The French Riviera:
Nice and Monaco

This is from the
old fortress in
Nice harbor -
we stopped
here before
having dinner in
the area.

A view of Monaco, the
palace and the main
harbor

Monaco, or Monte Carlo is the get away
for the super wealthy. Its a very small
country between France and Italy on the
Med. Its famous for its car racing, its
casinos, Princess Grace, and its tax-free
environment. We had dinner near the
palace, and it was a great meal.

I don't know why I ever got the impression
that the French Riviera was flat - its not -
these are the Mediterranean foothills of
the Alps and the area is beautiful. Steep
roads, but very neat.

The Taxi's in Monte Carlo are Mercedes -
new ones, too. The wealth in the area is
obscene and obvious. I found it almost too
opulent. My reaction to Monte Carlo was
very similar to my reaction to St. Peter's in
Rome - almost aghast at the wealth.

The back of a casino in
Monte Carlo

All in all, I loved Nice. I loved France.
The beaches here are smoothed
stones and as you walk towards them,
you can hear the surf pounding the
small rocks against each other. It
sounds like thunderous applause in a
concert hall.

Next - on to Italy - and Venice!!

Back to suzi's home page

Back to the trip itinerary.

Well, its been two years since this trip and
I'm just now getting to these pages - so my
memory is a bit fuzzy. But I'll do my best.

Ah, Nice - you can tell from the photos that
the weather was not perfect, but it certainly
made the water color spectacular in
contrast with the sky.

We stayed in a really nice hotel about 5
blocks up from the El Meridian hotel that is
on the Mediterranean. The beaches here
are pebble beaches - rocky instead of
sand, which was a new thing for me. The
water was refreshing - (that means COLD
for a Gulf kid like me) but I did venture in up
to my knees to say that "I did it! I went into
the Mediterranean ocean!"

As you can see from the pictures the weather wasn't
perfect. As a matter of fact there were several heavy
down pours while I was out and about. One while I was
with Mom and Dad looking for a lunch place. Our tour
guide, Alex said the best pizza in Europe is not in Italy -
its in Nice. So while we were trying to avoid being
drowned by the cloud burst, we took shelter at a pizza
place - (see picture of mom and dad). And boy, was Alex
right!!! Best pizza ever!

We stopped on our way to
dinner in Monaco / Monte
Carlo at a french perfumery.
That was kind of neat. But
OSHA would have shut the
place down - they were
making perfumed soaps and
I kept thinking - "that guy
could easily loose a finger in
that knife machine!!!"

An elevated view
of Nice - looking
west at the
harbor, and south
at the private
neighborhoods