3 Countries In 1 Day: NYE 2011 (10)

NYE was the big tour day, so we had to get up a bit earlier.

Max from MedTours picked us up for our 'Italian Market and Monaco' tour.  He was a man of many languages: Languages are like drugs!  More!  More!  Also, I will just now put in a plug for this company (again) as I've had two really enjoyable tours with them.  On this occasion, we were the only ones on the tour, which gave us a lot of extra flexibility in terms of timing, and where exactly we wanted to go.

First destination: market in San Remo, Italy.  It is true that the style of housing, and the whole appearance of your surroundings change pretty quickly when crossing the border here.  Everything started looking more Italian, and more agricultural.  Very random.

Italian-ness.

Despite all the good deals and fancy leather bags, cashmere jerseys, etc, we managed not to make too many purchases.  In fact, the most tempting proved to be the indoor produce market.

Covered produce market, San Remo, Italy

Next stop was Ventimiglia, something which we added on the day, as we thought it may have been where some distant rellies had recently gone.  It wasn't, but it was nice to have a look!  A sweet, little church, and views such as those below.

Old building and scooter: how Italian.  And then we noticed the flag on the washing line.

Views back towards France.

Our guide had the insider knowlege, and recommended stopping off at a border supermarket to get some fairly cheap booze.  After buying ours, Mum and I walked to France and back.  Just because we could.

I'd heard great things about Menton, so Max said why not stop for a coffee there on the way past?

Pulling into Menton.

And so we did.  We also had a quick squiz at the market, found a pizza and foccacia (although a lot of stalls had already sold out), then tucked into a coffee and tarte aux pommes (apple tart).

Kingi trying some of the coffee, and probably contemplating the tarte aux pommes, too.

Monaco had long been a kind of fascination of Dad's, and he was not having two trips to Europe without setting foot in this tiny country (3.18km long, 1.1km wide).  First came Monte Carlo: we checked out the gardens, hovered around outside the casino pretending we were rich enough to go in, Dad drooled over the cars pulling up outside, we went down to the sea and the opera house...  Then Mum just wandered right into one of the flash hotels, yet Dad and I were stopped.  Hm.  

Kingi gazing wistfully at the Casino of Monte Carlo.

Afterwards, we headed for the older part, wandered through the waterfront gardens, saw the Oceanographic Museum (from the outside) and the Palace, had a crepe, and were not successful in getting Mum a passport stamp from Monaco.

Palace of Monaco, complete with guard.

Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, as seen from the sea.  Ok, carpark.

Before leaving, we made sure Dad's experience of Monaco was everything he could have hoped for by taking him a spin around the Grand Prix track.

Pole position.  Gentlemen, start your engines!

While we didn't actually go into the old Medieval village of Eze, we did visit the Fragonard factory just below it.  Our guide kept us well-entertained, not only with explanations of the products and manufacturing methods, but also by telling us about her boyfriends!  As an aside, I can vouch for their Etoile perfume, and royal jelly face cream.

Then, sadly, the tour was nearing its end.  As Max is a nice bloke, he took us to see the Russian church quickly (from the outside, due what can best be described as a 'custody dispute' over the church between Russia and France) once we got back to Nice.  And then, that was that.  3 countries, done and dusted before 6pm.

Largest Russian Orthodox church in Western Europe.  Nice.

It wouldn't have been New Year's Eve (or Saint Sylvestre) in France without some kind of restaurant dinner.  We stumbled across La Taca D'Oli, in the old part of town.  Aside from having a reasonably-priced menu, it had specialities of the Nice area.  While I now can't remember what we ate, I have found a picture of the meals!

Meal at La Taca D'Oli, Vieux Nice

I know we were all satisfied, and I do recall Dad saying he thought this was the most authentically 'French' meal he'd had so far.

As a digestif, we went for a walk down the Promenade des Anglais.  When in Nice, there are certain places one should be seen, and this is definitely on the list.  ;p

Promenade des Anglais and the Negresco by night, Nice.

Because we are such party animals, because we were in such an exclusive location, and as it was New Year's Eve... we drank some bubbles in the hotel, watched tv and... went to bed before midnight.