The best decision we made throughout the whole trip was that we bought an open ticket to Monaco when we arrived on the first day. We had the freedom of choosing the time to go and also return. So no pressure of getting up early and to rush to catch the train. Since we had to sleep at the airport the night prior and right away went on foot, exploring Nice Ville..we were pretty much beaten up after dinner. Both of us slept like a log and woke up rather late the next day. Took our own sweet time for breakfast (errr..was it brunch?) and then took the tram to the train station. We caught the 10.30am train and within 20 minutes, and voila, we have arrived in another country.
We read in the tour guide book that Monte Carlo is a really small place..just 2km long. Immediately we thought that we could cover the whole area within few hours and we could slot either Cannes, Antibes or St. Tropez in our itinerary as all of them are equally small areas. Plus, sunset is at 10pm so the day is definitely very long.
Long story short, nope. We never made it to any of those places. The whole day was spent in that beautiful town. The whole place is just so beautiful. So so clean. Not even a single cigarette butt in sight. Just take a look at the railway above..berkilat! That is how clean the place is.
View of the Port of Hercules, La Condamine, from on top of the hill around the Prince's Palace
Fontville
The Palais Princier (Prince's Palace)
Based on what I've read on the internet, the interior of this palace is really glorious and impressive.
Fort Antoine, next to the Jardin Exotique
Monaco Port where you can ogle at the boats and yachts. We took a bateaux boat from the Palace to get to the casino area.
Monte Carlo Casino. The playground of the rich and famous. Kereta paling paling murah yang lalu pun Audi. Rows after rows of Bentleys, Ferraris, Rolls Royce, Maseratis and whatnot parked outside the casino. You'll get all moneyed mood just seeing their cars. Right next to it is a row of high end shops..really convenient for the wives/girlfriends I guess..lepas husband/boyfriend menang judi, gi shopping kat Cartier. Sebelah je. Credit card pun boleh melt kalau guna kat sini.
We sat in a cafe just outside the casino, ordered a mocktail (for a whooping 18€ per glass..nak nangis minum tu) and for the first time, I did what the frenchies do, sit with our chairs turned facing the street, enjoy the view and people watching. Quite nice, I must say.
Our final mission for that day was to find the starting grid of F1 Monaco. I've always loved F1 race since Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher days..only recently that my interest is fading off. I guess due to new rules and new teams yang tak familiar dah. Anyway, we had to change 2 buses to get there from the Casino. Since F1 Monaco is one of the most anticipated race during F1 season, and the mark for the track and starting grid were all over the map, we thought that there's something special to see over at the grid. Once we stepped out from the bus at the stop marked on the map as the starting grid, we were puzzled to see that there's no sign indicating that we were at the right place. There were grocery shop, butchery, patisserie, banks and just rows of shops. Not until we walked about 50meters from the bus stop until we saw this checked line and grids. And that was it. No sign boards, nothing. The map marked that as a must-see spot, so it built up our expectation tapi sebenarnya ade tu je. Kecewa betul.
We walked around and took last 'few' snaps of the city and at about 8pm (see how bright still it was?), we took the TGV back to Nice Ville, had our dinner there (Monaco is too expensive utk dinner!) and back to the hotel. A day is definitely not enough if you want to go to all the ceruk ceruk and the museums. If you're planning to go, plan for a day just for sight seeing and another day to visit the castles and museums. Apparently they have a world renowned Oceanographic Museum (Musèe Ocèanographique), Grimaldi Forum, Classic car museum (Collection de Voitures Anciennes) but unfortunately for us, we did not have the time to visit them all. We spent too much time enjoying the sun, the jardins, and the view.
All in all, I had a wonderful time in Monaco. Never in my life would I have imagined to be here, to visit this country, but Alhamdulillah, I have stepped my foot here and have experienced the beauty of this country. You should to. Put it in your bucket list as a must-visit place, ok?
