The Rock of Monaco

Our voyage continued to Villefranche-sur-Mer, France with the winds following us.  This is the only port where our ship anchored rather than coming into a dock.  We had an early morning tour scheduled which turned out to be very lucky for us.  The cruise director came over the loud speaker very early and said that high winds were expected that afternoon so all full-day excursions were cancelled because of sea swells that were expected to be 3-4 feet.  Because we were at anchor people had to be tendered to the port by small boats and they felt it would be too dangerous for those tenders to be operating in rough seas.

Our tender took us on a twenty minute ride to Nice, France where the buses were waiting.

Nice is as beautiful as I had imagined.  I just wish I'd gotten some shots of the big yachts that were in port.  Definitely the playground of the rich and famous.

From Nice we took a long bus ride along the mountains and seaside to Monaco.  I was so impressed with Monaco because they had a huge parking garage that could accommodate dozens of buses and hundreds of cars and best of all they had huge public restrooms.  

Above is the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate Conception also called the Saint Nicholas Cathedral or Monaco Cathedral.  It's a newer cathedral built in 1875-1903 and was built on the site of the first parish church in Monaco that was dedicated to Saint Nicholas in 1252.  Grace Kelly and Rainier were married in this cathedral.

The Grimaldi monarchs are buried inside and with only one exception.  Normally only the ruler himself is buried here, family members are buried in a private chapel.  The people so loved Grace Kelly that she is entombed in the cathedral alongside Prince Rainier III.

The tomb of Rainier III who died in 2005.  Across from Rainier's tomb is the tomb for Albert II who became Prince in 2005 following his father's death.  I wonder what Albert, who is 64 years old, thinks when he walks past his own tomb.

So why does Monaco have princes and not kings?  According to our tour guide Monaco is a principality and not a kingdom.  It is only .8 square miles in size and because of its small size it has to rely on other countries, mainly France, for military protection and self-preservation.  It's therefore easier to form and maintain alliances if they don't go throwing their weight around.  

You'll be glad to know that Albert changed the rules of succession so that not only male heirs can inherit the throne.  One day maybe we'll see Prince Albert's daughter ascend to the throne although she does have a younger twin brother.

We take a selfie wherever we go and it's a good thing because of the hundreds of pictures I took on this trip only the selfies have a picture of me.  When I die people will wonder if I actually ever existed because of the lack of photos.

Beautiful Roman-Byzantine architecture.

After leaving the cathedral we walked to the city center where the palace is located.  The lack of security at these places sometimes surprises me.  The Prince was in residence that day and our tour guide pointed out that his motorcade was getting ready to leave the palace.  While walking around on our own later his motorcade came up behind us and we did get a quick glance at the Prince.

Here's the palace guard.

Beautiful architecture along the square.

Fantastic view of the harbor and the many yachts.  The Grand Prix course runs alongside the harbor.  Our bus driver took us down there on the way out so we could see the starting grid.  He even stopped the bus and then floored it to simulate the start line.

It was certainly a beautiful view with the mountains in the background.

As we walked around we saw signs for Princess Caroline's and Stephanie's houses.  The tour guide said they don't really like to hang out in Monaco very much.

A statue dedicated to Grace.

The problem in Monaco is that there is no room to spread out so everything is built up.  The guide told us that real estate goes for around $55K per square meter making Monaco one of the most expensive markets in the world.

I loved walking through the narrow streets.  Everything was so clean and pristine.

It looks like a fairytale kingdom to me.

We didn't get to spend too much time in Monaco as we needed to get back to the ship.  A medieval village atop a hill on our drive back.

A glimpse of our ship at anchor.

Unfortunately we weren't able to walk around and explore Nice upon our return because the captain wanted everyone back onboard.  The sea swells never did materialize, but better safe than sorry.

I can certainly understand why the rich and famous flock to this part of the Mediterranean.  Between the topography and architecture it is amazingly beautiful.

Next stop...Florence.