Saturday - The Riviera

We got to sleep in an extra hour today, which was greatly appreciated. We’ve been so spoiled by having our private tours that today’s tour (purchased on board) was a bit of a disappointment. We took a bus over to Nice and had about 45 minutes to stroll around the old town. Our guide was quite knowledgeable, but we mostly gathered info from her while on the bus and were on our own while off the bus. The market was delightful though. Fresh foods, fresh seafood and fresh flowers all existed in abundance, along with the obligatory souvenir shops. We also ran across a wedding celebration, which was interesting to see.
Next was a stop in the medieval town of Eze (pronounced “ehz”). Again we were here only a short time, so we took a few photos of the remains of the castle at the top of the village and spent the rest of the time relaxing in a small café where a Coke and beer cost 3 euro and wine was only 1 euro!

Then it was back to the ship for lunch before walking into Monaco. I hadn’t realized how small it is: only 473 acres. It’s the second-smallest principality in the world, next to Vatican City. Having read beforehand we wouldn’t be allowed in the casino with sneakers, blue jeans or shorts, we decided to skip it. Instead we wandered along the waterfront and watched the Vespa rally that was ongoing and then climbed the hill to the Palais Princier (the Palace of the Principality). It’s gorgeous up on top of the city like that; very beautiful gardens and everything is so clean. We also walked by the cathedral where Prince Ranier and Princess Grace were married as well as the Oceanographic Institue – whose building was almost as impressive as the palace! Then it was back down the hill to the port area where we sat at a café and enjoyed a drink (or an ice cream!) and watched the folks along the dock.

I can’t believe our final stop is tomorrow! Florence, here we come.