Trip Recap 07: Nice, Monaco, Cannes.
This post picks up after Trip Recap 06: Cinque Terre, so be sure to read that bad boy first...
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Thursday the 21st was one of our longer days of travel and included 6 different trains. Yes, 6. It started out with a 6:15am train from Vernazza up to Genoa where we changed trains and boarded another bound for Ventimiglia, Italy. Ventimiglia is in Italy but right on the border with France. Again we changed trains and got onto a French train that would take us into Nice. Crossing the border here was very easy and our passports were never even checked.
Upon our arrival into Nice is when we got our first bad news of the trip. [just a logistical note for those following along: We traveled with a 10 day in 2 month EuroRail pass, meaning we had 10 days of train travel to use anytime over a 2 month period. The only stipulation with the pass is that you travel first class and thus have to make reservations on most trains. Our usual protocal was that as soon as we arrived into one city we would swing by the ticket desk and make reservations for our trip to the next location. It worked out really well for us] We arrived into Nice around 12:30p on that Thursday and had intended to take an overnight train the following day [Friday]at 10:30pm that would get us into our friends house in Jarnac, France around 8am on Saturday morning. You follow all that? Here's the hitch, the lovely French train folks decided to stop running that overnight train and of course never updated the timetables. This threw a wrench into our plans and we then had to take a 3pm train on Friday that would get us into Bordeaux at 1am and we'd then have to wait until 7am when we could catch a local train up to Angouleme, where we'd pick up our rental car. Bottom line, instead of sleeping comfortably on an overnight train we'd be curled up on the floor of a busy train station. Yep.
So, we were a bit dejected, but there was nothing we could do about it. We had to make the most of the 26 hours we'd have in the Nice, Monaco and Cannes area, and that we did. We went over to our hotel and checked in. Here are a few photos. Note it wasn't in the best area of town, hence the sex shop across the street. But it was clean and the price was right...so it worked for us.
A quick note in general about train stations in Europe: They tend not to be in the best areas of town....think about it, who wants to live near a train station? That being said, many of the cheaper hotels/hostels spring up around the stations and cater to the college kids and budget travelers that have just come into town. Some areas are better than others, but for the most part we felt pretty safe walking around in all the cities we visited.
After settling into our room we came up with a plan of attack and we decided to shoot up to Monaco for a few hours to check it out. We had already used our train pass for the day to get to Nice so it wouldn't cost us any more to use it again that day to get back to Monaco. 20 minutes later we stepped off the train in Monaco.
As soon as we exited the train station we knew something was up. That soul rattling sound of an engine pushing a car around a racetrack at 150+ mph was reverberating around the city. Couple the noise with the fact that some people were walking around with massive headphone/ear protection on thier domesand we knew something was up. I knew the Monaco Grand Prix was going to be taking place on that coming Sunday, but I totally forgot that they'd need a few days of practice. The city country of Monaco is built into a steep hillside with hundreds of tall office and residential towers and the sound of these cars whizzing around the track crept its way into every alley and you couldn't escape it. For those who don't know...the Monaco Grand Prix takes place along city streets, not a typical race course oval you see at Indianapolis or something like that. They set up walls, crash barriers and thousands of bleachers along the course and turn the city into a world-class racetrack. We walked around a bit, but with the race course closing off many streets we couldn't get too far. We climbed up to the Prince's palace and were able to get a decent view of the area as well as a good vantage point for watching some of the practice laps.
We did walk down to the famous Monte-Carlo Casino, but even getting there was a huge challenge with the race going on. Once we did finally arrive we found out that you had to pay about $15 each just to get oonto the casino floor. No thanks...we're not really gamblers anyway. At this point we decided to bail on Monaco and Kel came up with the idea that we should take the train down to Cannes to get some dinner. Again...this would be a free train ride on our pass, so why not. 45 minutes back down the coast, right past Nice again, and we stepped off the train in Cannes and into the middle of the 62nd film festival.
Here's a quick look at what the "red carpet" is like around 7pm in the evening...not that exciting.
Since it was a bit early for all of the hollywood stuff we decided to grab some dinner and swing back a little later. We found a great place a few blocks back from the water and had a tasty meal. I got a huge bucket of muscles while Kel went with some seafood pasta. Just delicious! After dinner we walked around the harbor for a while checking out the impressive yachts that were all in town for the festival. After that we made our way back to the red carpet in hopes of catching Johhny Depp who was rumored to be attending...no luck. We had to catch a 10:45p train back up to Nice.
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The next morning, Friday, we checked out of our hotel and spend the morning/afternoon exploring Nice. We had until around 3pm until we had to catch our train to...to...nowhere!
We walked down the main street, Avenue Jean Medecin, which leads directly to the beach. There are plenty of shops, restaurants and even a lively open market in that area. Then we went down to the beach, which is very rocky, but we still dipped our feet in. We ventured into the Old City and then took an elevator to the top of the Tour Bellanda for some panoramic views of Nice. The city has a great tram system that makes getting around even easier.
After a late lunch in the old city it was time to pick up our bags and head for the train station. I'll pick up the story here next time in Trip Recap 08: Jarnac.