SUNSHINE IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE

We've just returned from our holiday in the South of France. We stayed in a little apartment in a place called Beausoleil. This is just a short walk from Monte Carlo, down 538 steps to be precise. This we did quite often during our stay but I think we made our return by foot, gasping for breathe only four times. Thankfully there was an excellent bus service and taxi service.

I loved this couple sitting on the bench, looking out over the jardin exotique. This wasn't on our planned list of things to see and do while in Monaco but we made the decision to go there on our last day and we're so pleased we did.

The garden was perched on the edge of "the rock" and the pathway meandered down through amazing cacti and eurphorbia.

As well as chilling out on the beach and reading a library of books we also visited some really nice little villages perched high up on the cliffs. Eze was one of them and the picture below is the view from the garden right at the very top, again full of cacti.

One cannot go to Monte Carlo and fail to visit the Casino, well that's what I told Michael. The next photo of the fountain outside Michael took and I think he's captured it really well.

We played the slot machines just twice, luckily going in with a little bit of money and coming out with a little bit more. Result!!!!

We sat with hundreds of others at the Cafe de Paris waiting for someone famous to brush shoulders with but came to the conclusion that they were all on holiday somewhere else. Lots of nice cars, Michael reckons someone's obviously doing a good deal on Bentley convertables at the moment and thousands of scooters which roar up the road and come at you from all directions.

We had a great holiday, there was so much to see and do, yet we were still able to relax and unwind. I chose the last two pictures because on this particular day we visited the little village of St Agnes. Again this was another perched village high up looking down over Menton, Monaco and beyond. Right at the very top there was the most beautiful little garden, not only was it so peaceful but the smell of thyme and lavender was amazing. I couldn't believe the vegetables that were growing and took this picture of the cabbages.

The local guy from Menton who tended the garden gave us so much information about the area and following his recommendation we walked back down and had lunch in a local restaurant. It was our only four course meal of our holiday and the food, all homemade was delicious.

We really should have done another quick climb up the garden path afterwards to rid ourselves of excess calories.