From Cobham to Eze.

This morning dawned beautiful and I was up by 7 and wallowing in the bath deciding what i was going to wear for the journey. 

I have always tried to look smart when travelling - Caroline is the same, and i am always proud to go around with her ! 

I may sometimes fail, but it is a thing my parents instilled in me, though in those days travel, especially rail and air travel were a different thing.

We used to travel through Europe on the Golden Arrow trains to Switzerland or on BOAC or BEA flights (or sometimes Swissair…a really nice airline in those days) and it seemed that everyone on board had made a bit of an effort to look smart. Not  like the revolting sights you see at airports these days, with fully grown scruffs waddling around in 3/4 length cargo pants and flip flops! 

Anyway, chinos, shirt and jacket seemed the order of the day and on the dot of 8 I joined the traffic jam to the airport. Luckily I had decided to go the country route to Gatwick, as as I passed over the M25 it was jammed solid. 8am in Surrey….nothing stirs !

I had a Valet Parking service (cheaper than the long-term by £17!!) which worked very well, and I was through security within 10 minutes. I resisted the temptation of Duty Free and headed off to Costa Coffee where I am afraid I disgraced myself by throwing my coffee cup and croissant all over everywhere!! The damned table I was sitting at was wobbly and as I put my foot on the base the whole thing tipped up !

We all remained very calm and they kindly bought me another one FOC!

The flight to Genoa was quick - i was sat next to two oriental ladies who seemed, as  so many of their race, to be utterly spent….exhausted was not in it…and spent the whole flight lolling (that is not laughing out loud by the way!!) all over each other or me…they got a hefty nudge as soon as they came in my direction!!

Car Hire was quick and easy - I got upgraded (huh!!) to a Fiat 500, a cute but incredibly feeble car - and headed off down the Autostrada towards Ventimiglia, stopping for a Icarus Parma ham and Ricotta sandwich and an Italian Espresso on the outskirts of Genoa at a wondrous Autogrill service-station. I felt I was in italy.

The weather was warm and sunny, though there is a threat of rain tomorrow in Monaco and so the drive down the motorway was a bit of a trial as diving in and out of the tunnels that little the Autostrada dei Fiori was a little exasperating for me.

I stopped off in Imperia at the Olio Carli emporium. Now, Olio Carli are a company that sell anything made from Olive Oil…and they do it extremely well indeed…all by mail order. Absolutely brilliant when you think about it! No middle man…..ever! They even have their own fleet of vans that criss cross Italy delivering the oil and associated products they sell. When I lived in Cannobio I got to know the Olio Carli Man quite well….as he called on the town every few days delivering his company's wares.

Of course the quality is first class and the best thing they sell is an olive-oil soap which smells absolutely divine. 

I wandered around their huge showroom - they do about 20 different strengths of oils, and all sorts of things in jars which are excellent - picking up bits and pieces…including some pesto and Trofie pasta for tonight's dinner, as for one night I am staying in a place where I have a small kitchen.

I was soon back on the road and before long was into France and off the motorway again and up to La Turbie and on to Eze where I am staying tonight.

Eze is a lovely little village - one of the famed Villages Perchees, as the old houses seem to almost hang in the air and it has a wonderful view down to Monaco and out to sea. 

I walked around the old village high up on a rock overlooking Monaco. It is like so many of these villages here…maybe a little too chichi, but I prefer that to run down and decrepit. Artists live here by the barrel-load, all of differing style and one must say, ability. Some seem to take their job seriously and produce wonderful stuff, others have more of the look and probably the feel of an artiste, but produce rubbish which they sell solely in the name of art. 

Eze also has the famed restaurant called the Chevre D'or with a terrace which has a 180degree view of the coastline. If the weather is nice, it is possibly the 2nd most beautifully located restaurant in France !! The first, I hear you ask….? well, just wait and see ! :-)

I had toyed with staying in Monaco tonight to take in a bit of atmosphere, but decided I would probably have enough of that in the days to come, and so look forward to cooking myself a nice Italian dinner….in France! Of course the French have their equivalent of Pesto called Pestou…. but as I believe they add olives to theirs you can, I'm afraid, keep it! Then we shall see!

Now I'm off to try and find some Fraises du Bois (Wild strawberries) for pud.

Whatihadfordinnertonight

Olio Carli is an Italian institution. Based in the rather industrial town of Imperia on the cost which leads West of Genoa towards France, it is a company which sells Olive Oil and its derivative products. 

They also sell pesto from the basil of the area, reputed to be the best in Italy, and a few other glass jars of dried tomatoes and olives in olive oil, and a few other stir in pasta sauces of almost excruciating quality! 

They use no middle men. They have a huge and very modern operation at their base in Imperia, and everything is delivered all around italy by their own fleet of delivery vehicles, small transit vans painted a wondrous shade of green with their logo on it. They are apparently one of the most successful private companies in italy, and knowing the Italians love of olive oil, combined with what appears to be a good deal, I am not surprised.

As I type I am eating the trofie pasta in the photo (Trofie were specially designed by  Guingaro to go with pesto!) The pesto is wonderful, with a flavour of basil which you just don't get in the UK. I am sure I could eat another helping (though I wont!)

They sell a soap, which many many years ago was what introduced me to Carli. It has the most divine smell of any soap I have used, and having bought 20 bars of it this afternoon - I like to keep clean - it is smelling out the bathroom of where I am staying very nicely 

I am in the small village of Eze - on of the Villages Perchees which little this part of France, as all the houses were built hundreds of years ago clinging precariously to the rocks. It is right above Monaco so I am well placed to go to the first day of practise for the Grand Prix tomorrow.

Those (2!) that follow what I write will know that I much prefer to cook myself a meal than go to a restaurant if the oppo presents itself, especially if I am travelling on my own, and tonight it did. I am staying somewhere which I thought was a Hotel, but it turns out its a sort of block of flats, with each room having it's own sitting room, kitchen and separate bathroom. Quite amazing… I am on the garden floor and so am sitting amongst trees and grass.

There is a man over there, speaking on his mobile phone and wearing 3/4 length cargos, flip flops and has a tattoo on the inside of his leg !!! He invited me to go and have a coffee with him and his family, but right at the moment he is having a frightful row with someone on the phone……toodle pip !