St Paul is around 300 years old with the commencement of its construction in the 12th century.
Once we were inside the village walls, we were left to our own devices. The Collegiate Church of St Paul's Conversion - a stone church erected in the 12th century and added to up until the 18th century.
I then went on my merry travels exploring the little village.
Following the city walls, I found myself at the back end of the village at a great lookout point with the view of the St Paul cemetery and Vence. From the lookout, I continued my journey through the small gate of Saint-Michel to the cemetery. There was a tiny chapel on the grounds called Chappell Saint-Michel which had its door locked and its windows barred. One window, though, was broken so I had a good view of the inside. It had an altar at the very back but it was so tiny, it looked more like a crypt than a chapel.
I continued my exploration and bumped into some of the others who, like me, were ready to go back to the meeting point designated by Simona and call it a day on St Paul.
Back on the bus, we had a choice of going straight to the hotel or be dropped off at the old Nice and make our own way back to the hotel. Most of us opted to be dropped off at the old part of Nice and explore the town.
There is an old Medieval fortress at one end of the promenade and we decided to make our way to the top to take some photos of the view. We climbed the many, many steps up to the top (with many, many stops along the way!) and were rewarded with great views of Nice and one of its harbours.
By this stage, we weren't to enthusiastic about having to walk down. That's when a "choo-choo" train similar to the the one at Pisa came up the hill behind us. The driver let us on but advised it was going to be 4 Euros each. At this stage, under the blistering sun, we would've agreed to anything because there was no way we could've made it down walking.
The "train" dropped us off right at the road where we had to walk around 20 minutes to the hotel. So off we went walking back to the hotel, stopping once to get an ice cream, and once to sit at the park and finish eating the ice cream. I was soooo relieved to see the hotel.
As we only had a couple of hours until dinner in Monaco, I took a really long shower, did some washing and had a tiny nap.
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| Old Monaco |
As buses are not allowed in the principality, we had to park in the designated parking spot, take three escalators and one elevator to the top. Where we found ourselve outside the Museum of Oceanography. We then had a short walk over to the Royal square where the Royal Palace and the army headquarters are. You can see where the original palace ends and the newer parts of the palace start.
Quite impressive buildings with spectacular views of the rest of Monaco. We had about 15 minutes to take photos before continuing our tour to the restaurant.
After dinner we went for a short walk through a small street which lead us to the church where Grace Kelly got married and is also buried. It was closed but we took pictures from the outside. Up a little way from the church are the houses of Princesses Caroline and Stephanie - side by side to each other. There is a strong police presence down this small street. This took us back to the Museum of Oceanography and our way back down to the bus and off to Monte Carlo.
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| The Old Casino - all lit up |
In Monte Carlo, we of course went to the Casino, or rather the Casinos - there are two. There's the old spectacular building, then there's the newer building which is not very impressive from the outside. As cameras are not allowed inside, I went off taking pictures of the magnificent old building.
Parked right outside the front of teh old casino were a Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Maserati, two Porsches, two BMWs, a VW four wheel drive and a Nissan sports car - all new models of course. People were wallking up to the cars and having their pictures taken with them.
We had arrived the day after the Monaco Grand Prix so you never know who the cars belong to. There was also scaffolding still up all over the place. I walked nearly all the way around the building taking photos.
All too soon, it was back on the bus and back to the hotel. James had won 500 Euros inside the casino and some of the others only lost money. Jean's response was that her shopping limit had now been increased. Glad she bought an extra bag at Montecatini - it sounds like they're going to need it.
On the way back, Di (and Australian woman who's holidaying with her friend Cheryl) decided to sit with me, which at first was a little strange. But we got to chatting about books and it stopped being weird - no one ever wants to sit next to me. Not that I invite them though, and I do like sitting by myself on the bus.
Tomorrow, it's another early start and Barcelona. Apparently it's the longest leg of our trip so there will be plenty of stops and I intend to use my travel pillow and have a few sleeps.
