Go Walking, I Say!

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Walking in the French Riviera Go walking on your holiday For as long as I have lived in Paris – and that’s 20 years this spring – I have been advising our visiting friends and guests to explore the city on their own two feet. When you go walking, not only do you see more, you also give your brain more time to process the information it receives – and a proper chance to make sense of it all. If you rush by in a car

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A Fine Weather Walk

"Maur Creteil Walk"

Day Trips from Paris A  Fine Weather Walk in Maur-Creteil There are many ways to categorize hikes or walks. You can, for example, classify them on the basis of the kind of shoes you will have to wear (proper hiking boots – or will a  pair of comfy trainers do?); on what you need to take with you (can I buy food on the way or do I have to bring a big backpack?); and on the level of fitness that is required (do I

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Roquebrune Castle

"Roquebrune Castle in the Cote d'Azur"

Easy Hiking in the French Riviera The View from the Roquebrune Castle Life on the French Riviera has not always been sweet – at least not for everyone, not all of the time. Life was certainly not sweet for the inhabitants of Roquebrune Castle that we found (just to the east of Monaco) on one of our recent hikes.

It is an austere and charmless place, even by the standards of the period in which it was built – and was clearly never intended as

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Eze Hiker in the French Riviera

Eze Village atop Eze hill in Cote d'Azur

Eze it may be, but easy it certainly ain’t.

Seemingly never-ending steep stone stairways up towards Eze Village

 

In fact, the trail from Eze-sur-mer, the small town around Eze railway station between Nice and Monaco on the French Riviera, to “Eze village” up in the hills is just one steep stairway, up and up and up for well over an hour, with nary a landing to catch breath.

Eze Hiker, that would be Mrs Easy Hiker too, thanking me

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Roquebrune: Hinterland Highlight

"Roquebrune seen from the hilltop"

Roquebrune I might as well admit it: walking – or hiking – is not always and under all circumstances the best key for unlocking unfamiliar destinations.

You can, for example, get a good first impression of the French Riviera just by taking the eastbound local train from Cannes: a single one-hour journey will give you many gloriously scenic panoramas of the coast, a postcard overview of Villefranche-sur-mer and even a glimpse of the famous Russian Orthodox Cathedral just outside Nice Ville station. There is

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