In the Manner of Grace Kelly or Similar

This evening we took a fantastic drive to Monaco along The Corniches, the winding roads seen often in movies (including at least one Bond) and where poor Princess Grace died in a car accident.

There are three Corniches, each one higher up the cliff than the last. We drove to Monaco on the Moyenne Corniche (the middle one) and back on the Grand Corniche (the highest). Sadly we didn't have a shiny convertible or a silk scarf for my hair, but what can you do.

The Moyenne Corniche was not that spectacular and David was pretty disappointed by it, but there were some nice viewpoints over the sea along the way.

We got to the outskirts of Monte Carlo when the traffic began to back up (it was about 6:30pm) so we decided against visiting the city this time and turned around.

A small road with lots of switchbacks led up to the Grand Corniche, which was much more what David had in mind in terms of clifftop thrills! And right at the start of the road we somehow managed to find a spectacular viewpoint over Monte Carlo.

It was at the end of a gravel road that seemed unlikely to lead anywhere at all, but ended up at a large modern cemetery overlooking Monte Carlo and other villages to its east.

Xti_8291 — All of what you see here is an entire country, the Principality of Monaco.

Xti_8289 — The Monte Carlo Casino is the green-roofed building just right of the skyscraper.

In the closest village to our viewpoint, a suitably glamorous-looking French couple found a great place for a picnic.

A modern castle in the hills outside Monaco. Check out that sunny top floor.

Xti_8326 — And a view over Nice as we returned. It's a really big city. That sucks, but if you stick to the area by the beach and the Old Town, it doesn't feel so big.

Back in Nice, David parked the car in the concrete closet under our hotel then we headed out in search for dinner in the Old Town. We had such a fantastic time walking around and checking out the endless variety of restaurants, cafes and general nightlife.

Watching the big Germany-Turkey football (soccer) game. It's the semi-finals of Euro 2008, held in Switzerland. (We caught the end of the game back in the hotel and Germany won 3-2 with a last-minute goal! Woo!)

Xti_8333 — We came across two restaurants that we remembered from our honeymoon, which was way fun, and had dinner at one of them. This one.

Socca — We pretty much just had socca, which has always been one of my favorite things about Nice! It's a hot, golden thing made of chickpea flour and olive oil and is so very delicious.

The other restaurant tried on the honeymoon, but not this time. We think the socca wasn't as good here.

Xti_8339 — The Oxford Pub! How friendly. It looks more like the pubs in Dublin than Oxford, though.

More shiny yachts in the harbor

In the Manner of Grace Kelly or Similarposted June 25, 2008 by Holly Hayes

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