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25 hours of birthday
#frenchriviera #monaco #eze #birthday #adventure
Every day is a gift. But some days are packaged better.
Previous posts in the series: Nice is nice!
October 29th! Daylight savings day in Europe. And what does Courageous Wanderer do when he gets an extra birthday hour? Why, he travels, of course!
It’s time to unveil the birthday trip destination. This was super easy for most of you – of course, the city-state in Nice’s vicinity is Monaco! For my 33rd birthday, I decided to treat myself to some sea and some more splendor. When in Nice, visiting Monaco and Monte Carlo is a must. Even if you don’t gamble – like we don’t. As a matter of fact, there are tours taking people on 5-hour rides to the hillside village of Eze, then Monaco, and finally Monte Carlo. They do not even cost that much, and will give you a better understanding of this region’s history – as well as why Monaco is not in the EU, why it ever became a principality, and why it still is that, nowadays.
I probably forgot to mention that daily public transport tickets in Nice cost 7 EUR / 7,6 USD, and they are active for 24 hours after the first check-in. To be completely honest, I don’t know what happened with the duration this time around, with the day lasting 25 hours. Still, we didn’t need to take the tram up to the meeting point – the weather was nice, so we walked. Although, in the end, this day will turn out to be rainy. Fortunately, and Fortune does favor the Courageous, it was raining mostly while we were on the shuttle bus or inside buildings. The route to Monaco follows the Riviera from Nice around the hills in its vicinity. There are multiple vantage points where you can stop to take pictures that turn out amazing. Even with the clouds smiling from the horizon, just looking at the sea would be an amazement of its own. Among other things, the guide gave us input on events around the Riviera. The “season” for tourists usually lasts from May to November, with January and February mostly being dead months. For a destination so high up north, it’s surprising to hear that only two months each year are dead, as countless destinations much closer to the Equator only live off of a four-month period.
What else is fun is the story of which hillside mansion belongs to whom, as well as which celebrity holds which one(s) of them. A fun fact is that the prettiest of the yards, including (if I recall) the biggest mansion in the neighborhood, belongs to the Belgian King. For more info, I definitely advise taking a tour along the French Riviera. We booked ours in Booking.com and you can book one through me.
Eze is an amazing medieval city in the hills. To be perfectly clear, I have no idea how the people used to live there, being located so high up and impossible to bring provisions to. Thank Goodness, no one lives there now. The entire town is swarming with shops, cafés, and is home to a garden, more than just plain beautiful. In the area where the town is located, the sea covers one whole side of the view. Being surrounded with cacti and trees from all around the world, different foliage and greenery, simply brings a special vibe to the table. At the entrance, there is a perfume shop – I’ve seen these a couple of times, and got disappointed every time, so we decided to skip it. However, right next to the gate of Eze, there is one of the most expensive hotels in the region. Another great point is that its garden is visible from inside Eze. Normally, I’d never stop to check this town out. However, as countless people mentioned it to be a time worth spending, and as it was already along the way to Monaco, it was inevitable – and we couldn’t be happier because of it! Hint – come to Eze first, so that you can leave by noon, or even earlier, when possible. Between 11 and 12, such a swarm of tourists will surround this majestic hillside town, that you’ll be sick to even go inside. Also, if you want to enter the gardens, the ticket costs 7 EUR / 7,6 USD.
Off we go to Monaco, and its more popular part, called Monte Carlo. The capital is Monaco City, which is also called (you guessed it) – just Monaco. It’s funny to name such a small surface as a country and a part of the territory as its capital – but it is what it is. Monaco does not have an airport of its own, so most voyagers fly to Nice first. They have an agreement with France, that all the clearing is done at the airport, so that the Monegasque (yes, that is the name for a citizen of Monaco) police does not have to be present at the border crossing. Even if they are, rumor has it they will only check your passport, but not stamp it. Similar to Andorra. I can neither confirm nor deny this, as while we were entering, there were no police present at the border crossing – our shuttle bus was free to go in and out, as pleased. The title of principality was awarded to Monaco by the King of France, and even despite the Revolution that ended in taking the lives of most nobles in France, Monaco got to hold its title, which prevails up to this day. It is a principality, and not a kingdom, due to the size of its territory. I wonder what status it could get, if based on the revenue and the money it has in store, though. Monaco is filled with underground parking lots, even when most spaces are empty, for obvious reasons. There is physically no space to fit so many vehicles in, as such a small space still has to circulate, run and function with no obstacles. I’ve heard about one more city that lives underground, due to its size – Singapore. Be sure to follow my following posts to hear more about this miracle.
We entered Monaco City through my favorite place (other than the beach) – the garden. In this case, we are only talking about a relatively small park, since where and how could anyone fit a garden into a city-state the surface of 2km2 / 0,78 sq mi? The whole hill is oriented, of course, towards the sea. From it, you’ll be able to see expensive apartment buildings, owned by the richest of the rich. I asked a logical question here, even though it may be understood as a joke (hint – it’s not). Why would anyone who has the money decide to live in an apartment building?! A new edifice is momentarily being erected above the water in Monaco (for obvious reasons), and it has been long sold out. A square meter / 10,8 sq feet in this building costs anywhere between 50k and 120k EUR / 54,44k to 130,65k USD. Nice, but no thanks – I prefer houses. The Prince’s Palace stands atop of the highest part of Monaco city. The square in front of it is a great location for taking pictures, that is, if you can hide the people in the background, or catch a good angle. Not much was told of the prince, the change of the guard, or anything similar.
The tour of the whole city-state will not even take two hours. While still in Monaco City, you may take time to visit the Aquarium – having lived in Baltimore, I skipped this with no second thoughts. Once you descend to Monte Carlo, this will be a completely different story, a tome for itself. In fact, everyone in Monte Carlo is so rich, I saw cars I’d never imagine existed, right in front of the casino. Casinos and banks, this is the business of Monte Carlo. Everyone here has too much money to spare, and they come to help it reproduce. It’s funny that such a small territory has over 40 banks, and lives factually off of casinos and tourism – but mostly casinos. It’s a tax-free zone, again, because of the casinos, so many celebs decided to become Monacans in order to obtain this benefit. However, in order to do this, among other conditions, one would need to have a residence permit in Monaco or Monte Carlo for at least 10 years. The cheapest apartment to rent is around 5k EUR / 5,4k USD a month. Compared to how expensive it is to own an apartment here, the rent is ridiculously low, even if we’re talking about the cheapest options. Again, this place is fine-tuned only for the category most would call “filthy” rich, not just regular rich. Low-upper class, probably even mid-upper class could easily go bankrupt here.
The main street is where the Formula 1 races happen. It stretches around the Pier, where the fair rides can be found. People whose apartments are overlooking the main street rent out their terraces for a few days during the summer, for potential spectators to bask in watching the races. As in Nice, yachts are stationed around the piers. Naturally, the yachts here are much more grandiose and expensive. Of course, them waving flags of all the parts of the Earth goes without saying. As we don’t gamble, staying in Monte Carlo for longer than just a photo break would be absurd. Fortunately, the photo break was amazing!
Before seeking out a Chinese restaurant for my birthday dinner tradition, we decided to spend some quality time on the beach, living the life of the French Riviera to the fullest! Although I don’t prefer to drink alcohol, I said to myself – Let’s enjoy the life as the locals, let’s drink Aperol! As someone who detests wine, I never thought this bitter taste would be a sensation for my palate. In fact, I loved the taste so much, I mixed my own Aperol a few weeks later, for my official (but belated, for obvious reasons) birthday party. Now that I reach the sea, I will always see myself enjoy the bitter taste of the beauties of the French Riviera!
Another thing this non-wine-drinker discovered is how marvelous it feels to eat clams and drink them down with white wine. For breakfast! This was an actual mistake, I wanted to order Aperol, but said Prosecco instead. Even though I absolutely abhor the taste of foamy wines (champagnes), I was absolutely not disappointed. My message for the world is we should all celebrate our birthdays. Let’s be our own heroes and make ourselves feel great – do what we like, treat ourselves to what we find to feel amazing. Even if it’s the opposite of what we normally do. Let’s just be ourselves, and celebrate our own self as what we truly factually are, living in this marvelous world, full of jewels to be explored and sought out!
Love yourself!
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[…] see the unexplored remainder of our planet. I booked a trip to Nice for my birthday, as well as the Principality of Monaco – which you read about in my previous two posts. For someone who’d spent 32 years not […]
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