We did a drive past the beachfront at Nice – huge beachfront that it is, and then past its very large marina. I tried to get some photos, but it was a bit difficult, and there was nowhere really for us to pull over to take any. So we have just absorbed what we saw to the best of our ability. We took the coast road from Nice to Monaco and drove through all the little holiday towns and the enormous luxury homes on the hills with the magnificent views. No longer on the French Riviera, and now on the Cote d’Azur, I would spend time at any of these places! We drove through a town called Beaulieu which was stunning. It wasn’t too totally touristy, and the beaches looked divine. Each little bay was gorgeous, and there were cruise ships and yachts in each of them. Completely scenic, and even though you can’t take a bad photo, the photos don’t show how absolutely beautiful it really is. It was all a little hard to work out where France ended and where Monaco began!
We knew we were in Monaco when we spotted the Monaco Marina – we spotted the Marina because it was the backdrop for the petrol station that we pulled into. Talk about a servo with a view! The yachts were just amazing, and they were all just sitting there, forlorn at not being out on the bay (surely). We would have obliged, but I didn’t see anyone with the keys. After we topped up on fuel, we drove on for Monte-Carlo, huge cliff face on the left, all the beautiful water (and yachts) on the right. The cliff faces just went straight up, and there were lots of tunnels cut into them for the road. We came through one of them, and all of a sudden we were in Monte-Carlo. This is where the seriously beautiful people play, and we can understand why.
The traffic slowed, and all of a sudden there were Ferraris, and Maseratis, and Bentleys everywhere. We chuffed along and followed the signs to the Casino (we are about to give up on our misguided satnav) and found the parking station we were looking for. We came up the escalators into a lovely manicured garden that was lush and green and full of colourful flowers and big fountains. Looking straight down a strip of the garden, you could see the Casino Royale at the end. There were people everywhere. We made our way down, and onto the steps of the Casino, and found out it was closed until 2:00pm (it was 12:15pm at the time). I think that was the time the high rollers were in the main part of the casino, as it was still very obviously open, just not to the general public. Like everyone else, we stood and watched for a bit, watching all the fabulous cars, and very well heeled people walking in and out.
It was pretty hot, and so we decided to grab a bite to eat, and then decided we’d glam it up a little and head into the Bar Americain, which is the café for the Hotel de Paris. The hotel was straight across from the Casino, and we sat at a window which gave us great views of everything happening outside. It wasn’t particularly busy in the café – there was a lady making some business deals with some men about real estate in Russia, and in another corner were a group of Americans who must have had something to do with the film industry. I heard George Clooney’s name mentioned once or twice. They were very plastic-ed up though, three men and one lady with way too much cosmetic surgery and botox. They were shiny actually. There were also lots of photos of celebrities on the walls, all taken at either the café or outside the hotel. It was THE place to be seen, obviously.
I had a glass of champagne which was lovely, probably the coldest champers I’ve ever had. They brought out bowls of potato chips (crisps) and roasted nuts – the almonds were very nice indeed. I ordered a club sandwich (I was tempted to say ‘sanga’) and Mark ordered a salad that had fennel and quail eggs. It was all very fancy, even the napkin was done up with a little satin (embossed) ribbon that you untied. The food was really nice though, and not as overpriced as we thought it would be. It was definitely one of the nicest club sangas I’ve ever had. We ordered coffee afterwards, and ended up with two little espressos that came with cute colourful bikkies and very nice chocolates.
While we were in there, we both needed to go to the loo. The waiters don’t ‘point you in the right direction’, they kind of take you there instead! I was left to my own devices though in the hallway that led to the ladies room, which I completely missed because I was gawking at the cabinets that contained wares by Valentino and other fab designers. Next thing, a door opened and a lady snapped “What do you want?” and then gruffly pointed to the ladies room when I said that was what I was looking for. In my mind, they should not have lined the hallway with display cases if they didn’t want us looking at them! Sheesh and all! While I am on the subject of ladies rooms, I’ll jump ahead because the one at the Casino did something amazing that I just have to blog about. After you flush, this little box thing appears at the back of the toilet seat, the seat itself starts to turn around, and water comes out of the box to wash the seat. It had some sort of dryer as well as by the time it had finished, the seat was all dry again. I stood there a little gobsmacked actually, and I think the lady who gives you the hand towels after you wash your hands, heard my “oh my” comments.
Anyway, after lunch, we went for a wander around the back of the Casino. We (like everyone) marveled over all of the luxury cars that were just parked on the street. There were also all the fabulous designer shops, and I did a ‘licky licky’ pose in front of Prada for my friend Jynks. We looked over the little marina that was below the casino which was just full with yachts that were enormous. There was also a cruise ship out a bit further – it would seem the ship was full of football fans. There was a match on between Barcelona and someone, and there were fans yelling and screaming all over the place. They were all in football shirts and waved scarves under everyone’s noses.
It was very hot in the sun, and so we decided it was surely time to go into the Casino. You can enter the lobby and look around, or you can pay €10.00 and show your driver’s license (and let them take a photo/video of you!) so that you can get inside to the gaming tables. We decided to go in, as, well, it’s the Casino Royale afterall! There were beautiful paintings on the wall, all very Renaissance like, a gorgeous domed and painted ceiling, and enormous chandeliers. It was all very glitzy and luxurious. There were a few tables in the main area, but all of the action obviously happens in the ‘private rooms’ behind heavy curtains. We found a poker card machine and spent the exorbitant amount of €5.00, which lasted us about half an hour – so we felt like we had partaken to the best of our ability!
We left there and wandered back to the car and hit the road for Italy. I feel very special having been to Monaco – it’s such an incredibly beautiful spot in the world, and the glitz and glamour of Monte-Carlo is just totally over the top and fun to wander amongst. We lost tally scores for the ‘Le Moo, Le Celebrité, Le Ferrari/Maserati’ game. Not because of the celebrity side of it though, just because there were SO many luxury cars. We think there was a celebrity score though, there was someone all the football fans were going nuts over, all getting their photo taken with him and all – so we counted him as ‘one’ on that front. (I reckon I win though as I was the one who took the photos of the fast cars!).
So we drove past more fabulous beaches and bays, and found a park at Menton to go for a swim. As we were getting organized though, this really seedy and suspect druggie looking guy wandered past, and he showed way too much interest in what was in our boot (we had the boot open getting out our beach bag). We watched him for a bit as he walked past, and he watched us. We waited to see what he did, and then he just started to wander back along the carpark, up and down, looking at all the cars, always looking back at us. He eventually wandered off onto the beach and out onto the rocks. We are pretty certain he picked up a rock as he took off his t-shirt and put something in it. We kept an eye on him, and as soon as Mark jumped into the water, he headed off back to the carpark. So I followed him, and it seemed obvious that he was up to no good. He was headed to our car, and he looked around and saw me and stopped. So I decided to head to our car and grab my phone and act as if I was calling the police, or something like that at least. Mark came back to the car as well, and then the guy kind of slumped away. So, not entirely sure if we were just being paranoid or not, but it was just all too suspect and we weren’t prepared to take a chance. So our swim at Menton was short lived and we just felt ikked out so we moved on.
GENOVA:
We stayed at the Columbus Sea Hotel – so named because you can get from this port (across the road from the hotel) to almost anywhere via a ferry. Explore the new world for yourself! There were car ferries and four or five enormous cruise ships in port the night we were there.
We caught a taxi to the main plaza, mainly because we just couldn’t figure out the buses and trains. You need to pre-buy tickets, and we were tired, and hungry, so we took the easy way out. It was at this point that our total lack of Italian words became somewhat apparent. ‘Buon Giorno’ didn’t seem like the right thing to say once the sun had gone down, so I braved a g’day and hoped one of the two cabbies there could speak English. One did, and he kind of translated for the other one, who took us into the square. I did manage a ‘molto bene’ once we arrived, and we both stumbled out an ‘arriverderci’ at the end of it all. He laughed and waved and we got to our destination, so all was good with the world.
There was a big fountain, and a set of arches – but we have no idea about any of the buildings around us. They were old, that’s about it. The Genovese were (and still are) Italy’s biggest trading port, so there are lots of fabulous buildings attesting to the wealth of many of the merchants of days gone past. We looked around and there were a couple of restaurants with lots of people in the chairs on the pavements, and then there was a little side street with a lit up sign over a doorway saying “Rosamund Trattoria”. Now I must look up the word trattoria, but I thought it meant restaurant or something, so we headed down there. It was reasonably busy (turns out its good for Genovese restaurants when the cruise ships are in) and the guy running the show was very welcoming. There was a menu up on the wall, and none of it made any sense. He came to translate some of it, and Mark ordered one of the fish dishes he was talking about, but ended up with one of the other ones (was just as good, so it seems). There were two locals having dinner (or at least, they were Italian, if not local) and I liked the look of one of those dishes, so I ended up with that. Mine was a local fish, done with almonds, and squid on the side - and it is the yummiest squid I have ever had. Mark’s was tuna with tomatoes and stuff. We also got a local bottle of wine which was a little young, but still nice, and then had the ‘typical Italian dessert’ which were really the only words I understood him saying when he explained what there was for dessert. It was a chocolate thing, almost like a mousse, on top of the biscuit thingys that you put in tiramisu, but they were hot pink and drowned in a very strong liquor. If we weren’t tanked from the wine, we would have been from the dessert, but then….. The locals had an aperitif, and being such connoisseurs of aperitifs as we have become, we figured we should ask for one. So we were handed a shot glass each containing very clear alcohol. We watched, and the locals sipped, so we sipped. My eyes began to water immediately! Seriously, you could start your car on this stuff. We survived, and made it through the ‘grappa’ and then paid the bill. The waiter guy offered us more grappa (I think they get a kick out of tourists trying all the local stuff) but I was already having giggle fits so it was time to head off.
We caught a taxi back to the hotel, and we were both pretty seriously tanked from the grappa. The fresh air did not help at all. As is our experience with aperitifs, we slept really well. I have a vague recollection of Jamie ringing during the night to let me hear Zander purring, but I am not sure if it was a dream or reality! (Mark tells me it was reality). Then we woke up (slightly hungover) to some good news about another one of my fairies being pregnant, so it was a good 24 hours for many people, the cat included!
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