Today we planned to visit our third country (I guess 4th if you count the stopover in Germany) by visiting the border town of Ventimiglia. The only thing we knew about it was that there was a beach and a market. We headed out reasonably early and caught the train heading to Ventimiglia which is the last stop on the French regional trains we have been using. After arriving we were a little confused as to where to go so we just headed generally towards the sea. On the way we found the market and it definitely delivered. It was similar but just enough Italian to be different from the other markets we had visited. It still had the fruit and vegetable stands and flower stands but added a bit more in pasta and cured meats like salami, etc. We walked through and decided to grab some strawberries , cherries and a couple of different cheeses for a picnic on the beach later. They also had a pretty extensive fish market there as well.

We decided before going to the beach to head up to see the cathedral in the old town across the river that splits the town. This would begin a day of climbing into old town areas to see the sights and the views. After following a winding alley up the hill we found the cathedral and looked through it. I am not certain of the history (no english signs) but it was clearly a VERY old base church with renovations and a “newer” church built on top of the older church. They had a few places where you could look into the old crypt and baptistry which was very interesting. The newer part of the church was very nice as well but the highlight for me was the older part. We continued over to an area where you could overlook the new town and the beach and took a few pictures then went up a short dead end path that had good views the other direction up the coast back into France. After getting a few pictures we headed back down a different path as we had seen a bridge from above that led more directly to the beach. After settling on the beach we watched the waves and ate our “brunch” of berries and cheese then waded into the FREEZING water for a bit. After laying in the sun for a while and feeling nicely toasty we packed back up and went a different route back to the train station. After a few twists and turns I convinced Becky we had to give Italian gelato a try as well so we stopped to eat a bowl each of gelato. We then caught the train to Menton.

In Menton again we weren’t certain of all that we should see but Google gave us a few pointers so we headed down toward the promenade along the beach and as we were strolling we saw a Google street view car. Kinda curious if we will show up walking the promenade shortly. 🙂 After walking the promenade we made our way into the old town part of Menton and happened upon a gathering of WW2 veterans and others celebrating the French Resistance (I believe after Googling they were celebrating the unification of the disparate resistance groups on May 27, 1943 but may be wrong my French is limited to about 5 words). After watching the wreath laying and speeches we decided once again to brave the steps up to the cathedral in old town Menton. Many slanty steps later we reached the Basilique St. Michel which is a beautiful hiltop cathedral with two large bell towers but it was closed so we didn’t get a look inside. We continued up the hill to the cemetery which provided great view both of the Italian and French coastlines. The cemetery was also filled with foreigners particularly from norther Europe as it was for a time a common recuperation destination for TB and other sick patients. Obviously it wasn’t a cure all so many of the foreigners ended up here. One famous one was William Webb Ellis who I will leave to the reader to find out why he is famous (the pics below will likely give it away) but curious if at least Loren knows him. After this the sun had sapped us pretty well today so on the long walk back to the train station we stopped for a quick snack and drink and a rest. After recovering fully we headed to the train and back to the apartment. I went out for a stop at the cheese shop and some drink for Becky and I for the apartment and now we are writing and resting before dinner.

For dinner we finally got to go to one of the restaurants Becky had been looking forward to the whole trip. Its name is Le Bistro du Fromager which tapping my vast French language knowledge meant we would be eating some cheese. Eat cheese we did. We started with a selection of 4 cheese from a goat cheese to a sharp blue cheese. For our main course I had more or less scalloped potatoes with onions and bacon covered with some sort of cheese (can you tell I am no cheese expert yet?) and Becky had basically a cooked entire package of camembert cheese with some walnuts and honey and some potatoes on the side to eat it with. I powered through mine for the most part though even I failed to clean the plate so to speak knowing we planned to get dessert as well but Becky on the other hand I am pretty sure only looked at hers because outside of my taste of it I am pretty sure all was left in the end. 🙂 For dessert we had a lemon tart which was great and very light almost like meringue with a torched sugar top (think creme brulee) with a cinnamon flavored crust. It was a bit of a splurge night but really pretty reasonable considering the HUGE amount of cheese lol. Becky is currently lying on the couch saying she will never eat cheese again. I am not buying it.

Tomorrow is our last real day in Nice as we fly out EARLY friday morning so we will likely climb up to the chateau (Becky already did) and then use the rest of the day to do final shopping, packing and possibly some last beach time.