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Wanting to make the most of our remaining time at Le Hameau (and also in an attempt to burn off a few of the very many calories we have been consuming) we headed down to the pool for a pre-breakfast swim. The pool area was so very beautiful, with stunning views down to the med over what we reckoned must be Antibes.
Breakfast was, and we don't take this lightly, probably the best hotel breakfast either of us has ever had! On the shaded terrace, the buffet consisted of everything you could ever want (except for perhaps black pudding but we'll let that go) including 2 different types of cake! For breakfast! We love France.
Sadly had to check out, leaving both of us certain the we have to come back to this place for longer... Anniversary sorted then!
A quick jaunt around Saint-Paul-de-Vence to see it in the daylight. Fortunately there were fewer tourists than feared. A couple of ferraris, security guards and a policeman outside the Colombe d'or restaurant. Tried peering through the doorway but couldn't see who the fuss was all about!
Anyway, a quick lunch and one hat purchase later we decided to hit the road, destination Italia. We went via the grande corniche road through the mountains which raises to over 500m above Monaco. Needless to say the views were stunning and the roads wiggly!
Into Italy and then a few hours of interesting autoroute later, we approached Le cinque terre in the dark via a very windy back route from la spezia (thank you Tom Tom!). Finally got to the village of Manarola and dragged our bags through town to our hotel - la torretta. Greeted with glasses of sparkling wine and crostini whilst they took our bags to our room, we were left on out own on the hotel terrace to enjoy the last of the sunset and the sounds of a live band playing in the town square below. Bliss.
Shown to our delightful room, complete with private terrace overlooking the town - ours for two nights (thank you Eric), we then dashed out to get to a restaurant before they all closed. On the recommendation of the concierge we tried a little place by the Marina and sat at a table outside. We ordered locally caught (& extremely fresh) prawns and anchovies, washed down with a bottle of a very nice local white wine.
Back up the very steep hill to the hotel via the car - even further up - we headed back to the room to crash, exhausted!
B&J xx
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