I don’t have the patience to read travel guides and figure out what to see and where to go. Padma and I just drive and discover along the way. There are countless cute and picturesque seaside villages along the Riviera. How do you choose where to stay? I let booking.com do it for me. I just brought up the map and searched for hotels that matched our criteria. I found one in Menton, France … which is really more Italian than French.

As I studied our approach to Menton, I saw a big green area on the map. Bingo! A botanic garden. I’ll never pass by a botanic garden. Padma and I spent a couple hours walking through the 18-hectare Hanbury Botanic Garden. The garden was developed by Sir Thomas Hanbury starting in 1867. It was almost totally destroyed in World War II but has been re-developed to become one of Italy’s most beautiful gardens. The gardens are now maintained by the University of Genoa. I have to admit that it appeared the gardeners had gone on strike or there was a shortage of pruning shears as I thought the whole garden was in a bit of a state of disarray.

Menton proved to be a quite pleasant surprise. We took a stroll in the harbour as the sun was setting behind the Maritime Alps and could see why the city was a magnet for visitors.