La Cote dâ Azur, The French Riviera, or just the plain South of FranceâŠ.. no matter what you call it, the world has been flocking here since the late 18th century. Someone found that the climate was nice, the waters perfect, and the scenery very pleasing. This was nothing new to the fishermen and their families that had lived here for generations before the great âdiscoveryâ!
It is not long after something is discovered that entrepreneurs follow suit and blend their unique styles and aspirations into the new local flavors. These new tourists were mainly the British (Iâm getting tired of this!) aristocracy including Queen Victoria and her contemporaries, Tsar Alexander II, and Edward, Prince of Wales, to name a few.
And if you canât get enough of Downton Abbey like us, you will recognize the area as the setting for the last Downton movie, (new Era) in which the Dowager Countess, Violet Crawley, inherits that Villa in Southern France.
Here are a few more names of places that may be familiar to you, Cannes (of the film festival) Saint-Tropez, (arts and films after WWII, plus the new âjet-setâ folks arrived) and Monte Carlo (the Casino section of the Principality of Monaco). Harold and I decided not to wear our tuxedos when we planned the visit to Monte Carlo.
Donât laugh!
You canât get near the place unless you are âdressedâ appropriately! And how about that âminimumâ for playing at a table?
And I am quite positive that the bartenders are sick of hearing âShaken, not stirredâ from all the âBond⊠James Bondâ wanna-beâs when they order martinis!
We elected not to go to the Casino. There were so many other places to go to! We started our day with Fouad, our Tours by Locals guide. He lives in Nice, just a stoneâs throw from the port of Villefranche where we were berthed. Originally, we had no desire to see Nice, mainly because we didnât really know anything about it. Fouad convinced us of its qualities, so away we went!
The next photos are here courtesy of fresh vibrant colors, coupled with the natural light that only comes in the early morning or late afternoon. It was a photographer’s delight, and I could not pass it up! So here you are… The Colors of the Market.
Nice……. what a delightful surprise and we were happy that it was included in our tour.
We then worked our way back up the coast with the Principality of Monaco as our destination. Monaco is that teeny-tiny, very rich, quite uppity, country surrounded by France on three sides and the Mediterranean on the fourth. That location on the Med brings in a lot of really nice yachts!
The most obvious one is the Atlantis II, a 1981 380â beauty built by a Greek shipping tycoon to try and outdo his rival, Aristotle Onassis who owned the Christina O. The Atlantis II is worth 100 million US.
Unfortunately, I had left my wallet in the car.
We toured The Rock, the location of the Old City, the Cathedral, the Palace, and the Musee Oceanographique de Monaco. The latter of which,my old friend Jacques Cousteau, was the director of for 35 years.
Check off another âBucket Listâ visit for me!
I hope that you are not getting sick of seeing visages of âOld Citiesâ and their accompanying alleys, etc. because there is still more to come! We had lunch here, at an outdoor sidewalk cafĂ© of course!
The Cathedral was the site of Grace Kellyâs wedding to Prince Albert and is also the site of both their resting places. Prince Albert II is the current reigning monarch of this micro-state and is the head of the House of Grimaldi which has ruled Monaco since 1297. Not a bad gig for a guy that doesnât work!
After we left Monaco, we traveled up, and up, and up, to the little town of Eze. Yes, my friends, this is another of those placesâŠ. Iâm so sorry but someone has to show these things to you!
By now you know what to expect with regards to the next few photos, so here they are, no captions necessary……
So, here we are at yet another medieval hill-top enclave that sits there just begging to be explored! At 1400â above that ‘azure’ coastline, it was a fitting ending to a wonderful day spent rubbing elbows with the fine sights of (you pick the name!) the South of France, the French Riviera, and of course, the Cote dâ Azure!
7 replies on “Monaco, et al.”
I am glad that you chose these wonderful sights over the casino. They are all wonderful!
We thought so also đ
Funny that you mentioned the lack of people in your alley photos, because I had actually noticed that, and was wondering how you pulled it off?!
I am VERY patient đ
Can’t wait to see this! I am a huge fan of Princess Grace (Kelly). Nice looks nice!! Thanks again for the pre-tour!
Thank you again for the beautiful colorful pictures of everything…love the wandering down the hidden alleyways and shops!!
They are the best part!