Monaco, et al. – On the Road with Don and Paula

Rendering of the French Riviera, stretching from the Italian border down past Cannes.

La Cote d’ Azur, The French Riviera, or just the plain South of France….. no matter what you call it, the world has been flocking here since the late 18^th 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 “discovery”!

View of where our tender came in, the port of *Villefranche.*

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 (I’m 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 can’t 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 “jet-set” 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.

Don’t laugh!

You can’t get near the place unless you are “dressed” appropriately! And how about that “minimum” for playing at a table?

And I am quite positive that the bartenders are sick of hearing “Shaken, not stirred” from all the “Bond… James Bond” wanna-be’s when they order martinis!

The only view of The Casino in Monte Carlo that you will see. It’s the one with the green patinaed roof. For all you architecture students (and *Phantom of the Opera* fans) you will notice that this building bears a resemblence to the great Paris Opera House because it was designed by the same person, Charles Garnier!

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 stone’s throw from the port of Villefranche where we were berthed. Originally, we had no desire to see Nice, mainly because we didn’t really know anything about it. Fouad convinced us of its qualities, so away we went!

Nice view of *Nice*! (If you think that we didn’t wear that one out, you’d be sorely mistaken!)

*Nice* has a wonderful downtown area, good transportation, wide boulevards, great parks, and architecture that goes on and on….

We spent a fair amount of time in the Market. There is just something about these European Marketplaces…. maybe it’s because they’re all in a foreign language that gives them all that air of *Je ne sais quoi*….. Go ahead, look it up, it fits *perfectly* here!

A hotel (top floor) where Henri Matisse spent several years while working in Nice. This place was a mecca for famous artists! Picasso, Monet, Cezanne, Matisse, and Munch all called this city home at one time or another!

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.

Artists obviously displayed their works…. here is a rendition of the Market. I wonder if the artist knew that they captured that Matisse hotel in the distance? Yea… probably!

We sat a bit here for cappuccinos and hot chocolate and some beignets, assorted varieties of course! Harold, Sherry, Paula, Sandra, Darla, and our guide, Fouad. Yes, I know that he does not have a French name… that’s because his mom was French and his dad Lebanese. These multi-national guides are actually the best as you may imagine!

An absolutely gigantic Water Splash Pad for anyone to frolic in! This photo capture half of it!

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!

Looking down from the Garden on top of the Rock and Old City. These are apartments for some very rich people.

The most obvious one is the Atlantis II, a 1981 380’ 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.

The gorgeous Atlantis II. Beautiful classic and timeless lines. I guess you can tell that I like this one!

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.

Began in the late 1800’s by Prince Albert I, for the study of oceans, it has become one of the foremost institutions in the world. Partly because of Jacques many-year involvement!

Check off another ‘Bucket List’ visit for me!

I hope that you are not getting sick of seeing visages of “Old Cities” and their accompanying alleys, etc. because there is still more to come! We had lunch here, at an outdoor sidewalk café of course!

Lunch was a slower-paced affair as most European meals are. I used the time to wander the area and snap a few pics.

Maybe you’ve noticed that I try my best not to include tourists in these photos. Now if there were some cred townsfolk wandering with bagsful of baguettes or something… well, that would be different!

But …. every now and then, you need to see how popular these places are!

Couldn’t resist this one…. it was staring at me while we were sitting at the table waiting for lunch to be served.

The Cathedral was the site of Grace Kelly’s 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 doesn’t work!

This is the rather un-assuming Palace. I am sure that the interior is quite nice, and it is the full-time residence of the Prince and his family.

The Gardens were very nice, manicured as you may expect, and fittingly dedicated to Princess Grace.

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 places…. I’m 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 1400’ 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 d’ Azure!