Into Italy: Alassio

October 24, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

From Menton, we travelled further east to Alassio in Italy via a change of train in Ventimiglia, coastal views and many tunnels (and with our luggage full of clean clothing again).

In many ways, Alassio felt similar to Menton but here the vibe is more focused on tourism and the restaurants are as much on the sandy beach as it is in cafes further back in the Old Town. And, of course, we were now in Italy; Jane’s invaluable semi-fluency in French was now irrelevant and both of us have minimal Italian. How lucky we are that English is such a universal language! How lucky too that the weather was still so brilliant.

We walked from the train station to our hotel through narrow streets including the the Budello, a historic street that runs parallel to the coast. Between the lanes running off it and the ochre coloured houses, there are attractive glimpses of the Mediterranean.

Views East And West From Our Hotel Room

Our hotel (Diana Grand Hotel) was on the edge of the town centre and adjacent to the beach. This was the plushest hotel we stayed in during our French and Italian Riviera trip. Our room and the bar downstairs have great views along the coast. One of two main dining areas is on the beach just below the hotel under vast stretches of canvas. Our very relaxed breakfast was in the bar area and was, as was the case for most hotels on our trip, included in the package. Apart from the challenge of getting someone to bring coffee at breakfast, all the service, food and drink was excellent.

Diana Grand Hotel Bar - Very Comfortable! — *^{Diana Grand Hotel Bar – Very Comfortable!}*

Like Menton, there were steep hillsides behind the town with exotic gardens. We booked some of the limited tickets to attend a guided tour of one such garden attached to the Villa della Pergola luxury guesthouse. The tours are quite restricted for those not staying in the villa, booking was essential, and Jane did a good job of getting us tickets.

The gardens are another example of Brits buying up land in the 19^th century and creating gardens that remind them of home. In this case, General McMurdo bought the land in 1875, built two villas and began laying out and planting the garden with both local and more traditional British species that thrived in the mild, Mediterranean climate on a south facing hillside. His work was continued by a Scottish baronet, and then the English Hanbury family who had other gardens further along the coast.

*^{Views In Villa Della Pergola Gardens, Alassio}*

Post the Second World War, British land owners along the Riviera began to sell up. The Villa della Pergola gardens gradually fell into disrepair and wilderness. The land was nearly sold for housing developments in 2006 but was bought by an Italian family who restored the gardens to their current splendour. Indeed, there are plans to expand the property very considerably and we could see some of the extravagant building work underway across a deep valley.

*^{Villa Della Pergola Gardens, Alassio}*

The gardens are already lovely and offer huge views over Alassio and the Ligurian coast. They include some rare species and very large collections of citrus, agapanthus and wisteria plants. None of these were in flower during our visit but in Spring these collections must be spectacular. Our guide was excellent and our tour was unhurried; it was a great way to spend a couple of hours.

We wandered through Alassio centre a couple of times and saw the apparently famous Muretto. This is a wall, adjacent to a pleasant park, that is encrusted with small ceramics signed by celebrities (mainly Italian) that have attended a local café since the 1950’s. The wall is intriguing, and it was fun for a few minutes to try and spot names I recognised (for example Louis Armstrong, Ernest Hemingway). However, the wall is continuing to be populated with small decorative ceramics, the quality seems to be decreasing, and the overall look is now a little messy.

*^{Views In Alassio Including The Muretto (Bottom Right)}*

We also visited a couple of churches in the town and they were as peaceful and pleasant as others we had visited elsewhere on our trip. The Town Hall looked impressive and, on the coast in the Old Town there is a handsome 16^th century defensive tower called the Coscia Tower.

*^{Chiesa Di Santa Maria Immacolata, Alassio. Quiet And Relaxing}*

I also really enjoyed a sunset walk I undertook to the east of the town to La Cappelletta. This is a small, 100-year-old chapel built to commemorate those lost at sea. The promontory on which it sits and the chapel itself were deserted apart from some young boys diving off nearby rocks and a few swifts in the roof space.

The view of Alassio and beyond became particularly beautiful as the sun set. I sat around for quite some time watching the sunset behind the mountains north of Alassio. I contemplated our very enjoyable stay in the town and our good fortune at the timing of our visit to this part of the world, and our ability to do so.

Alassio From La Cappellatta — *^{Alassio From La Cappelletta}*

Genoa next.

Menton And The Machine Wash

October 21, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

The memories of our French and Italian Riviera trip are, inevitably, fading as post-holiday activities have resumed and taken up head-space. But reprising the experience of our trip in these blog posts is keeping memories of the holiday fresher than would otherwise be the case and so I’ll continue…. On to Menton.

I’d not heard of Menton before the itinerary of our trip became clear. It is one of many towns along the French Riviera with a long history, a small fishing industry, some beautiful historic buildings and a mild sub-tropical Mediterranean climate that supports exotic plants and gardens.

The centrepiece and main tourist attraction in the town is the Les Rampes Saint Michel. This is a series of steep, stepped, cobbled ramps that rise directly from the cafes and bars on the coast to the core of a square bounded on two sides by the Basilique Saint Michel Archange and the Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs. The very attractive zig zag ramps were mostly built in the 18^th century but, following the Second World War, were restored well near the base.

Menton Old Town — Les Rampes Saint-Michel

To the immediate north of the square at the top of the ramps is an incline with a labyrinth of narrow lanes lined by tall, ochre buildings. At the top, sits Le Cimetière du Vieux Château. It has an interesting history as a re-purposed site of the ancient citadel protecting the town. It was developed as a cemetery in the 19^th century after Napoleon had decreed that churches could no longer be used for burials and the spare land around Menton’s Basilica ran out. Today it hosts dramatic family vaults and tombstones and provides peaceful but tremendous views of the coast and the Old Town below.

An interest from British aristocracy over the last couple of hundred years in buying up land along the French and Italian Riviera to provide holiday homes with exotic gardens attached was apparent throughout our holiday. Menton has several great exemplars of such houses and gardens. Some of these are open to the public.

We visited the delightful Val Rahmeh-Menton Botanical Garden which was up a steep hill behind our harbour-side hotel. In 1905, Sir Percy Radcliffe started to transform a former farm into a villa and surrounding garden and named it after his wife. In 1957, May Campbell, a wealthy woman from England, bought the estate and enhanced the planting to create an exotic garden full of floral and other horticultural treasures.

There are now over 1,600 different species of planting the garden including a wide variety of bamboo and unusual citrus plants. The current microclimate supports this temperate, sub-tropical and tropical arrangement but I wonder if climate change is going to increase the need for further adaption in the future. For now, it is a lovely place to visit.

*^{Four Of The Many Bamboo Species In Val Rahmeh Botanical Garden}*

Another highpoint in our sight-seeing was a visit to the Hôtel de Ville. This is the Town Hall and it houses the famous Wedding Hall decorated by Jean Cocteau in 1957. The audio tour of the hall that was provided was useful to help us pick out some of the themes in Cocteau’s murals. Certainly, it would be a memorable location for any wedding.

Jean Cocteau's Murals In The Wedding Hall, Menton — *^{Jean Cocteau’s Murals In The Wedding Hall, Menton}*

The Jean Cocteau Museum and the Cathedral were both closed for renovation and repair but much of Menton – the Old Town, the best buildings of the New Town, the palm strewn beach – were very pleasant. We ate well too and especially at Tony Restaurant which had great sea views.

*^{Inside Basilica Saint-Michel Archange}*

Our enjoyable stay was much enhanced by the renewal of our laundry. How to get our laundry done while hopping from one location along the Riviera to another had been bugging me from the time we first booked the trip (I’m a worrier). In Menton, Jane located some public laundry machines near our hotel and we gave them a try.

We survived failing to read the instructions about absolutely not adding our own detergent to the wash – there was too much foam but at least it didn’t burst from the machine. However, when we opened the door at the end of the cycle, our clothes smelt a lot worse than when they went in. We piled the stinky, damp washing into a bag and retreated to our hotel. Fortunately, the bathroom there was large with two sinks and a bidet, our balcony was also spacious, and the weather was breezy and sunny. We handwashed and dried our laundry and I loved the fact that, as we left Menton, I had a bag full of clean clothing again.

Nice Nice

October 13, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

It is hard to say which of the several stop-offs on our French and Italian Riviera was my favourite because they were all quite different. However, Nice was certainly a lovely one. Our hotel was perhaps the smartest that we had stayed in up to this point, the city is well appointed with a lot to see, and the weather continued to be terrific for holiday makers like us.

Hotel Durante _ A Nice Welcome To Nice — *^{Hotel Durante – A Nice Welcome To Nice}*

Also, we were looking forward especially to this stay because we had arranged in advance to meet up with a couple of great friends from our village who had been on a similar rail trip across northern Italy and, co-incidentally, were now in Nice at the same time as us.

Jane had taken responsibility for booking a restaurant and, after a beer in the incongruously named Wayne’s Bar in the old town area, we had a lovely time eating, drinking and swapping holiday stories in Lavomatique. In my opinion this was the best meal we had in France even though the panisse, which we had sampled in lots of places, were not quite the best.

Lavromatique - Great Restaurant, Great Fun And A Great Walk Back To Our Hotel — *^{Lavomatique – Great Restaurant, Great Fun And A Great Walk Back To Our Hotel}*

Even though we had been in Nice for only 36 hours, we didn’t hold back on advice about what to see and do. The mix of typical old town with narrow, often touristy, bustling streets, the large squares and parks of the more modern town, and the huge 18^th and 19^th century houses a little further out, is very attractive. Just walking around to take in the feel of the city was, as it often is on holiday, very rewarding.

*^{Old Town, View Across New Town And A Suburban Villa}*

At the boundary between the old and modern is Place Masséna and the Promenade des Anglais which have developed into wonderful pedestrianised areas since the 19^th century. Unfortunately, the latter became famous because of the terrorist attack there in 2016 by a truck driver who killed over 80 people. Today, both these spaces are wonderfully airy and fine.

*^{Place Massena And Palais De Justice, Nice}*

We started our first afternoon in Nice wandering through the city centre and then eating and drinking at the excellent Bistro du Fromager in depths of the Old Town.

*^{Walking Around Big Squares And Narrow Streets -> Hydration Needs!}*

We perused a fascinating shop called Trésors Publics that Jane was familiar with from Instagram and elsewhere.

We visited and sat in Cathédrale Sainte Réparate for a few minutes and then walked steeply uphill to Parc de la Colline du Château.

This park overlooks the city. It has a dramatic and impressive cascade and gave us great views of Nice harbour, the Mediterranean and the city itself.

Views: Parc De La Colline Du Chateau — *^{Views And Cascade: Parc De La Colline Du Chateau}*

There was also another restaurant outside, in which we had another very relaxed drink with, this time, lovely views of mountains. Our rather boozy day was completed at Beer District Libération a tap room which offered the sort of hoppy beer I like best and which is not yet always easy to find in France.

Breakfast at our hotel was a little strange in that it wasn’t a buffet. I felt a bit awkward asking for my normal three course breakfast of stacked fruit and yogurt, then eggs and then a croissant or two which I can usually get by serving myself. But I managed and the pleasure of eating it in the neat hotel garden outweighed any embarrassment.

Afterwards we negotiated the bus transport procedure to travel north to the rather grand-looking Matisse Museum. As expected, there was a queue to get in but we were early and the crowds weren’t huge. It is always good to find out more about artists and what drives them but, in truth, I didn’t enjoy the paintings as much as I had expected having seen pictures of some of his stained-glass windows and abstract art in the past.

Yves St Laurent Fashion Inspired By Matisse — *Matisse Paintings And Sculptures*

However, a positive for me was that we were visiting during a temporary exhibition of Yves Saint Laurent dresses. These exhibits were interleaved among the Henri Matisse paintings to show how the artist influenced the fashion designer. This worked best for me when I could see the motifs in Matisse’s work reflected most obviously in the dress designs.

Around the Matisse Museum are some extensive Roman remains. We didn’t linger because we wanted to get to the Marc Chagall National Museum before lunch. We were fortunate in that the Chagall museum closed for lunch too and so we only had 45 minutes to look around. That was enough; the museum is an attractive, modern building but relatively small.

The centrepiece is a large room exhibiting several paintings from Chagall’s series called the Biblical Message. I enjoyed these very much. There were other highlights such as the mosaic overlooking a pond outside the building and pieces illustrating his sets for opera. It was interesting too to learn more about the man himself some of which I knew but had forgotten. Again though, I was a little disappointed that there were not more pictures, apart from the Biblical Message, similar to those I have seen elsewhere by Chagall.

After all that culture, we retreated to a roof top bar back in the city. I then wandered back through the Old Town towards Parc de la Colline du Chateau to see the nearby Cimetiere Du Chateau. This was built on the ruins of Nice’s old castle and, as expected, there were some absolutely massive 18^th and 19^th century family tombs and some great views of Nice’s surrounds. I do love a good cemetery!

On our last morning, we popped into the Basilica Notre-Dame which was near our hotel. It isn’t particularly old but was quiet and grand. Jane lit a couple of candles and then we headed off via the hotel and station to Menton a little further east along the Riviera.

Naval Toulon

October 10, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Toulon was a substantial change up from Cassis in terms of scale as we pursued our French and Italian Riviera trip. Toulon is an industrial and working town rather than a pure tourist destination. It is about a fifth the size of Marseilles but, in some ways, had a similar feel. It is another coastal port with a grand square, an old town which is criss crossed with narrow streets, and some very attractive buildings.

Here the port is dominated by the French Navy. Of course, much of that part of the port is off limits. However, we were able to get a good feel for the naval history of the city and its current importance as a naval base from visit to the Maritime Museum and a ferry trip out to the Saint-Mandrier-Sur-Mer peninsula opposite Toulon harbour.

The ferry trip reminded me of the ferry that crossed Hong Kong harbour that we had travelled on to sightsee Hong Kong bay nine years ago. As then, we paid a tiny fee to travel back and forth across the bay and here we were able to take in some big views of Toulon, its surrounds and some of the redundant and current naval ships including, in the distance, the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier. It was refreshing to be in the sun, in the breeze and taking in an unusual view of the city.

*^{Views Of Toulon From The Ferry To/From Saint-Mandrier-Sur-Mer}*

The Maritime Museum was quiet, nicely laid out and enough exhibits, models and historical context were explained in English to make it very informative. Toulon has been a port since Roman times. Since the 15^th century, the city has gradually become one of the pre-eminent naval centres in France where most ships are berthed and maintained (but not built).

*^{Outside And Inside The Maritime Museum, Toulon}*

That development has not been smooth. There have been multiple blockades of the port (including one by the British led by Horatio Nelson), explosions of ships undergoing maintenance which killed hundreds of workers and, in the Second World War, the scuttling of many military boats in the harbour by the French Vichy government as naval leaders faced German advances to commandeer the fleet.

We had arrived in Toulon on a Sunday so the city was relatively quiet. We targeted lunch at L’Epicerie, which Jane had previously singled out as recommended. Unfortunately, the relative peacefulness was disrupted by a DJ who was playing at the restaurant. The food was organic, tasty and good (although I prefer my panisse with garlic not tomato sauce) but the DJ initially played loud music we didn’t like before chilling out a bit. We must be getting old…..

Quiet Sunday In Toulon Old Town — *^{Quiet Sunday Afternoon In Toulon Old Town}*

We wandered through some of the streets including the Cours Lafayette Market, and enjoyed the tightly packed old town just inland from the modern buildings of the harbour front. We were fascinated by the underground receptacles for household and other rubbish; above ground these took up very little space and were unobtrusive. They looked like a great idea and we wondered if these are facilities we will see more often nearer to home in the future.

We visited the Toulon Cathedral which is also unobtrusive from the outside and has shops and houses so adjacent to it that they seem to be part of the same structure. Inside, it is dark with only five windows of stained glass. That made it a very atmospheric space.

The following day, the city and, especially, the market was more bustling. We left the city centre by taking the cable car up to The Mont Faron which is a substantial mountain overlooking the city and a huge expanse of the Mediterranean. The views on the way up and from the cable car terminal on the mountain are tremendous.

*^{The Cable Car To Mont Faron And The Chapel Built Into The Mountain}*

I wandered on to a chapel (Sanctuaire Notre-Dame du Faron) created in the mid-20^th century from an old military store that had been built into the mountain. I walked on the Mont Faron Memorial to Allies who dies in the Second World War and to some further sun-bathed views of the mountains to the north and west. The pines afforded some shade in what was increasing heat but it was good to get back to the cable terminal.

By the time we returned to the city we were ready for a drink with our lunch. Jane had identified another Provencal speciality called Daube which is a beef stew. In practice, to pursue a taste of that, we went to a family restaurant called Frankie that served lovely flat buns with a variety of fillings (including Daube which I tried and enjoyed) in neat little paper wrappings. These were delicious.

We followed up with our hydration with some local wine and a few snacks at a bar in one of the pretty squares and headed back to our hotel for rest and sleep.

By this time in our holiday, we were getting into the swing of the two nights in a town or city routine. We left Toulon full of a very good hotel breakfast, very happy and excited for the next stop in Nice.

Cassis and Calanque

October 5, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

The train journey along the coast from Marseilles to Cassis was mainly inland and involved a lot of tunnels. This section, like several others we travelled on later in the holiday seemed to be quite a feat of engineering and I was surprised that it had been first built in the middle of the 19^th century. We left this leg of the railway at Cassis station and caught a very crowded shuttle bus to the town a few miles away.

We walked through the town centre and along the harbour front, which was lined with restaurants and cafes, to our hotel, Le Golfe. It was immediately obvious that the town thrives almost purely on tourism and is a different scale and feel to Marseilles. After the hubbub of Marseilles this was a welcome change. Indeed, throughout our French and Italian Riviera trip, the variety of stop offs was a really positive feature of the itinerary that Byway Travel had planned for us.

*^{Our Hotel Balcony View – The Room Was Small But The Balcony Was An Unexpected Bonus}*

Cassis harbour is pretty and overlooked by the limestone Saint-Cyr range of mountains and, to the east, Cap Canaille. This headland is the highest sea cliff in France at 1,293 feet. It is a mix of conglomerate rock, limestone and sandstone and the colours at sunset were stunning.

*^{The Cliffs Overlooking Cassis Harbour At Sunset}*

Also overlooking the town, and on the lower slopes of Cap Canaille, is Chateau de Cassis. This was built in the 13^th century as a castle and is now a set of rooms marketed as a luxury retreat. It is not open to the public but, from afar, it looks fascinating and very picturesque.

As we wandered around Cassis, we assessed the various eateries and concluded they were all very similar and all very popular with tourists like us. We picked Olea Cassis, rather over-ordered some substantial portions and then found a little lie down in our room too tempting. We visited St Michel church and investigated the Calanques boat tours ready for the following day. I strolled along the waterfront beyond the harbour to see the sunset on Cap Canaille and then had an early night. This was all very relaxing.

I’m not sure why but I always have to be persuaded to go on boat trips. However, Jane was clear from the time we booked the holiday package that we would be going on a boat to see the Calanques. These are an impressive set of limestone cliffs with inlets akin to fjords formed when caves collapsed as sea levels have changed.

*^{Views Of The Calanques From Our Boat}*

There are several such inlets, separated by huge limestone cliffs, just west of Cassis. Each has a slightly different layout and rock features and each has its own name. Some of the beaches at the ends of the inlets are accessible by car, some by foot and some by boat or kayak. All were terrific to see from the sea, especially given the gorgeous sunny weather that we had.

The trip to see the Calanques was undoubtably the highlight of our stay in Cassis. On our return, I wandered the town again and visited the public park. This had a lot of ducks but none were in the very murky algae-ridden lake at the park’s centre. I made a brief stop at a supermarket for some beer and snacks and returned to the hotel.

*^{Approaching Cassis Harbour After Our Tour Of The Calanques}*

By this time, I was preparing my nerves for a Forest Green Rovers football game that I was planning to watch that evening in our room on a catch-up streaming service on Jane’s i-Pad. In the event, I shouldn’t have worried. I sat on the balcony of our room watching the game with a lovely backdrop of harbour and cliffs and we won 4-0.

*^{Watching My Football Team Win On Our Balcony}*

Next morning, still thinking buoyantly about that win, we had breakfast at our hotel. Le Golfe again served up what we agreed later was our favourite croissant of our whole holiday and we were ready to head off to our next stop: Toulon.

Marseilles: A Great Start

October 4, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

In truth, our holiday on the French and Italian Riviera started when some old, very good friends put us up for the night at their house in London so that we could catch the Eurostar from Kings Cross St Pancras first thing next morning. They provided not only accommodation but great conversation and a dinner, the quality of which was barely matched during the rest of our holiday.

We left them early as planned and caught the Eurostar to Paris and then the TGV to Marseilles. We arrived early evening in time for some exploration of the city.

*^{Panorama Of Marseilles From A Rooftop Bar}*

Marseilles has featured in a number of thriller and crime series we have watched (Fauda Series 5 being the latest) and in those it has seemed to be a rather gritty, edgy, working city. However, our initial view of the harbour area rather scotched that impression with its grand Norman Foster mirror canopy, the myriad of boats bobbing in the harbour and its busy tourist vibe.

Views Around Marseilles Harbour Including The Dosorienting Norman Foster Canopy (Bottom Right) — *^{Views Around Marseilles Harbour Including The Rather Disorienting Norman Foster Canopy (Bottom Right)}*

We headed up and out of the harbour for dinner and a drink in the Le Panier area of Marseilles. This was rather more of what I had expected with its old, narrow streets, numerous small shops and cafes, and its prolific street art.

We had our first authentic taste of panisse, a local speciality made primarily from pan-fried chickpea flour that are cut into sticks to be dipped in a garlic or tomato sauce. We ate panisse several times during our holiday. I thought that the best was served with a great garlic sauce at Cafe Buvo in Marseille.

We strolled around Le Panier as the sun set over the harbour, retreated to our hotel for a relatively early night, and prepared for our first full day of sightseeing.

Jane had researched places to have the sort of breakfasts that she likes and on both mornings in Marseilles, we started our day in Deïa Coffee & Kitchen which was great. I think these turned out to be the best breakfasts we had during our holiday.

My Turkish eggs set me up for my first 30,000 steps day of the holiday. First, we walked the length of the inner harbour, getting our bearings, admiring the basilica high on the hill to the east and the old fort at the mouth of the harbour. Opposite this fort is the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MUCEM) and we spent the rest of the morning in and around this.

The building housing the museum is new and is a cube that is completely surrounded by a concrete lattice and linked to much older buildings and to gardens by elevated and terraced walkways. I loved it although it was easy to get lost.

Inside were exhibitions laying out, for example, the French occupation of Algeria and the colonial attempts to marry artistic and cultural interest in the way of life there, with the expropriation of the Algerian oil and other resources. There was also an exhibition of the work of fashion designer Mossi Traore. I hadn’t heard of him before but it was a good exhibition and I could see why he had become, from modest beginnings, so successful. I particularly enjoyed his football kit designs.

We walked past the Cosquer Cultural Centre and the Museum of Provence – both modern buildings – and visited the nearby Catholic Cathédrale de la Major. We then wandered back into Le Panier to see The Old Charity Centre. This was built in the 18^th century to house beggars and then became a hospice. When we visited, it was showing an exhibition of pastel-coloured, hanging textiles which added a bit of extra interest.

*^{The Old Charity Centre and Le Panier}*

After lunch, Jane and I split up for a few hours. I walked to the The Musée des Beaux-Arts. The art gallery itself was disappointing (but free and almost empty of people) but the adjoining Le Palais Longchamp is spectacular with an almost infeasibly large cascade between two impressive terraces and buildings. A couple were having their wedding photos taken with the Palais as a backdrop and I imagine this is a common feature at this amazing site.

Our sightseeing was not yet done. Inadvertently, I walked a long detour through the lively Cours Julien area (which is apparently famous for its nightlife) on my way to meet Jane at the Notre-Dame de la Garde. This basilica stands prominently on a substantial hill overlooking the city. I was getting tired and I recall looking up from a road that I thought was close to the basilica and being surprised at how much more climbing I had to do to get to it.

Of course, the views from outside the basilica are spectacular in all directions and there were many fellow tourists enjoying these. The interior is also impressive – a huge, cavernous space with gold ceilings and striped columns.

Inside And Views From Notre Dame De La Garde

To round off our day, we shared a dinner of interesting small plates at Nabu and Jero back in Cours Julien. All the dishes were tasty although Jane refused one that had surprisingly uncooked egg white in it. We survived.

Marseilles Sunset

Next morning, after breakfast at Deia again, we made our way past the harbour one last time and, from the station, set off for our next stop: Cassis.

Byway, Railway, and Riviera Cities

September 30, 2026 / fgrtommo / 7 Comments

Jane and I have just returned from a two and a half week Interrail holiday along the French and Italian Riviera between Marseilles and Genoa. It was an excellent holiday. One of my daughter-in-laws asked what was best about it and, in typical fashion I’m afraid, I replied: “well, nothing went wrong”. In truth though, pretty much everything went right.

*^{Travelling By Train Through The Alps}*

The weather was great. There was blue sky and, apart from about 4 hours in Paris on our way home, brilliant sunshine all day. It wasn’t too hot – we wouldn’t have coped well with the much hotter temperatures prevalent a few weeks before. There were no wildfires to worry about. We’d packed the right clothing and managed to launder enough on the way to feel fresh (though our use of a public laundry in Menton was a disaster and it was fortunate our bathroom there was big enough to accommodate the rewash we did in the bidet and the subsequent drying out!)

We had booked the holiday as a package with Byway Travel. For the premium we undoubtedly paid for getting a package rather than creating our own tour, I think we got peace of mind and good value. The trains were punctual enough and we always had a seat. The hotels were very varied but very good although the number of stairs we had to climb in a couple of them was a bit daunting.

100 Steps in Our First Hotel Of The Trip - Good Job We Are Reasonably Fit! — *^{100 Steps in Our First Hotel Of The Trip – Good Job We Are Reasonably Fit!}*

The selection of places we visited for two nights each – Marseilles, Cassis, Toulon, Nice, Menton, Alassio, Genoa and, on our way home, Paris (via train changes in Milan and Zurich) – were also varied in size and feel.

Zurich - A Brief Stop Off To Stretch Legs And Change Trains — *^{Zurich – A Brief Stop Off To Stretch Legs And Change Trains}*

Unexpectedly, two nights in each place felt like enough and, once we got into the routine, changing accommodation every other day became a pleasant routine not a chore. We might revisit one or two of the big cities we saw but, if we do something similar in the future (and I hope we will), then I think we will try a different part of Europe.

*^{Alassio: Drinks On The Hotel Terrace And Dinner On The Hotel Beach}*

Getting back into our home routine has been quick and easy. We got back home on a Friday at 5.30pm and managed to get to the local pub for our normal Friday night imbibing with local mates by 6pm. We have both restarted maintenance of our garden. We have both started our respective work and volunteering duties. There’s a home Forest green Rovers football match to attend tonight.

What remains is sorting out of the hundreds of photos I took while we were away. Once I have done that, I plan to post brief summaries of the town and city visits included in our holiday. Then we are off to Edinburgh to visit family there and will plan some more trips. I’m getting into the swing of this holiday lark!

Our Local Pub

August 30, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

In my last post I mentioned the great value entertainment versus the effort input that I get from our visits to our local pub, The Hog At Horsley. We have visited on Friday evenings and most Sunday afternoons in August as per our normal routine and I have continued to attend men’s Talk Club there on Tuesday evenings. Our quiz team also won the monthly pub quiz this month despite the specialist round being cat breeds about which my knowledge has moved from minimal to something.

In addition, there have also been a couple of special events to enliven our mainly sunny August.

As last year, the landlord at our local pub, together with his recently married wife, organised a pub crawl for charity. The charity benefitting from our walking, drinking and fund raising this year was Alzheimer’s Research UK. Thanks to some exuberant charity bucket proffering by the landlord and his brother, over £1,500 was gathered – even more than last year.

Kicking Off The Charity Pub Crawl - 10.30am At The Hog — *^{Kicking Off The Charity Pub Crawl – 10.30am At The Hog}*

The event started and finished – for those who lasted the full distance – at The Hog and encompassed visits to 10 other pubs along a journey of about 11 miles. It was a hot, sunny day so we certainly needed the ‘hydration’ on the way but I know my limits and I ducked out after 8 stops.

Pub Crawl Vistas And A Walking (And Very Warm) Shark — Some Pubs On The Way

I certainly got my steps in for the day, met a few new acquaintances and had a few interesting chats. I even had a pint at Kings Head, in Kingscourt which I had never been to before. It was a full and fun day.

As I write, the August Bank Holiday Weekend Hogfest (one of two Hogfests each year) is in full swing. I have started to sample some of the 50 beers and ciders on offer. I don’t plan to work my way through the list but I’ll focus on my favourites like those from The Kernel Brewery and other IPAs. There’s music and pop-up food vendors on offer and plenty of conversation to be had with fellow locals; all good vibes although an unfortunately timed break in the long hot spell and a few prolonged, heavy showers will undoubtedly dampen the usual ebullience.

Running a rural pub in the face of rising taxes (business rates for The Hog doubled this year) and operational costs such as bar staff wages and power to keep the beer cool is a constant struggle. I therefore hope that Hogfest is a success despite the weather. The village needs a thriving pub. It’s a hub for the community, gossip and business contact. But we have to ‘use it or lose it!’

Other retiree preoccupations beyond the pub in August have been the start of the football season, preparing a planning application for solar panels on our ex-stables roof, and clearing our small field of cut grass.

The New Lawn, Forest Green Rovers' Current Stadium — *^{The New Lawn, Forest Green Rovers’ Current Stadium}*

Forest Green Rovers, the football team I support, have lost their last two games without scoring so we are clearly not going to be tearing up trees this season. Whatever the result, I enjoy the process of preparing for games, watching them and then talking about them. This process carries a lot of tension and frustration which sometimes feels a bit daft given it’s only a game, but it’s one of my great pleasures nonetheless.

Trying to get planning permission for solar panels on our stables roof has been a lot less fun! We now realise that we should have just gone ahead and installed them and faced any consequences later, but I wanted to follow due process and do the right thing. Now I’m caught up in all sorts of technicalities that are outside my comfort zone. Not engaging an expensive professional was probably another mistake I made given the hours I have probably wasted.

The Walk From The Local Planning Department - The Only Upside To The Planning Process — *^{The Walk Back From The Local Planning Department – The Only Upside To The Planning Process}*

Raking up cut hay, weeds and wildflowers in our field after having it cut by a professional has been more satisfying. It’s the sort of repetitive, lightly physical task that I like. There is a lot of mindlessness but also some relaxed thinking time. More than I would like of that time has been taken up with tortured thoughts about Forest Green Rovers’ recent, poor performances and my planning permission frustrations. Ultimately though, there is satisfaction in looking back at a cleared field with little stacks of hay. Now the only question is what to do with all of those – I need a new compost heap!

Our Cut Field — *^{Our Satisfyingly Cut And Raked Field}*

Summer has been pretty good. The need to water the vegetables during the drought was a minor downside to the weather. All else about the persistence of sunny and warm/hot days was fine by me. Hopefully, we are now looking forward to prolonging our summer with a trip to the French and Italian Riviera. I’ll miss our local pub while we are away but think our drinking habits might be a little more exotic for a while.

Value: Home and Away

August 2, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

My life in retirement is one of pleasant routine interrupted – maybe I should even say disrupted – by occasional events. I get up at about the same time every day and have one of two breakfasts every morning; either fruit and yogurt with a bit of nut butter or, on days following the purchase of the best local sourdough (currently Leola in my opinion), bread or toast with homemade jam or Marmite. Lovely!

When at home, I have the same lunch every day; crunchy salad with feta and toasted seeds. Dinner is more varied since I only do about half the evening cooking and Jane, my wife, likes variety, but baked salmon filets or a two-day batch of dal are almost guaranteed by me each week.

*^{A View Near Ruskin Mill On The Walk To Nailsworth}*

After breakfast I do the 30 minute or so walk into the local town of Nailsworth for the day’s shopping and my, and a neighbour’s, newspaper. Jane can’t believe I’m happy to do this every day but there are about 8 different routes to take so this aspect of my routine does have variety.

*^{Another View On The Way To Nailsworth}*

There is also variety in the activities in late morning and the afternoon. These include regular but short periods of volunteering, gardening, administration of my simple affairs, more walking, reading about current affairs (and almost always snoozing for a bit during that) and, of course, occasionally writing this blog. Then at 5pm Jane and I, almost invariably, have tea and do the Guardian Quick Crossword together.

During the football season all this has to fit around Forest Green Rovers games (it’s so good to get back to proper football after the political and financial extravagances of the World Cup!)

After dinner, when there isn’t a Forest Green Rovers game, Jane and I watch streamed TV series. Usually, our mutual choice settles on European crime series in which there is a gory death in first few minutes (often followed by others) by a serial killer that needs to be found by a police man or woman with terrible personal issues. We are currently watching a Greek thriller of this ilk. At least the subtitles force us away from constantly looking at our mobile phones.

On Sunday’s and Friday evenings and on the monthly quiz night, we visit our local pub. (Incidentally, our Quiz Team insisted recently, and against my protests, on changing our longstanding team name to ‘Paul Hates Change’. Actually, I dislike the prospect of change rather than change itself but there was sufficient truth in the name that I couldn’t argue against the update.)

I think I’m gradually getting better at coping with the unexpected but I love sticking to all of my routine and our Friday evenings in the local pub are special. We go confident that there will be at least someone who we will meet and have a great conversation with; and the beer is great.

If We Don't To The Pub We Can Always Enjoy The View From Our Field's Seat — *^{If We Don’t Make It To The Pub, We Can Always Enjoy The View Of The Route To It}*

I bumped into one of my best local friends earlier this week to ask if, he was going to be in the pub on the coming Friday. He said yes and pointed out that of all the activities we undertake, going to the pub for the informal meeting of a few locals provides one of the best ratios in terms of effort input and value returned. I agreed and his summation got me thinking….

Over the last several years, Jane has made our garden wonderful. Despite the lack of rain over the last couple of months, it has matured and is still full of colour and insect wildlife. It is a pleasure to sit in with a glass of wine on sunny evenings. Of course, we lack the chat and gossip of pub-goers but Jane and I celebrated our 41^st wedding anniversary last week (rest assured that my daily routine was pretty much unchanged that day!) so we have plenty of shared history, offspring and other stuff to talk about. Perhaps this garden lounging is the lowest energy input activity matched against considerable value.

We recently went to the RHS Badminton Flower Show. It was great that such a prestigious flower show was just down the road from us this year. It was good too that we got there as it opened and before the most intense crowds of visitors.

*^{Flowers And Gardens At The RHS Badminton Flower Show}*

The gardens and the flower and plant tents were inspiring. This was especially true of the extensive show garden by Tom Stuart-Smith that was a reflection of the garden he had designed with Julia Rausing at Lasborough Park (which, in another outing and break from the routine, we had visited last month).

Tom Stuart-Smith's Garden At The RHS Flower Show — *^{Tom Stuart-Smith’s Garden At The RHS Flower Show}*

The show included a themed garden by a garden designer who lives in our village which made me feel good. But it was very hot and became increasingly crowded and, after a couple of hours, I’d had enough. It was a break from routine and I know I should do more to get variety into life. However, Jane’s garden feels as good as the individual show gardens at Badminton, its cheaper and easier to get to and a lot less crowded!

Jane's Recently Renovated Potting Shed — *^{Jane’s Recently Renovated Potting Shed}*

One other recent break from routine which was very enjoyable was to meet up with Youngest Son and his wife in Oxford. They had been over from Belfast to attend a wedding the previous day. We met up for coffee and then a very pleasant and sunny lunch on the roof of the Ashmolean Museum. We checked out the famous exhibition of Egyptian mummies and other relics in the museum and then had a good walk together through the Jericho area and along the Oxford Canal.

*^{Views Of Oxford: Bodleian Library, University Church And Divinity School}*

Next month we are having a more complete break from the norm. We are off on a rail trip to France and Italy. That will definitely be high effort and cost input but, of course, the pleasures promise to be huge in return.

I enjoy holidays more than I did when I had the pressure of work at either end of them. Nonetheless, I’m increasingly thinking about how I will cope out of my home comfort zone. Will the trains run on time? What about climate change and wildfires? Given we are staying in a series of hotels, will we have to eat out all the time? How many pairs of socks and other items of clothing will I need to take? Where will we do our laundry? Can I watch the Forest Green Games that I’ll be missing online?

It’ll be fine I’m sure but I’m already looking forward to the first Friday after we return and a reunion with local mates in the pub over a proper English beer.

Cooler Edinburgh

July 6, 2026 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

We went up to Edinburgh, for our summer visit to Eldest Son and his family, in the middle of the latest English heatwave. We left early to avoid the worst of the heat but saw our car’s temperature gauge indicate a steady climb in heat as we travelled through the Midlands and Lancashire. Temperatures only leveled out at about 28 degrees Centigrade as we hit the hills and mountains of the edge of the Lake District and entered Scotland.

Then, as we approached Edinburgh from the south east, we noticed a low cloud over the Firth of Forth and, as we approached the city, this moved inland to envelop Arthurs Seat. By the time we got into the city, the haar – a cold sea fog seemingly peculiar to Scotland’s east coast – had pushed the temperature down 10 degrees. The haar cleared and the heat gradually returned but it was an interesting meteorological phenomenon providing a welcome break from recent heat.

Our exploits in Edinburgh over a long weekend were similar to those of previous short, summer visits. ES and his wife provided excellent hospitality, especially the food, and the entertainment we offered the grandchildren was reciprocated with some very funny moments. First Grandchild’s (FG’s) description of some sort of model of an erupting volcano at his nursery as ‘it was ridiculous actually’ was priceless. Plus, his interest in the placement of traffic cones on bus shelters, parking signs and statues along our bus route to the National Museum was very amusing.

'Traffic Cones In The Wrong Place!' — *^{‘Traffic Cones In The Wrong Place!’}*

The National Museum of Scotland is a banker for entertaining small children and FG loves it. We also paid a visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens, as we almost always do with FG and his new sister. The gardens look great at this time of year and the garden’s cafés and restaurants are excellent.

Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens — *^{Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens}*

We had had to postpone this Edinburgh visit by a few weeks and I thought it would be too late to coincide with an exhibition of Joan Eardley work at the Modern Art Galleries of Scotland but I managed to catch it on its penultimate day.

'Catterline in Winter' By Joan Eardley, Modern Two, Edinburgh — *^{‘Catterline in Winter’ By Joan Eardley, Modern Two, Edinburgh}*

Over the last few years of visiting Scotland, I have come to love her paintings of land and seascapes created late in her short life in a small village on Scotland’s east coast. There were a few such paintings on show – some of which I have seen before – and I found them as impressive as ever. However, this show was an exhibition portraying work from all her life and I was less keen on the earlier items mainly painted in her then home in Glasgow.

;A Stove' And 'Sleeping Nude'; Earlier Work By Joan Eardley At Modern Two, Edinburgh — *^{‘A Stove’ And ‘Sleeping Nude’; Earlier Work By Joan Eardley At Modern Two, Edinburgh}*

Also, Eardley’s works on show were mixed with a similar number of paintings by other artists that the curators believed were influences on her. I liked several of these paintings but, frankly, the links to Eardley’s thinking seemed largely tenuous and I didn’t really ‘get’ the overall narrative that attempted to hold the whole exhibition together. Nonetheless, the exhibition was free (albeit with a donation) and well worth seeing.

I slipped away from the hubbub of grandparenting on a couple of other occasions. Once was to follow up on the extraordinary sight of seeing a tank rolling down the road outside ES and his wifes’ flat. I wandered over to St Andrews Square, where the tank was headed, to see the Armed Forces Day celebrations there in case they would have been of interest to FG. It turned out to be a bit of damp squib though; the tank appeared to be American (why? I wondered) and was one of only two significant military vehicles on show. There was little other entertainment available.

*^{Armed Forces Day, St Andrews Square}*

Much better was a tram trip out to Leith. I love New Town Edinburgh where ES and his wife live but Leith is a refreshing change.

_{Views of Leith}

The ostensible reason for going this time was to see up close the numerous huge yellow structures on the coast that we could see in the distance from ES’s flat. Whilst I couldn’t get as close as I wanted, I did get a good view of them.

'Minions' and 'Tripods', Port of Leith — *^{‘Tripods’, Port of Leith}*

They are the components for big windmills being constructed in the North Sea in the Inch Cape field near Angus to the north. The cylindrical pieces are ‘minions’ and the larger, latticed towers are called ‘tripods’. Nearby were some of the ships that will carry and install these. It seems that Leith Port provides a changing range of interesting things to see – on our last visit it was accommodating a huge Tasmanian ferry that had been built in Finland that that had to wait for the harbour in Hobart to be made bigger!

I strolled around Leith port and, since the weather was so nice, I skived off from grandfather duty for an extra 30 minutes to have a beer at Teuchters Landing, the sister bar to another in Edinburgh West End that we are very familiar with. I sat on a bridge with my pint watching the world go by for a while; naughty but nice.

It takes pretty much a day to get there and a day to get back but our visits to Edinburgh are always so rewarding. It’s lovely to see our family offshoot there. We love to see how they are coping with two lovely kids, how those kids are developing, and such a cool capital city.

*^{Cool Looking Edinburgh Basement Fern}*

My Retirement Journey

I've Retired! What Next?