, black peaks some traced with snow, pine, beech and chestnut forests, glacial lakes, white-foaming streams. We passed over iron bridges so narrow they disappeared underneath the railway car and for a few moments it was as if the train had taken to the air.
The long steady climb up to Vizzavona, a town at the half-way point of the legendary cross-country trail, the GR 20, caused the train to wheeze like an asthmatic and justified its nickname: the Trembler. At 906 km, the air was cold, passengers searched out open windows and closed them before we set off again, downhill to Bastia, the island’s largest town and commercial centre.. We arrived right on time, four hours, 155 km, 12 bridges, 34 viaducts and 38 tunnels after leaving Ajaccio .
Yachts in Bastia’s Old Port were overlooked by weathered 19th century houses and a baroque cathedral. Restaurants with starchy tablecloths and rows of wine glasses were readying for the evening. But before they opened, the train returned to Ajaccio, with me, a clatter of teenagers from the university in Corte, and an elegant blonde carrying a florist’s red rose wrapped in cellophane. She was on her way to Ponte Nuovo to lay the rose at the bridge where French troops ultimately defeated the Corsicans and Corsican independence ended. Between 600 years of Italian rule and annexation by France, their autonomy had lasted only 14 years. The cause of freedom echoes around the hills of Corsica still, punctuated from time to time by the bombs of the FNLC.
Bonifacio, the much photographed cliff top village at the southern tip of the island, is Corsica’s main attraction. To get there, I took the bus from Ajaccio, which plunged along the twisty mountain roads and through the tiny hamlets like an armour-plated elephant. We stopped to pick up passengers in the hilltop village of Sartene of which it has been said ‘it breathes war and vengeance’. It has also been called the most Corsican of Corsican towns. On its shadowy, steep streets famous vendettas have been plotted calling for a death inflicted on one family to be revenged by a death in the other . This could carry down through generations with the cause of the conflict becoming obscure even to the participants. Today the vendetta is said to be just a memory, but it is the brand name inscribed on the blades of a range of stiletto knives.
The journey to Bonifacio ended in a huge parking lot overlooking a narrow yacht harbour edged with open-air eating places and small shops. Sheltering thefjord-like inlet are white limestone cliffs 60 metres high, their base deeply eroded by an incessant wind and a turquoise sea..’The King of Aragon’s Stairway’, 187 steps carved into the cliff face, leads obliquely from the shore to the citadel and the mediaeval city. From above you gaze down on Sardinia, 12 km away to the south. From below you gaze up at houses perched so close to the cliff edge they look as if they might topple into the sea. In 1966, one did.
On August 25, 1944 – after 1,533 days and nights of humiliation, deprivation and fear – the Nazis were driven out of Paris and the city was free. De Gaulle led the grand march of the victorious French and Allied troops down the Champs Elysees, where the incoming Nazi troops had paraded on June 14, 1940.
On the 75th anniversary of this day, in August 2019, the Museum of the Liberation which preserves these memories opened in its new home in the historic pavilion Ledoux on Place Denfert-Rochereau. I visited it once in its previous hard-to- find location above the Gare Monparnasse; the eclectic collection of artefacts on view – wartime newspapers, photos and posters, ration books, uniforms, documents and much else.- produced a collage that was both affecting and personal. The story of these extraordinary days it told through the histories of two exceptional men: Marshall Leclerc and Jean Moulin, one who served France under the battle flag, the other who worked in the shadows.
The aristocratic Philippe_Leclerc_de_Hauteclocque, known simply as Leclerc, took part in the Normandy Invasion of 1944 as commander of the Free French 2nd Armoured Division. This illustrious division was the one later assigned by the Supreme Allied Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, to liberate the French capital. When Leclerc died in a plane crash in Algeria in 1947, he was accorded the honour of being buried in a crypt in Les Invalides.
The underground work of the leader of the French resistance forces, Jean Moulin, is the other focus of the museum. A local government administrator from Bezier, Languedoc, Jean Moulin was entrusted by De Gaulle with the difficult task of unifying the French resistance efforts. He was twice captured and tortured by the Gestapo. He died in Gestapo custody. His presumed ashes were interred first in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris before being transferred to the Panthéon on 19 December 1964.
The museum traces the overall history of the war, as well as the stories of some of the ordinary people who endured it, through thousands of objects, both military and domestic and hundreds of eye witness reports; it puts in context the period between the two World Wars, the events of the African campaigns, the Normandy beachheads and eventually the liberation of Paris.
The museum is open daily except Monday. Admission free. Website:museeliberation-leclerc-moulin.paris.f
The drive into town from Warsaw’s sparkling Chopin airport took an hour instead of the usual twenty minutes. Policemen had directed traffic off the main roads to make way for officials in a hurry – a motorcade of black cars with blacked out windows. Caught up in a maze of one-way streets, Hubert, our guide and driver muttered and honked his way towards our hotel, swerving around corners, weaving through the heavy traffic.
Misha, my 14-year-old grandson and traveling companion for the weekend, was buckled into the seat next to me. ‘Cool,’ said he as we ricocheted onward. Meanwhile, I had plenty of time for a first look at Warsaw, a sprawling, tree-less complex of wide streets and ugly overpasses, the surrounding buildings ’60s communist-era blocks.
We sped on, passing the Palace of Science and Culture, Joe Stalin’s unloved ‘gift’ to the Polish people. Modern, glassy skyscrapers are springing up all around it, reducing it to the stature of a souvenir paperweight. Some of the famous chain hotels are in this area and so was the main stop on the single line metro.
But we were staying at the edge of the Old Town and a final diversion brought us to the Mamaison Hotel. Here were narrow, cobbled streets, trees in blossom, medieval architecture along with plenty of small shops and inviting restaurants.
Warsaw’s ‘old town’ is in two sections- the ‘old’ old part (13th century) and the ‘new’ old part (15th century). Each has its own lively square. The Barbican, a brick rampart with a park-like walk on top, separates them; a walkway through a covered arch- a shelter for musicians and souvenir sellers- leads you from one to the other. There are a few gift shops featuring amber from the Baltic Sea, ice cream and waffle shops with the offerings pictured on posters outside. Misha opted for a waffle slathered with whipped cream and topped with cherries. Waiting on the queue he’d also picked up the Polish word for ‘thank you’. It sounded something like ‘chink way ah’ (it’s spelt dziękuję). It was all the Polish we had between us, but almost everyone we met on a short break spoke at least some English and seemed anxious to try it out .Castle Square is also a place to get a perspective on Warsaw’s Old Town itself. A panel outside the enormous Baroque palace, now a museum, shows what was left of the structure after WW2; along with 85 percent of the city, the castle had been reduced to rubble by the departing Nazis.
The Old Town, including the castle, has been reconstructed brick by brick using 18th century etchings of Warsaw as a guide. In 1980, UNESCO made the Old Town a World Heritage site.We looped back around the Barbican towards the hotel. Restaurants had taken over parts of the road as ‘annexes’ and dinner was being served in the warm spring air. One enterprising bistro had installed benches and tables for four on platforms that would swing back and forth if you pumped them. Who could resist? We shared a plate of mixed dumplings and went on to pork cutlets. The menu was in English as well as Polish, portions were big, prices were low. Add a 10 percent tip.
Next morning Hubert took us to visit Europe’s newest Science Museum, the Copernicus Science Centre. Once inside (and there are queues especially on weekends) you get an electronic card with your ticket; activate it at a kiosk near the desk, and from then on use it to set in motion any or all of 450 interactive experiment: enter an operating theatre, address a convention, generate your own electricity, feel an earthquake, watch a tornado build, watch robots perform. You could spend a day here. There’s a cheerful, inexpensive restaurant on the ground floor of the museum as well as a gift shop full of scientific toys. The museum is closed Mondays. kopernik.org.pl/en
Two days down, one to go and it was Sunday. There seem to be more churches in Warsaw than in Rome. Most of them were draped in giant photos of Pope John Paul II who was to be beatified in a few days. Once the Archbishop of Krakow, he is very much a Polish hero. We stopped in at St. Hyacinth’s Church. In the vestibule were photos of the ruins of the 15th century building after the Nazis had destroyed it. Captions explained that the church was a field hospital during the Warsaw uprising; five hundred patients were buried alive in the basement when the building was demolished. It seemed time for us to visit one more museum, the Museum of the Warsaw Rising, to see what prompted that awful reprisal.
This museum opened in 2004, the 60th anniversary of the uprising. Established in an old power station, it sets out the cause, effect, and aftermath of the two months in 1944 when the people of Warsaw tried to wrest their city back from the Nazis. There are eyewitness accounts and photos of all kinds. The more ‘graphic’ photos are shown in a kind of stone well in such a way that smaller children can’t see them. Misha could see them and did and then watched a five-minute 3-D film, ‘The City of Ruin’, a computer-generated ‘flight’ over what was left of Warsaw in 1945, it is based on the evidence of over 2000 photos of the devastation. It’s designed to put Hitler’s savage revenge in a form the younger generation can absorb. I can report it worked for Misha. “Awesome,’ he said. For details of opening hours and admission charges: www.1944.pl/en
On the Nazi’s heels, came the Soviets who stayed for the next 44 years. They left behind the ugly concrete suburbs and the Palace of Culture whose mammoth Communist Party meeting hall now houses rock concerts. A few ‘Milk Bars’ remain, too (originally they served only dairy-based food). Many of these utterly basic canteens have closed down, but the survivors have become a tourist attraction, a glimpse of life under Communism. There’s a Milk Bar beside the Barbican. Look for the words ‘bar mleczny’.
And here’s a tip. Don’t say ‘thank you ‘ in any language in any restaurant until you’ve paid your bill. In that context ‘thank you’ means ‘keep the change’.
Staying there: Mamaison Hotel Le Regina is the only hotel in Warsaw’s Old Town. Bring your togs for a dip in the indoor swimming pool. Check rates on their website: www.mamaison.com
Or rent an apartment. www.apartmentsapart.com lists one right on Warsaw’s Old Town market square.
Our tour guide was Hubert Pawlik, “Warsaw city guide’, who also met us at the airport. Contact him at +48 502 298 105 . Visit: warsaw-guide.waw.pl
If you’re already familiar with Barcelona’s five top tourist sights, what next?
1) If you’ve seen the Sagrada Familia, then visit a secular masterpiece of Modernista architecture the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. Another of Barcelona’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites this one was designed by Lluis Domènech i Montaner in 1903 to express his belief in architecture as therapy. It is still a fully functioning hospital (though it appeared as language school in Woody Allen’s film, ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona.’) Guided tours in English at 10:15 and 12:15 daily. www.santpau.es
2)If you’ve visted the Cathedral of Barcelona with its ornately carved organ stalls, discover Santa Maria del Mar, the church beloved by Barcelona’s residents. Despite being torched by anarchists in 1936 this medieval basilica with its beautiful 15th century rose window, still exudes an impressive serenity. The building of the church during the Spanish Inquisition is the background to a prize-winning novel ‘The Cathedral of the Sea’ (lldefonso Falcones 2006).
3)If you know the Boqueria Market. wander through the Mercat Santa Caterina, just down the street from the Cathedral. From a distance you will spot the huge undulating canopy – a mosaic of 325,000 multicoloured Spanish tiles- that stylishly covers what was a rundown neo-classic market. Enric Miralles who also worked on the Scottish Parliament Building was one of the building’s designers.
4)If you’ve been to the Picasso Museum, take the funicular up to Monjuic to the splendid Fundació Joan Miró. Housed in one of the word’s outstanding museum buildings (designed by Sert) Miró’s vibrant abstracts have a worthy home. Calder’s ‘Mercury Fountain’, a tribute to the mercury miners of Almaden, is here too.
5) If you’ve walked the length of the Ramblas. you surely will find yourself walking it again. Built over a dried-up riverbed it is itself like a river – its population of strolling pedestrians, bizarre living statues, flowers, birds and small animals for sale is constantly changing. And look for the inlaid mosaics by Joan Miró. .. a large white circle bordered in grey with blue and yellow circles within it. The artist’s signature is on a tile on the perimeter.
AND FOR SOMETHING REALLY DIFFERENT
If you have a PADI scuba diving certificate and four hours free on a Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday morning you can swim with the sharks in Barcelona’s famous aquarium, one of the largest in Europe.
The session begins with a safety briefing and a class on sharks, their habits and how to recognise the different species. You will be sharing 4 million litres of water with 15 of them as well as with over 80 different species of fish on a 30-minute dive.
The fee of €300 includes free access to the aquarium for up to two people to accompany you and take photographs of your swim with the sharks.
CAP d’Ail is the last French town the motorist rushes through before crossing the border to Monte Carlo. So obscured by its glamorous neighbour is Cap d’Ail (Ail derives from the Italian for ‘bee’) most guidebooks don’t even mention it. Those that do, comment only on its beach. True, a French newspaper voted Plage Mala ‘the prettiest beach on the Riviera’ but that’s not all the little village ‘between the sea and the mountains’ has to offer.
An old-style resort town, Cap d’Ail has hardly changed since the beginning of the last century. The most popular restaurant, Edmonds, is still in its 1930s’ decor and across the street from it, there’s a little shop crowded with buckets and spades, post cards and beachwear.
There are tiny pockets of parks where children play, as well as grand landscaped gardens surrounding villas . . . once the winter homes of celebrities ranging from Apollinaire and Colette to Greta Garbo and Winston Churchill.
Two of the villas and several of the gardens may be visited.Sun-lovers will appreciate the beaches; in addition to Plage Mala there are three others.Committed walkers have their choice of four relatively undemanding but stunningly panoramic paths to follow: two along the shoreline and two up in the hills. Each walk is signposted so you can identify the flora growing along the way. For a small charge, a knowledgeable guide will accompany you.Information and bookings at the Cap d’Ail Tourist Office, 87 bis. Av du 3 Septembre.
There are two exceptional restaurants in Cap d’Ail, both on Plage Mala. La Pinede, once a fisherman’s hut on the shore, is now a relaxed but sophisticated setting in which to sample Mediterranean fish specialties. www.restaurantlapinede.com
La Reserve, with its flower-banked wooden deck overlooking the sea, is beautiful in the daytime but memorable on a warm night when the water reaches almost to the deck and torches light the high tide mark. www.capresort.com/reserve/
There are hotels and pensions in Cap d’Ail, and the tourist bureau has the list. I like Hotel de Monaco: http://www.hoteldemonaco.com. Small bedrooms, no lift, but welcoming and affordable for the Cap d’Azur.
Plus. . .
If you find yourself missing the bright lights, there’s always Monaco, a mere mile away and minutes from Cap d’Ail by frequent local bus.
Dip into Monaco’s 700-year-old history with a visit to the palace; dip into your bank account for an evening at the casino. Wander in the upmarket shopping malls or pick up your designer gear from one of the super elegant boutiques. On the other hand, just relax over a coffee on the terrace of the Cafe de Paris and watch the Rolls roll by.
Getting to Cap d’Ail: The nearest airport is Nice . The train and the bus from Nice both stop in Cap d’Ail.
