Heading East!

First off, I am asking myself, what's in a name?  Well, apparently a lot if you're not paying attention to names of towns in France!  Anyone who has travelled here likely knows that many towns and villages have the same name but have a "sur" or other word after the name to distinguish where they are.  For example, there is Villefranche sur Mer, Villefranche sur Saone, and Villefranche de Rouergue.  Usually, however, these town/villages aren't close together and are usually in quite different parts of the country.  Well, not Tourrettes.  When I was planning this trip, I wanted to spend a few days in the hills above Nice visiting some of the pretty villages there.  So, I was looking for a hotel in Tourrettes in Provence; however, it escaped me that there might be two towns named Tourrettes in the same region.  A couple of days ago when we plugged the address of our hotel in the GPS, I was quite surprised that we would not be staying where I had thought.  There is Tourrettes AND Tourrettes sur Loup.  They are only about a 1 hour drive apart and, although admittedly in different departments, they are in the same region!  We'd booked a hotel in Tourrettes for two nights which further west than where we wanted to be but it worked out okay.  It was a good stopover on the way to Tourrettes sur Loup so we only stayed there one night and booked another hotel in Tourrettes sur Loup.  I vow I won't make that mistake again!  

On the way to the first Tourrettes, we stumbled upon a village I'd been told was pretty to see.  So, we took the road up to it and weren't disappointed.  Tourtour is lovely and one of the designated "plus beaux villages".

From there, we continued on some challenging mountain roads seeing some spectacular scenery particularly around a place called Chateaudouble where there is an impressive gorge, albeit straight down from the narrow road!

We were disappointed in the hotel in Tourrettes although the meal was excellent.  The following morning, we continued heading east toward Tourrettes sur Loup.  We stopped at Gourdon, another one of those "beautiful villages" - for good reason with its spectacular views and pretty buildings.

We stopped in Saint Paul de Vence which has always been a favourite of mine since I first visited it about 9 years ago.  It is where the famous painter Marc Chagall is buried.

The next hotel in Tourrettes sur Loup had spectacular views and two crazy little dogs.  The views from our balconies were lovely, even in the haze.  However, the dinner was very disappointing - not sure the dogs would have eaten it!

Wednesday will be our final day travelling together.  So, our plan is to head to Antibes before dropping the car at Cote d'Azur airport.