Monaco-Menton-Ventimiglia photos

Japanese garden nestled amongst Monaco's unattractive apartment blocks



The beach at Monaco - bet they have to ship in the sand



Coast at Monaco



The old town in Menton, from the breakwater or pier or whatever it is



Statue in Menton



The wee little castle charged with defending Menton



Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, between Monaco and Menton



Latte! Rofl (not really)



Ventimiglia - looks pretty much like Menton, except shabbier, and with a river

Final destination (until next time)

The Nice-Italy walking extravaganza



Yesterday's route

Sorry if people are getting bored of the walking, it's pretty much the only remotely interesting thing going on in my life. But anyway, yesterday was a milestone - I have done it - walked all the way to Italy... and beyond! Finally I have walked between two countries (real countries, not like Monaco or the Vatican City) - so that makes plane, bus, boat, train, car and on foot. I've also gone between continents by all of those methods except train I think (and yeah, all except plane were in Istanbul, so not all that impressive really).

Foolishly got off the bus too early, still in Roquebrune rather than in Menton proper, and thus added an extra 20 minutes on to my walk. Apparently Menton-Ventimiglia is almost 10 km, so with that and the fact that I went a little way down the wrong road in Italy before turning back, I'm claiming it as 10 km fo' sho'. Wolfram Alpha says it's 28.81 kms from Nice to Ventimiglia, presumably on the motorway. I'm going to say 30, plus the walk from Eze to Eze sur Mer, plus the bit around Cap Ferrat, plus the walk from La Turbie to the observatoire = quite pleased with self.

Nothing to report really, except I got beeped at maybe 5 times as much in Italy as in France, had to walk through long tunnels (the one I read the sign on was 832 m) which was kind of terrifying - loud and filled with Italian drivers, although there was at least a footpath, and went through a town called Latte, which warmed the cockles of my heart and also gave me the opportunity to stock up on some Italian chocolate at a supermarket which appeared to cater pretty much exclusively for Frenchies trying to buy cheap booze. I didn't check out the prices, but it's cheap enough here really! I only spent about 20 mins in Ventimiglia before taking the train home - it was a long round trip, probably between 3 1/2 and 4 hours not counting the walk, which took 2 1/2 hours, and didn't seem like there was all that much to see in Ventimiglia anyway.

I think next I'll walk up the Moyen Corniche to Eze, because the views seemed pretty amazing when I took the bus up the other day, then I might think about walking along the coast in the other direction. I wish I had better shoes though, mine are really more street shoes than walking shoes... But I have the walking bug, and the weather is improving, so should have plenty of opportunities! Maybe it will even cancel out the Italian chocolate and the fact that the lady at the bakery near work reaches for a pain au chocolat when she sees me coming... Ciao everyone!

Monaco rage

Last time I was in Monaco (my third visit) was not too bad, but today it filled me with Monaco rage. After my morning class, I took the bus there in order to walk to Menton. I had considered just starting at the France/Monaco border (the far side) but decided that would be cheating, so dutifully started at the Casino in the centre of Monte Carlo (on the grounds that I have walked around a fair bit of the preceding Monagasque coastline in the past, so didn't need to do it again). So far, it has been pretty easy to follow my path. Essentially: find the coast; walk. Today I found the coast, but kept having to leave it due to things like beaches and hotels being in the way. Luckily, there was a handy sign pointing to a 'tourist coastline walk' - perfect! Just what I needed! Yet when I got there, the entry to the 'tourist coastline walk' was blocked by one of those metal barrier thingies, with no advice on how the tourist should proceed from here. Every route I tried just led to a hotel, a private apartment block, a sign saying 'no entry', or in one case, the Monte Carlo country club (vom!) I figured that I would have to get up higher in order to proceed without treading on the valuable soil of Monaco's seafront. This involved having to double back the way I had come, in increasing frustration. Finally I found a promising lead - I will say this in Monaco's defence: they are not afraid to install lifts to take the populace up hills. Up the hill was indeed the right way to get out of Monaco, but it had taken me a full hour to get from the Casino to the Monagasque border - this is the black line on the map. To put this in perspective, the red line took me less than an hour and a half to walk. Curse you Monaco!



Anyway, apart from that it was the same old routine. I walked to Menton, as mentioned, and then spent another hour or so walking around the town taking photos. I have been before, but that was in my camera-less phase, so it was nice to get the opportunity to go back - on another nice and sunny day as well.

Talking of sunny, I was in the park yesterday before the GP and noticed I have a faint watch tan. I know tanning is shameful and naughty, but I am still quite pleased. And btw, I have found out that spring has *not* yet officially sprung, it is awaiting the equinox. In New Zealand, the seasons do what we tell them to do and start punctually on the first of the month, but not here. At the end of the month, our clocks go forward as well, so I think we might have a short time of 11 hours' difference NZ-France and then you'll go back and it will only be 10, yes? I can't be bothered working out whether that's better or worse as far as I'm concerned, but anyway. Photos will follow.

Menton

On Saturday I hopped on the bus to Menton for something to do... About a 1 1/4 hour trip, past Monaco, almost to the Italian border. Everything I've heard about Menton goes on about its "micro-climate" - supposedly the best in these parts with something ridiculous like 300 days of sunshine a year (which is why, amongst others, Katherine Mansfield went there to hopefully recover from TB). Anyway, so disappoint - it was pretty cold and windy and overcast. Stupid Menton.

But apart from that, I liked. Its old town was basically built up the side of the hill, which meant quite a few steps but some great views. It felt somehow more authentic than Nice's... I suppose fewer tourists, but just something about the narrow steep streets as well (although the streets are narrow and dingy in Nice as well). So I just wandered around for a while, in the old town and along the seafront. Eventually I found this wall that you can walk along right next to the sea, with the port area between you and the town - that was really pretty. And from this perspective, Menton looks *just* like the towns of the Cinque Terre (where I was in Italy) - after all, it's the same region really.

I went into a nice old church as well - it was quite sweet, this lady saw me impotently pushing at the door of the church across the square and called out to me that she was just about to open up the other church that she was evidently in charge of, so that was nice. It's always pleasant to meet French people who will go a little out of their way to help you, instead of watching you fail with glee...

There was a carnival on, so I satisfied my sudden craving for frites mmmm. I hardly ever get to have frites this time round, I miss northern France where a town square ain't a town square without a shack-esque friterie selling awesome chips in paper cones with ketchup and mayonnaise a-plenty.

After a couple of hours, it was time to head back. I think I repeatedly dozed off on the bus home, shame au. Unfortunately my camera was out of battery so no photos :( but I'll have to try to go back because I did really like the whole vibe of the place, and the beach actually had some sand, so if the micro-climate lives up to its name next time, that would be good.