Goodbye Italy, hello France

Piedmonte was the perfect ending to our Italian adventure.  We finished our trip in the middle of the wine making area staying at Relais San Maurizio.  We were honestly so full from lunch that unfortunately we could not eat dinner.  Instead we just sat outside overlooking the gorgeous landscape drinking Barbarescos, Barolos and Dolcettos.  Drinking was not a problem.

The next morning we got up and checked out.  The hotel that resides in an old monastery is really beautiful and well curated with art everywhere.  We definitely did not take advantage of the place.  Lots of people on bikes getting ready to ride the hills and check out the vineyards and perhaps hit up the pool in the late afternoon but we hit the road.

We are en route to the South of France.  We drove through the town of Sanremo and stopped for lunch.  It was our last stop in Italy and we had yet to have gelato so we literally stopped on the way out of Sanremo and got a cup of pistachio before crossing the border.

We are staying at the Grand Hotel that is located at the very end of Saint Jean du-Cap Ferrat.  Driving down through the very windy narrow two line highway is not for the faint of heart.  Driving through these roads are seriously tricky.  We finally arrived and took a deep breath.  The place is magnificent.  Immediately made our way down to the pool area.

There are places to eat in the area and also in Nice, Eze or Monaco that are not too far.  I opted for places that were close to the hotel. Happy to drive and explore in the day but night time is a whole other ball game.  Our first night we had dinner at Plage Paloma, a restaurant on one of the best beaches in the area.  Here is our view just before the sun started to set.  We were literally sitting beach side.  Stunning.

The waiter brought us over a fish to choose from for our main course.  They grill it wrapped in parchment paper.

For starters we had the foie gras.  Kind of can’t beat foie gras when in any part of France.

We also split a shaved artichoke salad.  That was basically it including a bottle of chablis.  A 5 minute drive back to the hotel and we were done for the night.