The Circus comes to town...

Well, we thought we were going for a quiet dinner at the marina at St Raphael but as we drove into the car park we were almost headlong into a variety of animals none of which we particularly wanted to park next to!!!! There was a little, tiny circus in another part of the car park and the animals were tethered randomly on the side of the road! We did have a lovely dinner but when we came out again the animals were gone I have NO idea how they fitted in that tiny circus tent!!!!! Also what trick does a bull do????? and a llama?????

An assortment of random animals

A juggling bull????

Camel on a trapeze????

I guess this camel was camera shy!

As were the Llama clowns!

Camel on a trampoline????

A boat trip to St Tropez...

Even saying the name 'St Tropez' sounds exotic, to me anyway. We took a boat from St Raphael which was fairly busy and arrived at lunch time as did everyone else so it was a little hard to find somewhere to eat at first. On reflection we could have done a little better but we were so disappointed to find that the place we had been planning to eat at was now a perfume shop that we just wanted to find somewhere quickly. It was near 40 degrees again among the buildings, the air conditioning in the expensive designer shops was nice as we walked by!!!! It is such a beautiful town and I would love to visit again when it was less crowded and a little cooler.

Approaching St Tropez

Eating Out at Les Arcades....

We love eating out in France and although we have occasionally over the years  had very indifferent food we have also found great places to eat. St Raphael Marina has many wonderful restuarants including Les Arcades which also has our favourite waiter. All the ladies usually get a rose presented to them, at some point, a man with an accordian will play for you and the waiter will even dance with you....if your name is Teri! Highly recommended.

......en famille...

Best starter

Best main

Best dessert!!!!!

Best waiter

Captain Nemo...

 No trip to Agay would be complete without an underwater adventure on the Captain Nemo. We were the only family on board for this voyage so once we had sailed out to the reef and gone down into the glass bottomed part of the boat they drove back with us still underwater, usually you have to go back upstairs to sail back. It's not exactly the Caribbean in the fish department but it's still fun and tradition now that we go.



A model of the Captain Nemo in St Raphael ticket office

We visit Grasse.....

We always set out with good intentions to do some sight seeing when we go to France but the reality is that July and August are meant to be spent in a pool and one day we will travel to our beloved South of France area in Spring when we can actually really enjoy the beautiful scenery and villages. Nevertheless we visited Grasse this year, it is so beautiful and our visit so fleeting because of the heat but hopefully we will return one day.

 



Part of a mural on a wall of a building we passed.

Make your own perfume

Drama,Drama,Drama!!!!

So.... we were on our way to Heathrow and we got a text to say our flight to Nice was cancelled!!!! WHAT!!!!! We were virtually there so we carried on to the airport to see what British Airways were going to do with us. Luckily as we were so early they managed to book us on to a flight to Madrid then on to Nice. No apologies at all for us though which was quite surprising. Instead of being three hours early for our flight and buying water, a meal, magazines and snacks we had 55 minutes to get through security and rush to board our flight, someone was sent to get water and luckily I had some apricots in my bag and a few snacks that we shared between six of us. The food on Iberian Airlines was not great and expensive, it's usually free on British Airways. We got to Madrid and re grouped somewhat, the pilot had made up time so there was now a chance that our hold luggage would make it with us to Nice which had been a big worry to me, I had many years before been to Minsk without my hold luggage, only for a day admittedly but it seemed like longer and no.... Nice is not Minsk but still, I had been worried. Well after some rest and refreshment we had an even smaller plane to Nice than to Madrid but we made it not much later than we would have been in Nice anyway. It was 11pm, Chris and Nathan rushed to the hire car place which closed at midnight and had been another worry, but they picked up our car and we loaded the bags and headed for Agay. It was wonderful to see the old familiar roads as we got closer and closer to our Villa. Usually the caretaker leaves the key for us to get in late but we found the new caretaker had been waiting for us when we arrived about 1am whoops! The youngsters stayed up a while and Nathan went in the pool but I crashed in the air conditioned bedroom desperate for some sleep. Now let the holiday begin!!!!!

Bourgainvillea in the garden

Before the tans

Our lovely pool

The villa as seen from the pool