Côte d'Azur Day 1: Vallauris and Cannes

After eight months without leaving the UK, we finally went abroad again, spending four days in the south of France and Monaco. 

This is a trip that we were considering doing in April, after our holiday to Australia was cancelled, but we felt that we couldn't face planning another trip so soon after having to cancel one. In the end, we decided to go for Claudio's birthday in June, when the weather would be better.

This was a dream bucket list trip for Claudio, as he really wanted to visit Monaco to see the supercars! As for me, I had actually been to the area several times before, because my granddad lived in Cannes, but the last time I went was over 10 years ago, so I was keen to go back, revisit places I'd been to previously and explore new ones.

We chose to stay at Blanc Sable Hôtel, a hotel with very beachy décor, located in Vallauris, between Cannes and Antibes. We arrived from the airport quite late at night, so went straight to our room to go to bed. The room had a great view of the pool, overlooked by what appears to be a former church, and the bathroom came equipped with a full set of Fragonard toiletries.

We started off our first morning with a delicious breakfast by the pool (highlights being the coffee, pains au chocolat and fruit salad), followed by a swim and a bit of sunbathing. We definitely felt very much on holiday after that!

We then went for a walk by the beach near the hotel and ended up coming across a classic car exhibition. Claudio was super happy!

In the town, we came across this really cute bakery called Maison des Merveilles. It had some incredible looking trompe l'œil cakes!

We then took the train over to the glamorous city of Cannes in order to take in its sights, starting with Notre-Dame de Bon Voyage de Cannes church.

Next we headed over to the best-known place in the city, Palais des Festivals, where the famous film festival is held. The red carpet was out (though it was actually green!). There's a photo somewhere of me standing on the same carpet (red, on that occasion!) from around 15 years ago, but this time there was a big queue, so we just took a selfie from a distance!

We went for a wander round the area, taking in the views of the port, the hilltop neighbourhood of Le Suquet, the Hôtel de Ville, and the bus station (which is surprisingly pretty!).

We then went to get an ice cream from Nivà Gelato Italiano, which actually turned out to be some of the best gelato we've ever had.

However, since arriving in Cannes, I'd been struggling with some sort of allergy in my eyes; they were really stinging and I could hardly keep them open. Luckily, although it was Sunday, there was a pharmacy open near the gelateria, where we were able to buy some very expensive but effective eye drops. Once they'd started working, I was able to start enjoying the day a lot more.

Our next stop was Le Suquet, part of the city I'd never visited before. This is definitely the most historic area of Cannes, with an old church and the ruins of a castle. It reminded me a bit of the Citadella in Gozo.

After exploring Le Suquet, we went for a walk along the city's beaches.

We took a look at the Carlton Hotel, which is the most glamorous and iconic hotel in the city. Of course, there were plenty of supercars around, which Claudio was very happy about!

After enjoying a poke bowl and some iced tea, we took the train back to Golfe-Juan-Vallauris, went back to the hotel to get changed, and headed out to the local beach, where we spent a very happy hour or so swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.

It had been a great start to our trip, but Claudio's birthday was the following day, and some even more exciting adventures were coming our way!

February 2026 Travel Adventures: Virginia Water Lake and Royal Holloway University

February has been a month in which we've had the opportunity to explore some more of the area near where we live. Living in Reading, our quickest way to get to London is the fast train to Paddington, but there's also a slower train that goes to Waterloo, stopping in Richmond and Clapham, as well as various places in Berkshire and Surrey. We've found that this route has some interesting areas to explore; for example, the Lexicon in Bracknell is now my favourite place for shopping trips, and Wokingham is an attractive town we've enjoyed visiting. 

In February, we've explored a few new places on the route: Sunningdale, Virginia Water and Egham, and found some beautiful nature, stunning architecture, and (to Claudio's delight), plenty of nice cars!

Virginia Water Lake

This is a place I remember reading about some years ago (maybe during the pandemic) and which I'd kept in mind to visit for when I'd live closer to London. Recently I realised that now was the moment to finally go!

Google Maps recommended that I take the train to Sunningdale and then take a bus to the lake from the stop outside the Rolls-Royce dealership. Unfortunately, although the bus appeared at the time it was supposed to, it did not stop for some reason. Given that the next bus was three hours later (and was supposedly leaving from the same stop), waiting wasn't an option. So I walked further into the town to get a coffee and think about what to do next.

Despite the inconvenience, it was nice to see more of the picturesque town. I also noticed that there was a dealership selling Koenigseggs, which of course I told Claudio about later!

Eventually, I decided that, after coming this far, I wanted to get to the destination I'd planned to visit. So I took an Uber over to the lake. It was a short but interesting journey, going past various mansions.

Finally, I arrived at Virginia Water Lake! Even though it was raining a little bit, the lake looked absolutely beautiful. It's so big that it almost makes you feel like you're next to the sea rather than at a lake.

However, there is much more to Virginia Water Lake than just the lake itself. There are actually a few interesting surprises you can find when walking around the area. The first one I discovered was the cascade, which is tucked away in a little wooded area. Though it's artificial, it's still amazing to spend a while in front of it, watching and listening to the rushing water.

The next surprise is a complete set of Roman ruins, like a smaller version of the Forum in Rome. It's quite unexpected to find it there next to a lake near London! I assumed that the forum had been built there during the Roman era, but I looked it up later and discovered that the ruins had been brought over from the site of Leptis Magna, which is in Libya.

I then walked back the way I'd came and continued walking until I reached a treasure from the other side of the world: a totem pole made by an indigenous community in Canada. I was lucky to have the opportunity to see it, as the information signs nearby said it was due to be pulled down.

I went back home after my walk by taking the train from the Virginia Water Station, which is about a 25-minute walk away from the lake. It's a nice walk past lots of fancy houses, and I'd definitely recommend just going to and from that station if you're going to the lake by public transport rather than attempting to take the bus from Sunningdale!

I actually went back to the lake a few days later with Claudio, as it was a sunny Saturday and I wanted to show him all the interesting sights I'd enjoyed seeing. Although the café area at the entrance was busy, the lake itself was pretty peaceful. There were various families and couples there enjoying the nice weather, but it wasn't at all crowded. We had a great time walking around the lake with a hot chocolate from the café, seeing the sights and admiring the dogs and swans.

We absolutely plan to come back in the future, and would like to do a circuit of the entire lake once we have a car (and therefore don't have to do the long walk to and from the train station).

Egham, Royal Holloway University and Sunningdale

I went to Egham on my own once in February, in order to visit the Runnymede National Trust site, a trip I wrote about in my previous post. I mentioned in that post that I'd been really impressed with the Royal Holloway University's main building, which I'd passed on the bus on my way to Runnymede.

So I came back to Egham with Claudio that weekend in order to visit it properly!

We decided to walk up to the university from Egham, in order to see a bit more of the town, which we liked a lot. We walked past Strode's College, which is a very grand-looking sixth form college.

En route, we stopped at the Ferrari dealership, which of course Claudio loved! We had a good look round at the beautiful cars and had a comfort break in an incredibly posh bathroom!

After walking up a steep hill and through the university campus, we finally arrived at the Founder's Building, which is the building I'd seen from the bus previously. It's absolutely incredible to see - so huge and elaborate. It was actually inspired by the Château de Chambord in France and looks like something out of a fairytale. 

It even has its own little chapel, an elaborately decorated space that is perfect for a moment of reflection.

We noticed that the university's library had a rooftop terrace and decided to go inside in the hopes of getting up to the terrace. Shortly after entering the building, we had the luck to meet a lovely little orange cat. He was so friendly and cute, and I felt very honoured that he decided to sit on my coat! I later found an Instagram page about the cats of Royal Holloway and found out that his name is Cheese!

We then went up to the roof terrace and were surprised to find that we had pretty clear views from there right across to London! We could see planes taking off from Heathrow, Wembley Stadium, the City, the Shard and even Canary Wharf in the distance.

The terrace also offered great views of the Founder's Building below.

After saying goodbye to a sleepy Cheese, we made our way back to Egham for a coffee.

We stopped off at Sunningdale on the way back, because I'd told Claudio about the fancy car dealerships that I'd seen there previously. So my misfortune with the bus actually came in somewhat useful in the end! The dealership where the Koenigseggs had been on my previous visit had actually moved to a much bigger location with many more supercars on display, so Claudio was very happy!

To sum up, these two destinations (Virginia Water Lake and Royal Holloway University) are actually two of my favourite places that I've visited in recent months. I love seeing places of natural beauty as well as stunning architecture, so both of these places really appealed to me.

I'll be writing again soon about some of the interesting places we've explored in March! See you back here then!