Mon, 13 Oct 2003

author Tim	location Girona, Catalunya, España
posted 08:03 CEST 16/10/03	section Europe2002/Europe/France/France 1 ( all photos )

Beaches - Monaco, Nice ( No photos )
The weather was excellent as we awoke, so I dragged my shorts out from the bottom of our pack, we ate the great included breakfast and then it was time to head off to soak up some sun.
Getting from Nice to Monaco on the train again was less hassle this time, rolling into the station and out the far exit, we found ourselves at a little fruit market in place d'Armes. That such a thing could exist in a place of such oppulence was at first suprising, but the more we looked around, the more it was apparent that not just the ultra-rich lived here, but more 'average' people called this place home also.
It took a while to work out how to pay for the apple we selected for consumption, but that done, it was off in search of touristy shops. We were running low on cash, which turned out to be a very good thing - not much could be afforded at all! Even our fridge magnet for the collection had to wait until we could find an ATM - something which was far harder than we expected in such a place. Perhaps if you are rich you just have accounts everywhere and don't need cash.
We walked down the quay on the south side of Port de Monaco, past billions of dollars worth of yachts, hyper-expensive restaurants, and generally feeling quite out of place. That's a feeling that didn't really leave us - nobody was actively rude to us, but there is an atmosphere of exclusiveness, something backpackers aren't really all about.
Next around the Port to the northern side, where we had the general aim of exploring Monte Carlo and finding an ATM for some cash. There are lots of streets going the same way here, but each is terraced higher than the next, so as to provide a way of getting around on such a steep landscape. We chose one of the lower ones, which still wound fairly high through the side of the mountain, with great views of the water out of the one open side.
There was a lift up into the famous casino here, which I guess explains the presence of a tourist shop. They have the standard stuff available, with an emphasis on Formula 1, due of course to the fact that one of the races is run here in late May. We had tried to pick pieces of the course out during our walks (it's all run on the streets), but settled for the fact that driving anywhere around this place at 300km/h is going to be pretty nuts. With fantastic views, however.
Out the other side of the mountain, and past an amazing piece of architecture in the Jardin Japonais towards our holy grail - Monte Carlo Beach.
It has been so long since we saw a piece of coastline, let alone in fantastic weather, with huge fish swimming right up to the water's edge and in a place as famous as this. The stones were even much smaller than in Nice (perhaps the rich employ people to break them in to smaller pieces?) In no time at all, we were lazing around, soaking up the rays and cursing the fact that our swimming costumes are back in Rosie. Who would have thought that mid-October in Europe would be swimming weather. Plenty of people, I guess, since there were others around too. Most of these, however, were so over-tanned that their skin was sagging middle-aged women, obviously living here while hubby was away earning millions, with nothing better to do than laze on the beach all day.
It wasn't such a bad plan, and it was quite a task to tear us away from the place, but there was more to see, and a beach, although not as pretty, was awaiting us in Nice also. We looked pretty silly there anyway, being the youngest there by about thirty years, and the whitest since we tan incedentally to our travels only, not as an occupation.
We found our way up a couple of tiers, and walked back past the famous Casino de Monte Carlo where so much rich people's money has been moved to other rich people that we felt it deserved a photo, but not our patronage. Besides, I don't think we quite fit the desired clientele profile.
Almost back to the train station to hitch a ride out of there, we remembered that we didn't have a magnet yet. The fastest way back due to the fact we were now a long way up from the water and hence the cheapy tourist shop was to go back in the station, down a huge long lift into the mountain where the station is, then walk down some more steps and ramps, arriving at place Ste-Dévote. The return journey to the touristy place was eased by the fact that we also grabbed a couple of ice creams, our first in weeks and quite justified in the heat of the day.
The last of our little coastal trains was waiting for us, which pulled out eventually and chugged back to Nice, stopping again at all of these tiny little stations, which I imagine only a month or so ago were totally clogged with rich tourists staying places where the poor dare not to tread.

The beach in Monte Carlo had given us a taste, and now there was only one thing for it - get a picnic and spent the afternoon and evening doing pretty close to nothing on Nice beach. We spent five hours there in total, doing nothing but chatting, munching, drinking, and looking forward in no small terms to doing exactly the same back on Cronulla beach in a month or two. And there, there is actually sand, which our bums would have loved after five hours of sitting on large stones.
The sun went down early, which coupled with the fact that it doesn't get light until about 8am now (very strange after our travels to North Cape) means that daylight savings must be on the way, which we look forward to.

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