March 29th

Saturday had a highlight planned. Elisa booked a boat tour to Monaco 🏎️. The weather was once again wonderful ☀️.

We wanted to visit our lady again in the morning, who had sold us croissants twice before. Unfortunately, she hadn't opened yet. It was only around 08:40 AM. But the door was already open. At least 😅. So we got croissants elsewhere that were also tasty. After that, we headed to the harbor. That was where the meeting point was.

We picked up our tickets and walked to the ship

First, we take a look at the harbor area, and the number of ships here leaves us speechless. There are wealthy people, very wealthy people, and super wealthy people, and you can easily see the differences in the sizes of their ships. But even in this category, there is the mentality of "my house, my ship, my plane" ....😊

We continue towards the casino, but we are not allowed to go there with the bikes - so we continue on foot. The luxury cars driving past the casino must meet only one criterion: expensive! - they are luxurious and chic anyway. I have never seen so many Ferraris and Lamborghinis in one place.

After a long wait, we get a table at Café de Paris, right by the casino. Everyone has to line up here, whether they are poor (there are no really poor people in Monaco anyway) or rich. But it was worth it, the luxury cars drive right by and you can enjoy the unique atmosphere with a drink.

In the fancy apartment buildings, the windows are usually veiled and you can't see anyone on the balconies - everything looks uninhabited. Receptionists sit in the entrances and guard the properties, intercepting unauthorized questioners or visitors. I assume that many official residents of Monaco do not actually live here but only have a residential address. Whether they are present there more than 50% of the year is not checked - a fancy tax-saving model.

I am very euphoric and plan to move my residence to Monaco as well - a look at the real estate ads tells me that this unfortunately won't work out. Even the smallest apartments start in the million range - what a pity 😎.

On the way back, we end up on the access road to the city highway with the bikes and just manage to turn away 😅. After dinner in Saint-Antoine, we return to our campsite in Mandelieu-la-Napoule via nighttime Nice.

It was another awesome day. 👍

We drove along the coast from Cannes to Monaco, passing through Nice. Since we wanted to be at the casino by 12 o'clock to visit it in the morning and take photos, we couldn't stop along the way and instead saw the coast from the car.

In Monaco, we struggled through the chaotic traffic. There were still some grandstands and elements of the Formula 1 race track set up. We were relieved when we found a place in one of the overpriced parking garages and rushed to the casino.

We were able to get a ticket for the morning with an audio guide. The casino closes at 1 o'clock and then opens for gaming after an hour.

In the morning, you can also visit the back rooms and take pictures.

So we explored the richly decorated casino with its spacious rooms and listened to stories about guests who lost millions in one evening or gambled themselves into ruin...

Afterwards, we took a walk through the gardens adjacent to the casino.

We then took a bus to Monaco-Ville, the old town located on a hill. We wanted to visit the Prince's Palace, but unfortunately, it was closed due to an event on that day.

So we walked back through the lower town to the casino, where we had lunch on the terrace of a restaurant with a sea view.

Afterwards, we watched the gaming in the casino, but decided not to spend more money and continued our journey.

We had originally planned to drive along the Formula 1 race track, but due to the exhausting traffic, we decided to skip it and leave the city as quickly as possible towards Italy.

However, we spent one more night in France in Cap Martin, a small coastal town with many holiday apartments.

In the evening, the sails were set in Cannes with the song 'Conquest of Paradise' and our ship sailed towards Monaco.

The next morning, we were able to go ashore there, but it took a while with the tender boat, as we had anchored quite far outside.

Many cruise ships and yachts were anchored in front of Monaco or used tenders to go ashore, as it was the Sunday of the Formula 1 race.

One of us had already gotten a ticket beforehand and immediately made his way to the racetrack.

Here, all dangerous objects were collected during the security checks. In Monaco, this also includes things that are considered harmless elsewhere: here, there seems to be a special danger from bottle caps. Although you could bring water bottles, you had to unscrew the cap and dispose of it.

The race turned out to be rather predictable and unfortunately did not create much excitement. Some seat neighbors even left before the end - which is strange considering the ticket price of several hundred euros...

The other person was less interested in cars driving in circles and wanted to explore the city instead. However, this is not such a good idea when a Formula 1 race is taking place in Monaco.

The streets were not only full of stands and people, but also blocked off around the race track for everyone without a ticket.

The first information at the tourist information center was that the casino was not accessible, but the gardens in front were. However, on site I unfortunately found that everything was fenced off and due to the grandstands and fences, there was no nice view at all.

So I continued walking towards the 'Jardin exotique'. Monaco is built on hills, so I had to walk uphill, although I could occasionally take a public elevator for that.

From above, however, I had a nice view of the city and the old harbor.

First, I wanted to take the bus from there to the old town, but since I would have had to wait for a while, I decided to continue on foot.

In principle, the distance was not far - unfortunately, there were those hills again. Because of the differences in height, I ended up walking back and forth until I finally reached the last uphill stretch to the Palais Princier.

I walked around the old town a bit and past the huge Oceanographic Museum.

The viewpoints overlooking the old harbor were accessible. The ones on the other side, facing the city, were either blocked with huge panels or fenced off, so you could only enter the area with a view of the Formula 1 track with a ticket.

The organizers obviously wanted to make sure that no one could take a look at the track without paying. Some people still tried to see or take pictures through small gaps in the metal panels that obstructed the view. I managed to take a photo through one of them, but I couldn't see anything.

In the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate, I came across an excited Italian tour group who loudly observed the graves of Princess Grace of Monaco, who died in 1982, and her late husband Prince Rainier III.

Then I made my way back to the pier to start the rocking journey back to the ship.

We strolled along the harbor to the casino (by the way, past palm trees and white sprayed fir trees) to the aquarium and the palace... where a huge crowd of people was waiting. Quickly checking on the internet, we found out that this happened to be the National Day of Monaco, completely by chance. We not only saw Prince Albert and Charlène on the balcony, but also a great military parade with firemen and ambassadors, etc. was presented to the cheering crowd in red and white. Quite amused by the hustle and bustle, we stayed at the palace for some time and then set off again... because the parking fees in Monaco are just as princely as everything else there.