Waterfalls are wonderful. There is one in the middle of the Nice city, on on top of the hill with a great view. You do not need take a bus to get there, just walking and climbing is needed and while doing that there is nice alleys and churches to see and visit.
Visiting in Eze village was on a to-do-list also this year, it is a nice place and also going there is a small trip itself. This summer we have taken buses a lot instead of taking trains mostly because we discovered that they are nice (you see different places) and easy (our hotel is actually located near to many bus stops), and last but not least we bought a seven day pass for Lignes D’azur lines so local buses are ‘free’.
Number 82 took us direct to Eze village and we climbed in a hot weather to the most top where the view is magnificent. Tuomas took a lot of photos when climbing up and on the top as well. It was real hot so the next stop was on the Eze beach. We took a bus number 83 to Eze railway station which is located near to the beach. There were a lot of people on the beach enjoying the Sunday sun and warm water.
I rented a SUP board but this time I enjoyed even more swimming in the warm sea. I also realized that Finland is actually very good place for SUP. There are different kind of rivers, lakes and sea coasts with variety of landscapes and water birds. You can really enjoy the SUP trip, not just concentrating on keeping standing on the SUP board going up and down on (monster) waves.
Near but in a way far away from Nice is an old touristic attraction place: a tyrol type house with waterfall. It is build in 1883 and is very cute as your can see in photos. The place itself was cool due to waterfall and the cave under the house. But the trip was hot, and it was turning to become almost too hot.
We took a bus number 25 from the Nice center to the direction Cernuschi to get to the Cascade de Gairaut. This bus goes just once an hour on Saturdays. The ride was very bumby and the road was climbing up and down in the mountains. It was ok, and good way to see places round the city, the bus trip took about one hour. Then we took off, admired the scene, took the pictures and enjoyed the coolness around the place. Then we started to wait the bus to go back to the city. It was really, really hot to stand in the bus stop (+32, no wind, no shadow). After ten minutes we saw the bus coming, we waved to stop it and the driver waved back and just drove ahead. The bus was not definitely fully booked. We saw no-one inside.
What the #¤%&/&¤! It is hot here, do we need to stay here an hour more!!!!! A small village road,in the middle of nowhere. The sun is shining, it will burn us, it will kill us!!
After thinking two seconds we decided to change the direction and go to the bus directing Cernuschi to get in to that bus because it should come sooner than the next one to heading towards Nice. And it came in another 10 minutes and it stopped and we were so happy about that. We were rescued!
In the end what happened was that in a few minutes we landed in a very urban place and realized that there is a tram stop front of us. Quick checkup from the bus driver “yes, the tram stop is on the left”, “merci!” very fast act of leaving the bus and walking to the tram stop.
So thank you the first bus driver for not taking us to the bus. We were much faster back to the Nice city with the new route.
Today´s visit was into the village of Villefranche-sur-Mer, which was noticed as the very best beach in the area by us last year. This time we took a bus number 81 which is leaving very near to our hotel (very practical!) and we took off the bus stop called Octroi. By taking a bus instead of a train (as we did last year) we were able to enter the town itself when walking towards the beach.
The town is a beauty. Small and narrow streets with old doors and archs was a pleasant place to walk and take pictures. After for a while we ended up to the beach area and continued walking to the very end because the SUP rental location is in the far end.
I changed shorts and t-shirt in a small private tent, kind of funny but it was nice to have some place to do it. The SUP board I paddled on was a new model for me, the shape was a very sharp and it was said to be fast and stable, and it was. It took a short time to get familiar with mediterranean waves but when I did it was fun indeed to paddle.
At the moment in Finland it is raining and having a cold July. But it does not matter if you are in sunny French Riviera. And we are. Smiling. Smiling. Yesterday we took a train to Cannes to make a small boat trip to the historical island called Sainte Marguerite. Crossing the sea to the island took about 15 minutes, which was a nice refreshing moment in a sea wind when a temperature is +32 and the sun is shining in a sky where is no clouds at all.
After a short but very nice boat trip we arrived in the island. Travel guides tell that the island is an old monastery island and it is a quiet place to have relaxing moment away from the hectic urban atmosphere. It is. And at the same time it also well organized with two restaurants and several small kiosks so you can easy find soft drinks and ice cream when needed. And you need those in that kind of heat.
In the island you can walk around and see different kind of forestry types and different kind of birds on the artificial pond. Only bad thing was that it was really, really hot for a walk and you really enjoyed to stand under the trees to be in shadows but the trees were magnificent indeed.
We visited also in a Fort royal and Maritime museum, which was a reasonable size of museum having an interesting collection of roman archaeological findings from the area and also interesting stories from the 17th century when the island was a prison for the people which the king himself felt to be a risk for the monarchy. The most famous prisoner was the Man in the Iron mask.
The island was definitely worth of visiting. The cost of boat trip was 14 euros per person and every needed fanta and ice cream was fun to eat and drink anyway.
Today no SUP but a canal tour (www.stromma.dk) in a sunny Copenhagen. And one cava in Nyhavn afterwards. Just perfect!
It was a second day of a spring vacation in Copenhagen and the plan was to go to Amager Strand and do some SUP. Morning was beautiful and after a nice breakfast in a nice local cafeteria in Frederiksberg we headed first to the city where we spent some time waiting the SUP rental to be open.
After a while we took a metro to Femoren which is the nearest metro station to the Kajakhotellet. The place where you can rent kayaks and SUP boards. It is Friday midday so there is not that many people on the beach area, but there were a few people enjoying the warm and sunny day though. I can bet on that there will be a lot of people in the evening and the weekend to come.
I rented a SUP board for an hour. I got a narrow inflatable one, it was very nice. In the beginning there was almost not at all wind (2 m/s) but it increased while I was paddling (5 m/s) so that in the end I got a very good exercise when paddling against the wind. The canal is so narrow that there was not waves still, so the place is good for new beginners to sup as well.
After a good paddling we bought refreshments on the kiosk by the sea and then we decided to continue to the shopping center Field’s in Orestad. It is so fun to travel in metro in Copenhagen.
By the way it was easy to take the SUP outfit in the luggage, a short wet suit and neoprene shoes do not take that much space in a trolley. Tested and approved.
We visited one of my favorite SUP locations on Saturday afternoon. And not so surprisingly the river was frozen and covered by snow. Take definitely some time to be able to paddle again. But now we can enjoy the winter!
At Meri-Teijo Ski Resort (Salo, Finland):
See the difference in a landscape and river circumstances when there is more than 1 meter change in a water level in the same location of the river (Kiskonjoki in Perniö). The first picture is taken in October and the second in December after having heavy rains for couple of weeks. In October there were rocks and a very clear water level difference but now it was just a wide curve in the river with a nice flow.
English summary: This year on the 24th of December I did definitely NOT a traditional Christmas SUP. Normally that time of the year there is snow and freezing in whole Finland but not this year. The weather in Southern Finland was warm, temperature + 3,5 C , no snow and a forecast was saying that in Salo there will be even sunny at noon. So time to SUP. The location was a river in Perniö (Kiskonjoki-Perniönjoki). It was so nice to be on board again after two months without the joy of SUP. The sun was shining nicely even it is not high in the sky, but light and shadows gave a very special view with not any green but mostly yellow and grey (see the pictures below).
Tänä jouluna ei ole Perniössä lunta. Sitä toivoin kovasti, ja mielelläni menisin laskettelemaankin, joten tervetuloa vaan lumi! Mutta kun kerran oltiin plussan puolella niin tilaisuus piti hyödyntää ja tehdä ei-niin-ollenkaan-perinteinen joulu-SUP. Aattoaamuna oli Perniössä lämpötila +3.5, tuuli vain vähän ja oli luvattu puolen päivän tienoille jopa auringonpaistetta, niin lauta katolle ja sopivaa SUP-paikkaa etsimään. Perniönjoki oli tavoitteena. Ensin mietimme aloituspaikaksi Perniön keskustaa, mutta matka sieltä saakka tuttuun nousupaikkaan tuntui liian pitkälle, kun oli joulupuuhiakin vielä päivälle tiedossa, joten suuntasimmekin Kiskonjoen haaraan eli kokka kohti Latokartanon koskea. Veden ollessa nyt korkealla sateiden jälkeen Hästöntien silta, heti kosken jälkeen, oli oivallinen laskupaikka.
Virta olikin kova. Lauta lähti vauhdikkaasti liikkeelle ja virta pyrki kääntämään laudan etenemään peräevä edellä. Joten meloa piti rivakasti pitääkseen laudan suunnan oikeana. Stoppi tuli kuitenkin pian. Heti miten lähdön jälkeen oli pato. Puunrunkoja ja oksia oli kertynyt uoman leveydeltä joen poikki, ja siihen jäin kiinni peräevästä. Alkoi kova kamppailu, virta painoi eteenpäin, mutta irti piti päästä ensin. Vedin ja riuhdoin puita ja oksia irti minkä käteeni sain,ja pyrin siirtämään lautaa niin, että evä osuisi kohtaan, jossa olisi enemmän vettä runkojen päällä. Se oli haastavaa, koska virta painoi eteenpäin ja evää tiukasti kiinni runkoon. Melaa apuna käyttäen ja käsillä oksista vetäen lopulta onnistuin siirtymään sivusuunnassa, ja pääsin yli ja eteenpäin. Parempi niin, uintiretki tässä kelissä ja virrassa ei olisi ollut ykkösvaihtoehto.
Matka eteni taas vauhdikkaasti. Seuraavaksi saikin väistellä puunrunkoja ja -oksia, jotka kaartuivat joen päälle. Paksusta rungosta, jos olisi otsaansa tällin saanut niin ei olisi naurattanut. Melo/ohjaa, väistä, kumarru, polvilleen…aika vauhdikasta menoa. Taas aivan uudenlainen SUP-kokemus.
Jonkin ajan kuluttua tämä haara yhtyi Perniön keskustasta tulevaan haaraan ja sen jälkeen tulikin rauhallisempaa menoa. Virta laantui ja joki leveni. Vettä oli nyt sateiden jälkeen reippaasti, jopa jossain määrin pelloille saakka. Aurinko paistoi ihanasti ja nyt, kun meno oli rauhallisempaa pystyi kaivamaan kamerankin esiin ja ottamaan kuvia. Valo tuli kauniisti matalalta ja loi kauniita valo/varjonäkymiä suppaajan eteen, niitä oli kiva kuvata.
Vaatetus oli tähänkin säähän osuva, kun oli lisänä lokakuuhun verrattuna juuri hankitut 3mm neopreenikäsineet. Ne olivat ihan välttämättömät, ilman niitä sormet olisivat tasan jäätyneet patotaistelussa kastumisessa ja sen jälkeen. Myssy ehkä olisi voinut olla pikkuisen lämpimämpi.
Oli ihana taas olla laudalla, olihan viime kerrasta melkein kaksi kuukautta. SUP-vuoteni on ollut oikein onnistunut, kohta vuosi vaihtuu, toivottavasti seuraava on ainakin yhtä hyvä.
