Mediterranean Cruise 2004:
Day 2 - Monaco and French Riviera


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Mediterranean Cruise 2004: [Day 1 - Barcelona] [Day 2 - Monaco/Nice] [Day 3 - Pisa] [Day 4 - Rome] [Day 5 - Naples] [Day 6 - At Sea] [Day 7 - Mykonos] [Day 8 - Santorini] [Day 9 - Athens] [Day 10 - At Sea] [Day 11 - Dubrovnik] [Day 12 - Venice]

Sunday, June 27, 2004: Our ship anchored in the harbor of the small town of Villefranche, which is just part of the endless stretch of towns and cities along the French Riviera that all seem to blend into each other. Once ashore, we started our full day tour with a visit to Nice.

Here's the beach along the main stretch of Nice, facing in the direction of Cannes.
And here's the view looking toward Monaco. Villefranche is on the other side of the second peninsula in the distance.
After our visit to Nice, we took the Middle Corniche toward Eze, passing the Villefranche harbor. Our ship, the Celebrity Millennium, is the cruise ship in the back.
Eze is a quaint old village perched on a hilltop. Here's a glimpse of the Mediterranean and a garden next to the city walls. We had a walking tour, then a delicious lunch at one of the few restaurants. We also purchased some tasty sugar-coated peanuts cooked in a kettle.
As we continued along the Middle Corniche toward Monaco, we got this shot of Eze in the distance behind us.
Monaco! We get to add another country to the list of places we've been. If there's one thing Debbie loves, it's making lists and adding to them.
Our walking tour passed these trees with striking blue blossoms on them. Our guide told us they were jacaranda trees, made famous to us by one of our favorite singers, Trina Hamlin, who wrote a song about these trees. Until now, we had never seen one.
This is the cathedral where Princess Grace and Prince Rainier were married, and where many members of the Grimaldi family are entombed, including Princess Grace. We quietly toured the cathedral because a concert was taking place there.
This part of our tour ended in front of the palace, which offered this view of the eastern part of the country. The casino is not quite visible in the distance, and the area beyond the city which is not covered in buildings is France.
Our tour stickers immediately gave us away as tourists, but we were so happy to be in Monaco that we didn't care.
This view of the other side of the country is from the exotic gardens. The sheer rocks on the mountains were beautiful. I'm pretty sure those mountains are France again, and not Monaco. We're talking really, really small country here.
Next, we got back in the bus and travelled to the Monte Carlo section of the city, passing the starting position of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix and ending up at the Monte Carlo Casino. The small parking lot outside was filled with pricy cars, including Bentleys, Ferraris, etc.
We just barely got a shot of this orange beauty as it flew past the circle in front of the casino (this was taken from the front of the casino facing the mountains). We did go into the casino, paying 10 Euros for the privilege, then proceeded to lose 40 Euros on slots in record time. Neither of us had the nerve (or the interest) to gamble at the tables.
We did hold onto two tokens as souvenirs. Here are 1 and 2 Euro tokens on one side, ...
... and the other, with the casino pictured.

There are several blocks of gardens facing the casino, so we spent some time enjoying them before reluctantly heading back. Our return trip was via the Lower Corniche, which also offered stunning views of the harbors and the Mediterranean.

Day 3 >


Mediterranean Cruise 2004: [Day 1 - Barcelona] [Day 2 - Monaco/Nice] [Day 3 - Pisa] [Day 4 - Rome] [Day 5 - Naples] [Day 6 - At Sea] [Day 7 - Mykonos] [Day 8 - Santorini] [Day 9 - Athens] [Day 10 - At Sea] [Day 11 - Dubrovnik] [Day 12 - Venice]

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