Today s Monday, September 11, 2023. We docked in The Bay at Villefranche-sur-Mer in France. Although we are in France, we are not far from the French-Italian border. More specifically, today’s tour focused on Monaco, Exe, and Nice. Monaco is the second smallest country in Europe, only because the Vatican is smaller. Exe and Nice are both in France.
We tendered to port today because our ship was too big to dock in port itself. From there, we began our excursion by tour bus. The tour all day was part driving to get from one place to the next and part walking, mostly on our own.
The drive from Ville France sur Mer to Monaco was beautiful. Cities and small communities are clustered along jagged, rocky, and steep mountainsides, with the sea that meets the shore. There are walled fortifications and fortresses that were built to protect the communities from enemy invaders. The mountains are great natural protection, too, because they were difficult to penetrate. This, we’re learning, appears to be typical of most of the old villages we’ve visited on this cruise. These mountains, though, are not conducive to growing much of anything, nor could much wildlife navigate them or pose a serious threats to the communities. Just to make sure, there are steps that one must climb along steep winding paths on the sides of the mountains. Horses, for example, are afraid of steps, and they will not climb them with any invaders who might have ridden them. These mountains are actually foothills of the Alpes Maritimes, which stretch among Italy, Austria,France, Slovenia, and Switzerland. Mount Blanc is the tallest peak.the rocky nature of these mountains results in the characteristically Stoney/gravelly beaches. These mountains and the sea make this region particularly s7nny, warm, and dry most of the year, and beautifull such that it is called The Côte d’Azur, or the French Riviera.
We visited Monaco. This is an area where the annual Grand Prix car races take place. It is the area where the Grimaldis /as in Grace Kelly, for example), of Italy, found a home and continue to rule through her son, Albert. The principality turned this region, which no one wanted to live in, into an exclusive, royal, wealthy independent principality that does not belong to the European Union (even though the monetary unit is the Euro largely for making it easy for money—lots of it—to flow through this region easily. This country thrives on money. This country not only uses Euros as its official currency, but it also makes/produces Euros, rare for any country in the European Union). Property is extremely expensive here mostly because of the country’s topographic (at the top of a Rocky Mountain). According to our tour guide, having a Ferrari, Mazzerati, or some other high-end car, for example, would be considered normal because anyone in Monaco might have one or more of these. However, if one had a Mazzerati that looks like a Star Wars starship, or, as has indeed occurred, a Batmobile, one would more likely draw attention to one’s wealth. The goal in Monaco is to call attention to oneself. We saw the royal palace, which is used as I write this note; the Church where deceased members of the principality were buried, and where they were married, including Princess Grace Kelly; Albert Grimaldi’s Oceanographic Museum where he features his passion for jelly fish, among other things; Jacques Cousteau’s actual submarine used in his oceanic explorations; beautiful gardens and walk areas; higher-end-looking restaurants and cafes; expensive shops; men in suits in the middle of the day; and an opulent casino! (The Casino is actually on one part of Monaco, called Monte Carlo). There is a dress code to enter the casino itself afternoons and evenings, but once inside, one sees various clocks displayed, all of them designed by Rollex, and windows to offer the visitors/guests, including women for the first time ever in the history of casinos in Europe, the best possible views of the stunning scenery nearby. In order to entice money and people with mon3y, Monaco has no income tax for people who spend/win at the Casino). For those who enjoy all-things-royal and wealthy and tastefully opulent, for those who love to see huge yachts all around, for all who relish mountains and sea in the same photo, and for all who love sunshine, greenery, dry weather, and warmth (sometimes even heat and humidity, but not too bad), Monaco might fulfill all of these things at once!
A little more about the annual famous Monaco Grand Prix: Cars must actually slow down instead of speed up in Monaco, so the race takes longer here than in other parts of the race. They must slow down to successfully navigate the narrow winding streets of Monaco where a mistake could have critical consequences. Drivers must always be aware of a rocky mountainside on one side of the road and expensive yachts on the sea or just the sea itself on the other.
The drive to Eze was spectacular because of the height at which we traveled so high up the mountainside, the blue sea way down below, and the small-looking-but-regal houses every now and then. This area of France is known as The Golden Triangle because it still has former residences of the kings of Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands, I believe I’ve got the last one correctly). Even Sir Elton John has a residence perched way up atop a tall mountain. People say he comes here often and has been sighted just recently. The higher one builds atop these mountains, the more expensive things are. It is extremely difficult to do anything, especially build, atop a rocky high area that has no inherent way of getting there. We had a beautiful multi-course French meal at a charming restaurant in Eze, and, as if we hadn’t driven high enough, some of us climbed the same steps meant to keep horses away from the village to the church at the very top. All along the way, there are very small restaurants and artisan shops that look like grottos, literally, because space there is so very limited. The area was once a regal palace that now is a fancy hotel called the Chevre d’Or. as we continued our ascent to the very top, we saw several references to Le Nid d’Aigle (the Eagle’s Nest). One could easily understand the accuracy of that phrase. The quaint and tasteful shops sell locally-created art work and soaps, oils, and perfumes. The views are, of course, spectacular!
We traveled by motor coach to Nice, France. Nice is the fifth largest city in France, and it, too, is of Italian influence because it was ruled by the Savoy family until recently (the 1860s). Larger cruise ships (400+ passengers) must dock in Cannes because they do not fit in this part of the Bay. Nice also is influenced by the Greeks because it was started by the Greeks. In fact Nice is an evolved version of NIKE, it’s original name, which means victory. There is an old historic village, which we visited, and a new Nice. In the old village is a dominant fountain with a statue of Apollo as the sun and center of the solar system and five planets around him. He typically stands with his back to a wall of some sort, but here one admires his whole body in the round. Recall that he was the son of Zeus, smart, wise, handsome, and so on. The city enjoys a relatively long coastline for this region, and lots of people flock to the beaches there, for which the Côte d’Azur is noted. These beaches are stony, gravelly, and not yet sandy, but people don’t seem to mind. Along the boardwalk, there are monuments to the Iron Man competition held here and even a small Statue of Liberty to publicly honor the Americans for their fraternity with France, particularly during the War. The Brits are also honored here.
Tomorrow, we dock in Toulon, France.
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