We spent two weeks on the South Coast of France - the French Riviera - but stayed inland and enjoyed lots of driving around very scenic places such as this narrow windy mountain road with brilliant views.

On the same drive, near the highest point at 1670 metres altitude, the forest looked quite different, as in the picture above...

Also in the mountains we saw a lot of this very red rock, including riverbeds, cliffs etc, a very impressive sight!! This photo makes the rock look quite brown, in real life they were much redder than that.

Dotted all over the mountains were hilltop villages complete with church. Outside this one was a game or two of petanque!!

The higher we climbed, the more the houses looked like Swiss chalets, such as this one.

This photo and the next one are of the seafront at Nice. Despite the name and reputation we did NOT think it was NICE at all. Very run-down, we didn't bother getting out of the car for a closer look.

Also along the seafront at Nice, despite a dull cloudy day the sea was a lovely aqua blue.

We visited Monaco and the Jardin Exotique (Exotic Garden) where they grow a fairly spectacular array of cacti plants. It was a very rocky place lots of cliffs and then many building packed in between there and the sea.

Obligatory arty shot of some strange cacti going off flower...!

Thanks you other tourists for providing some perspective on just how giant-sized some of the cacti are!

Oui, c'est moi est vrai, Karen at Monaco standing in a very windy spot.

Rod in a similarly windy spot, only with short hair you'd never know!

Monaco, the country whose maxim must be How Many Houses Can We Cram In??

Another pretty spot in the Jardin Exotique.

What everyone goes to Monaco for (if they are not going to gamble at the Casino) the photos of big fancy yachts.