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GoZa Mite

Tag: Cote d’Azur

  • Nice Trip (Day 3)

    gozamite

    We woke up quite early and went to the breakfast. We saw from the News that it had been snowing in France (in northern parts) -There was hundreds of cars stuck in some highway. Weather forecast promised us a beautiful sunny day so I wasn’t worried…
    F700GS started after 9am and we were heading west/ northwest. First stop was at Col de Vence. The views to the mediterranean sea were very nice when we were climbing up. But on the top we couldn’t see the sea any more. The nature was interesting -especially the rocks!

    Col de Vence (962m)
    Strange rocks

    Col de Vence has own webpages. It’s because people have seen quite a lot of paranormal activity here. Stories has been collected in coldevence.com.

    Soon after this mountain Pass it was time to stop again. This is the beautiful village of Coursegoules.

    Even the sun was shining it didn’t feel too warm…
    Short stop after Andon, temperature was about +4
    Autumn colors and snow…

    Few kilometers before our final destination it was about the time to stop again. There was a beautiful view to the village Trigance.

    From here started maybe the most amazing 80km’s of my life!!

    7 kilometers from this view was another view. This time the road was on the edge of Verdon Gorge! It was about 250 meters down to the river Verdon… At one spot there was a balcony (viewing place) to look down -There I almost fainted! Last time this happened to me in 2013 in Dalsnibba (Norway).

    Verdon Gorge (southside)

    The Canyon of Verdon is one of the most spectacular river canyons in Europe. On the northside it is 700 meters deep!
    On the northside of the canyon there is a looproad starting from the Village La Palud-sur-Verdon. This is about 25km’s of spectacular views -not recommended for those who has the fear of heights!
    In one viewing point we even had eagles flying over our heads!!

    700 meters above river Verdon!

    It took about 3 hours all together to ride both the south and the northside of Verdon Gorge. Then it was time to ride back to Nice!
    On the way back we chose the big roads… But it didn’t mean that we didn’t see anything special… Just it wasn’t as good as that Canyon!
    Here is the video my wife made about this day:


    The route for this day was like this:

  • Nice Trip (Day 2)

    gozamite

    After very good sleep and breakfast we took a morning walk in a little bit wet streets of Nice. Rue de Rivoli was the direction about 2km’s away. There was MotorBikeTrip store where I had reservation for bike (3 days) -This was the bike:
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    BMW F700GS
    I didn’t ride this bike too much before and I have to say that the suspension is not good enought for 2. But I tried to adjust the preload tighter so that it wouldn’t hit the bottom all the time… Then we changed the full riding gear and started riding!
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    It was still little bit wet in 500 meters high Col d’Eze between Nice and Monaco.
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    In Menton the beach Boulevard is called The Sunny Promenade -but we had a little bit of rain…

    We were standing in the mediterranean beach for awhile and I made a video there.
    From Menton we started to climb up to the Mountains. I have been riding here before but back in 2016 it was too hot! Now it was quite nice weather.
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    This bridge is a part of an old tramline between Menton and Sospel. Tram was in use from 1912 to 1930. This bridge is called “Viaduc du Caramel”.
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    We stopped at Sospel to take few pictures. This made me think how sad it is when every place is now closed. No open cafeterias or restaurants… These cities and villages live only in the summertime.
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    Climbing up to Col de Turini… Beautiful nature everywhere!
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    Up on the top of of Turini it was raining quite heavily and we were inside the cloud.
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    The visibility wasn’t too good!
    Luckily under the clouds we could see some more… But the rain didn’t stop.
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    The steep mountain walls of this area are amazing… even on a foggy weather! This is Col Saint-Roch.

    Route for the day 1 was like this:


    My wife made a nice video about this day:

  • Nice Trip (Day 1)

    gozamite

    I made reservation for this trip in August. I was thinking it would be nice to spend some time with my wife when we’ve been married about 1 year… And even in foreign countries! (In the summer we couldn’t go abroad because the residence permit wasn’t ready yet) -So the destination for this trip would be Nice (Nizza).
    We took the plane from Helsinki to Nice very early on Sunday morning.
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    We landed to this mediterranean city about 10.30 am. Then we took the bus to the city center. It was still raining when we arrived (But rain stopped right after we started walking from the bus stop to the hotel).
    This day we dedicated for getting to know the city. And there is one place particularly that gives you very good idea about what is this beautiful city all about: The Castle Hill (Colline du Château). There used to be also a castle but King Louis XIV asked it to be destroyed in 1706. In 19th century they started to design the park and fountain on the top of the hill. Also some parts of the olf castle has been renovated.
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    We walked up to the hill from the east side. This side is not so steep and there are a lot of trees so the park looks kind of wild from this side.
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    Restored parts of the old castle. This was maybe the inner yard or patio.
    But when you finally reach the to of the hill the views are simply amazing!
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    View to the east. It’s the harbour of Nice.
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    And here’s the “famous view” to the beach boulevard of Nice. The mediterranean sea and the waves are very beautiful!
    Ofcourse we took a walk also there…
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    We had small but very cozy hotel almost in the heart of the city (Vieille Ville). This area has very narrow alleys with many many restaurants and shops.
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    And our hotel room was in the 7th floor with the view to the Tête carrée (Cubic head in the modern art museum)
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    I was restlessly already waiting for the next day!
    You can check the video my wife made about this first day: