Yay to being back in France! Our Easyjet flight was delayed out of Barcelona due to NATO training exercises so we landed a lot later than planned! Unfortunately this meant we missed the tram which only runs every 40 minutes at that time of night - so we had a little wait on the platform.

Our Airbnb was so luxurious in comparison to Barcelona. We’ve decided no matter what, in future we will only do whole apartments or hotel rooms - no more shared apartments for us!

After a much needed sleep-in, we set out to explore the wonders of the French Riviera. First stop was for a very French breakfast at a lovely little cafe. Our favourite part was all the amazing breads and spreads they served - we both in particular are now fans of toffee spread!

Meandering through the laneways of Nice, we made our way down to the Promenade des Anglais. We had our first daylight views of the ocean and even with the stoney beach, it was remarkably cleaner and nicer looking than the beach in Barcelona. We had a lovely stroll along the waterfront before making our way up to the viewpoint on top of the hill.

There were a lot of stairs! But it was worth it for the view! On one side we had a beautiful outlook over Nice, towards the airport and Cannes in the distance. On the other side, we had a lovely view of Port Lympia, Nice’s main shipping port and docking point for the cruise ships. There were a few superyachts at the dock including one gigantic obscene one.

We then got the fright of our lives at 12 o’clock when a gigantic BOOM went off right next to us! Apparently it’s a tradition to set off a cannon at midday. From the information plaque, the guy who started it used to set off a cannon at midday to remind his wife it was time to head home. Both of us ducked in fright and were extremely wired for at least an hour afterwards.

On the way down the hill we walked past one of the few water features in Europe that was actually operating (was so shocked I realised I didn’t take a photo!) and passed by the Cimetiere du Chateau, a beautiful cemetery with ornate headstones and a fabulous outlook.

We then found ourselves in the old town of Nice. The tiny alleyways and colourful buildings were so picturesque.

After a lovely wander, we headed back to the Airbnb as it was forecast for thunderstorms. We both needed a rest as well as we now both have colds (thanks Sam for sharing!). We wandered out later after the storm had passed for Vietnamese before retiring for the evening.

Monaco

The amazing thing about Nice is that you can very easily visit neighbouring Monaco via a 20 minute train ride! We had a bit of a sleep in and did some washing before heading to the train station in Nice. Cue absolute confusion trying to get tickets! The machines were just very old and not user friendly. They then only spat out one ticket for two of us so when we had to get through the barrier gates, Sam had to push through the gate with me quickly before it slammed shut. We then had fun trying to figure out which platform to get the train from but got there in the end.

There were some picturesque glimpses of the seaside on the train but the majority of it was through tunnels. The Monaco train station is also underground so when we arrived, we had to take an elevator up to exit the station. Our first experience of Monaco was the Poliazia Monegasca (Monaco Police) at the station in their very smart formal uniforms. Exiting the station, we came out on to an unremarkable avenue. This was then the moment we realised our Europe SIM cards weren’t working - Monaco is technically not a member of the EU which surprised both of us! So back to old fashioned navigation (and mild confusion) we went.

We followed some signs and ended up in a park near the Monte Carlo Casino where we stopped to have our first lunch and a cool down in the shade. We had bought food with us from Nice after some research as everything we had read had told us Monaco was expensive (and it was!).

The Monte Carlo Casino, famous for appearing in numerous movies (most notable James Bond: Casino Royale) wasn’t that interesting to look at. There was another fountain out the front that I added to my scrapbook of “fountains that don’t work in Europe” and a lot of fancy cars - most notably this Lamborghini parked out the front. We couldn’t go in as there was a dress code which I had known about but I wasn’t about to make Sam wear pants in 30+ degree heat.

Around the side of the museum we made our way down the Avenue de Monte Carlo (part of the F1 circuit) where we had our first good view of the city, the Port and the palace.

I didn’t think much of the waterfront of Monaco - a lot of the space is taken up by the F1 circuit (which they were still dismantling from the race back in May). Crazy to think the Pit Garages have a prime spot on the waterfront - it seems like such a waste!

Walking past the famous swimming pool, we made our way up the hill to the Palace to see another perspective of Monaco. At the top, we stopped for our second lunch (and Sam purchased some expensive cold drinks to cool us down!). I decided for both of us we weren’t going to go into the palace. Due to Monaco’s history, the palace was built primarily as a fortress and so is notably less luxurious and interesting compared to other palaces in Europe.

Around the palace was the old town, which we wandered through and towards the Oceanographic Museum. We had a beautiful outlook from here over the Mediterranean. After some more wandering, we slowly meandered our way back towards the station and back to Nice.

Monaco was very pretty to visit but it kind of reminded us both of Singapore - very rich and a bit bland as a result. A lot of good looking people though! And expensive! We had a look at a few menus as we walked past and were both thankful we had bought food with us from Nice.

Our last day in Nice was fairly uneventful. We checked out of our accommodation and dropped our bags off in storage before heading out for breakfast. Our flight to Venice wasn’t until 5.30 so we just meandered around, killed some time in a park and enjoyed the sunshine. Nice was so lovely and relaxing - I can see why it’s a popular holiday destination! I wish I had gotten out for a swim but we unfortunately didn’t get the chance! I will be back to France again in the future! I loved it much more than I expected!

Next stop Italy! The pizza better be amazing!