Day #10: Our 7th and last port stop on the Med cruise. This was another port that we had underestimated but ended up being one of my favorites. From this port we could go to Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Monaco or Eze---French Riviera, here we come!
We had to use tender boats to get to the mainland, and then once there had a nice walk along Villefranche to their train station to get to the other cities.
The walk to the train station was very beautiful and not too far at all (about 10 - 15 minutes). Very easy to get to where you want to go on your own and for very cheap!
From Villefranche station, you could go one direction (right) to get to Nice, or head the other direction (to the left) to get to Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze. We had decided to go to Monte Carlo and Monaco first and then if we felt like it, would go to Eze or Nice afterwards.
The interesting thing about Monaco, is that it is a seperate country but is the size of a large town.
Once in Monaco, we stepped right outside the train station and were lucky enough to have a bus stopped at the bus stop right outside. I can figure out trains, but am a real dummy when it comes to figuring out foreign busses. The bus's ending destination listed the royal palace which is where we wanted to go, so we double checked with the driver and hopped right on.
Above: the view from the bus stop right outside of the Monaco train station.
The thin alleyways of Monaco. Very quaint, very charming, lots of great souvenirs here and cute cafes. They had a picture showing Princess Grace walking her youngest to school through these narrow streets.
Above: Tyler taking a picture of the local real estate office listings. The prices there were amazing! There was one listed above that was only about 42 square meters (which was a little over 120 square feet) and was going for over a million dollars! We had heard from a tour guide that the real estate there goes for $10,000 - $75,000 per square foot depending on the location! Talk about expensive housing costs!
Above: To the right of this picture you can see the stairs leading up to the Monaco royal palace.
We had found some friends that were on a Disney excursion and we had asked them how to get to the car museum and they said they were on their way there and to just follow them. So we headed down the stairway (picture above) and through the city to the car museum.
Views of the city down below
We spotted Ferraris and fancy cars everywhere!
More surrouding areas from down below.
For Tyler, we tacked onto a disney tour to show us where the Car Museum was (we had friends on it who asked the tour operator for directions and she said to just follow them down). This place was very cool, and since the Grand Prix formula 1 (the older models) race was just held the day before, they said that we were really lucky to see cars there that otherwise wouldn't be there on display. All the cars with numbers on them were a part of the Formula 1 grand prix race. You can see the tags in their front windows.
Tyler standing next to some of the Grand Prix formula 1 cars.
Above: Princess Grace Kelly's car.
Tyler standing by the same model Ferrari that Riley drove in the National Treasure movies.
Some more great views coming out of the car museum and surrounding areas of Monaco.
The streets had such beautful flower beds in the streets and walkways. It was definitely a beatiful city...very well kept. After the car museum (which was down below), we ended up heading back up to the royal palace area again. First, because there were more things I wanted to see up there, and second, that is where I knew the busses back to the train station were!
Some great views from up above!
Some more great French Riviera views!
Above: beautiful buildings to the right.
Tyler and the royal palace of Monaco
I ended up taking a tour of the royal palace and museum, but they allowed no filming or pictures for security reasons since it was the residence of the royal family and still a working palace. The picture above and below are pictures of the surrounding area around the palace.
On the bus back to the train station, we saw this Grand Prix banner!
These are some fancy buildings that I took from the bus back to the train station. We passed the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo on the way back too, but didn't stop at it since it required admission and didn't allow any pictures inside.
Above: the train station in Monaco back to Villefranche.
Above: Tyler walking back to the boat tender dock (orangish building) to take us back to the ship. He had had a long day..... I wish we would have seen Eze while in the area, but I was tired and had had enough too.
Shots of Villefranche and surrounding areas from the ship out in the bay and while sailing away.
Saying goodbye to France and wrapping up the Med cruise.
May 4: Day #11: The last day of our Med cruise was a sea day and was some of the roughest seas I have ever experienced. I don't get sea sick and even I was starting to get very queasy. The pools up on deck were just sloshing with water, wind and waves. Tyler said that a wave had even hit the teen club which is in the highest sections of the ship. Everyone was doing whatever they could to withstand the seasickness and Tyler was up on the top deck battling the weather and water to get ice cream! He thought it was fun and didn't have any effects on him. He loved it! He had said at one point they locked them up in the Stack (teen club) because the conditions were too dangerous to let them out. He said he could see the chairs on deck 10 crashing into the railings and almost going over the side but thankfully, none did. He said that castmember crew were out trying to get them tied down as fast as they could. It was only like that for a few hours while the captain did what he could to hurry and get closer to shore and out of the rough waters.
May 5: Day #12 - Disembarkation day: We disembarked back into Barcelona very early so that we could catch a flight back to New York, but due to the volcanic dust over Europe from Iceland, our flight was cancelled and we spent over 12 hours at the airport. I didn't want to spend the night in Barcelona, but we had to. They were able to get us onto a direct flight back to JFK (so much for getting to be in Ireland). We still missed our connection out of New York and had to buy new flights back to Boise. :(
It was SUCH a pain of a last day, but so many people were in the same boat (no pun intended) so at least we had company and were in all in the disaster together.
After such a rough time getting back home, we were so glad to finally be back and were glad (and thankful) that it happened on our last day getting out, instead of our first day getting there. Great trip, great memories! :)
After 26 days of cruising, 12 port stops, 8 countries visited on the Disney Magic:
THE END
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