Geoff & Rita's Europe Tour: Monaco with Eze on the Side

Rita reading on the balcony waiting for Geoff to get ready

Another hot and sunny day (24c) on the French Riviera (The Brit visitors named it this but the French call the area La Cote d’Azure). Headed for Monaco. It’s actually four distinct areas: Monaco-Ville, Monte Carlo, La Condamine and Fontvieille. Monaco-Ville is the old section and has all the major sights except for the Casino which is in Monte Carlo. La Condamine is the Port area and Fontvieille is a reclaimed area from the sea that was developed in the 1970’s and has mostly apartments, restaurants and a yacht harbor. This place is very crowded, even in the middle of October. We tried all the public parking areas and they were full. We finally found a space in Fontvieille. This ended up being a good thing as it was right next to a park and public toilets which we both rushed to use!! We definitely burnt off the calories as we walked for over 4 hours discovering the delights of this very unique place. What was really amazing is that we had our cheapest cappuccinos in Monaco (1.50 Euros each).

Fontvieille Yacht Harbour from Old Town

Entrance to Old Town Monaco-Ville from Palace Square

Reflection of Casino in Monte Carlo captured inside large reflecting mirror.

On the way back to Antibes we decided to take a detour and visited a small village hanging onto the side of a mountain called Eze-le-Village which we had read about in book that Chris Jones loaned us. These days its total reason for being is tourism, but was once the winter base for the Swedish Royal Family from 1923 – 1953. Today, there Chateau is a high end hotel and the outdoor tearoom terrace offers the most spectacular views. This was where we had our most expensive coffee (6Euros each or $9.00) but worth every penny.