Friday 28th October - Monte Carlo (Monaco) & Nice

We were going to go to Nice today but having misunderstood the bus times we arrived at the stop having just missed the bus.  Rather than wait an hour for the next bus, we walked on to the station and caught a train to Monte Carlo instead.  Again, parts of the journey ran along the coastline so we enjoyed wonderful sea views along the way.  Another sunny day with the sea sparkling in the sunshine.

MONTE CARLO

         

Statue of William Grover in his Ducato, winner of the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929 and the infamous Fairmont hairpin bend

 

         

                                                                                        Views of Monte Carlo harbour

 

         

                  Theatre Princesse Grace                                                       Monte Carlo Opera House

 

         

                                                                    Casino

 

We were camping so close to Monte Carlo that it seemed a place we really should visit, but we didn’t stay very long.  The whole town seemed to be a hedonistic and vulgar display of wealth with no discernible atmosphere and we couldn’t wait to get away.  We only stayed until lunchtime and then caught an early train to Nice instead.

 

NICE

After Monte Carlo, Nice was a pleasant surprise.  True, it had all the smart designer shops etc. but it was a much larger town than we had expected and had a good range of other shops too.  There is a very long beach but much of it belongs to the various hotels and is therefore private.  However, there are blue chairs set out all along the promenade so there are plenty of spots to sit in the sun along the seafront, even if places to get the sand between your toes was limited.  The blue chairs have become an iconic symbol of Nice and a recently placed statue actually depicts one of the chairs.

 

Statue of the iconic blue chair on the promenade

 

         

                                      The view in both directions from our spot on the promenade

 

           

                                                           Just two of the many fountains of Nice, both in the Place Massena

 

         

                             Plenty of space to move about in Nice in October, making for a very pleasant visit

We’d probably hate Nice in the summer months when it’s packed with people, but today it was spacious and we spent a lovely, sunny, leisurely day, walking around and people watching before catching the coast bus back to camp.

 

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