We woke early to get the 5:50am E77 bus from outside our apartment in Gros to San Sebastian airport. It was an interesting ride with some revelers returning from the city from the night before. We think they were a drunk couple who were going though a lover's tiff, which was interesting to watch. Soon we were in the airport all checked in for our flight to Nice (transiting through Barcelona).
Our first impression of France was quite interesting, there were army officers strolling around the airport with machine guns; this is something we have seen in the middle east, not something we expected in France! Our hotel was in a great location, 15 min walk to the port, 5 min walk to the old town, and the tram and bus stops were at our doorstep (well almost). Lunch was almost a disaster, Mick ordered a "steak" hamburger and was expecting a steak sandwich of sorts, when the waiter asked how he wanted the beef, Mick said "medium". To Mick's horror, he got a hamburger with a "medium cooked" mince pattie. Luckily it was more of medium-well cooked piece of mince, definitely not as bloody as the mini hamburger from San Sebastian, this experience has definitely put Mick "on guard" whenever ordering meat at a French restaurant (which is every meal).
We wandered the streets to familiarise ourselves with the city before going to a very delicious restaurant. We got complimentary "kir" which is a very sweet alcoholic mix of white wine and BlackBerry liqueur and some soggy toast with cold sauteed onions on it (tastes better than it sounds). We started with massive salads, which were followed by ravioli (with beef stew sauce) and lasagna. The ravioli is a Nice specialty, the lasagna is simply a take off from the Italians!
Our first full day in Nice was a day trip to St Tropez, which involved a 2.5 hr ferry ride along the French Riviera. Unfortunately we were a fair way away from the coast line to really see it, but at least we can say we "sailed along the French Riviera". Once at St Tropez we aimed for the public buses to take us to their infamous beaches. Unfortunately because it was a Sunday the buses run very infrequently and we just missed the 12 noon bus. The next bus was at 1.30 pm and the bus to return us to the port for our trip home left the beach at 3 pm. We thought going to the beach was getting way too hard so we decided that we would stay in the (exorbitant) main town and pay through the nose for lunch and drinks. We did come across the Citadel at St Tropez which had free entry, so we went in and were glad that did not have to pay 3€ entry because at 3€ it would have been a rip off. Damo did get some great photos of the town though. It was a rather disappointing day, mainly because we had such high expectations of how beautiful St Tropez would be, and it really did not live up to the expectation.
Our plan for the final day in Nice was to go to the modern art museum and then go off to Monte Carlo in the afternoon/evening. We were very unimpressed to see that the museum was closed on a Monday (a rookie traveller mistake we won't be repeating in Paris). So we spent the morning undertaking some well needed retail therapy before heading off to Monte Carlo.
The ride out to Monte Carlo was spectacular and we decided if we ever return to the south of France, we would stay in one of these small villages between Nice and Monaco (depending on budgets!).
Once in Monaco we did a tour of the royal palace, and were thrilled that this palace actually had furniture in it (unlike the one in Seville). We saw the royal throne which is in need of major repair, it was thread bare for goodness sakes! We then walked up the massive hill to the Grand Casino and saw some "boats" and high end cars, and became rather envious of the super rich. We didn't go into the casino as Mick had been there before, it cost 10€ each for entry, and at end the day it's just a casino. Mick was also not too keen as he remembers how the croupiers expect a tip whenever you win a hand (regardless of whether you just lost the prior 10).
Dinner that night was back in the old town of Nice, at a small but very busy provençale restaurant that had a truck load of customers; we assumed the food would be good, and it was. Mick had his first French onion soup of the trip, which was pretty good, but not as good as the one he recently had at Carly and Chris' home. Our Nice experience was redeemed that day by the magnificent coast line and Monte Carlo, and our final dinner.
Next stop Lyon!
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