All Alone

​Mon-Sun, March 16-22, 2026 — Nice, France

The forecast for this week was for mostly sun, so we were absolutely ready to capitalize on that.

Flat ride to Antibes
Morning dip

First up was a nice flat, ten mile out-and-back ride to Antibes. What a day! Monday was a perfect day to be out by the sea. Plus, when I finally turned around to look back at Nice, I was totally blown away. Wow! We’d been told that the closest ski resorts are less than two hours away and that was completely clear. 

French Alpes behind Nice
Antibes

Ironically, you can hardly see the snow capped Alpes from town, but go a few miles and wow!

On Tuesday, we set our sights on a much more aggressive, three-hour, uphill slog to Sainte-Agnes, which is billed as the highest coastal town in Europe! I’m not sure what the exact criteria is, or how far inland you can go and still be considered “coastal,” but Sainte-Agnes is at 2600 ft. However, by the time we got to Peille, two hours in, we’d had enough (light weights!). Lunch and the down-hill ride into town was much more appealing.

Outside of Nice
Quick break
View into Monaco
Lunch time in Peille

It was on this ride that, thanks to Google photos’ geolocation data we finally realized that many of the roads we’ve been slogging up and over the last couple of weeks are, in fact, the exact same ones we’d climbed with the kids back in 2016!

Riding into Villefranche from Nice, 2016!
Ave of the “Blue Devils” above Eze, 2016

Having wimped out getting to Sainte-Agnes on Tuesday, a couple of days later we made up for it with a short, but strenuous four-mile hike up and over the hill from the nearby town of Gorbio. It was another spectacularly beautiful day. Sainte-Agnes is another one of these incredibly beautiful small stone villages we’ve come across in France.

On the way to Sainte-Agnes
First sighting of Sainte-Agnes
High in the hills

I always feel like I’m in Disneyland with the winding narrow walking streets and passageways, archways, steps, and small plazas. Once again, we treated ourselves to a lovely lunch with a view looking out onto the Mediterranean… from 2500 ft. 

Stunning view from Sainte-Agnes

Although our French is improving, it is far from perfect. After pursuing the set menu options, we each chose the course starting with « pâté campagne. » Meg was expecting mushroom pasta, I was expecting country pasta, so we were both surprised when a block of pork pate was set in front of us (pâtes = pasta, pâté = pate). Not bad, though we’re unlikely to make that mistake again!

Lunch stop 
Hmm, doesn’t look like pasta

Ironically, we’ve now been to Monaco three different times in the last month, despite not being particularly enamored with it, originally. On Wednesday, however, as it was a little drizzly, we hopped the train there to visit the Oceanographic museum. We finished the day with a stop at the Russian Orthodox Church in town…

Monaco on a cloudy day
Cuddle fish
St Nicolas Cathedral
Painted art deco decor
St Nicolas?

Finally, knowing that Meg’s family would soon be arriving for our last week in Nice, we reached out to a few of our classmates who were still in the area. Hugo, one of Meg’s classmates who lives just a few blocks away, met us for dinner on Wednesday night, while two of my classmates, who also have places nearby, joined us for lunch in Antibes. Raymond and his wife bought their apartment a few years ago and graciously invited us for a Swedish “fika” after lunch. 

Walking through Antibes
A fun afternoon: Me, Raymond, Meg, Helena, & Brad


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