Nimes to Monaco - Day 22

We left Nimes this morning for our journey to Monaco, and our first very brief stop was the city of Aix-en-Provence. Aix (pronounced ex) is rich in culture with two of its most famous sons being the painter Paul Cezanne and novelist Emile Zola.

Our second stop was the beautiful hilltop town of St Paul-de-Vence, outside of Nice and Monaco. We loved this town and wish we could have spent more than the 1.5 hours allowed. Very touristy and very busy at this time of year but some very interesting shops and lots of art galleries (64 in total!) with fairly unique art items, reflecting the village’s art legacy.

We arrived at the Fairmont Hotel in Monaco, which was our base for the next 3 nights. And what a base it was, a four star hotel overlooking the blue Mediterranean Sea.

We went for a walk to the Casino and around the hotel. On returning to the hotel we saw a number of young men with fancy cameras in the front of the hotel. At first we thought they were paparazzi, but then thought that they were too young for that. Then we realised that they were there to capture the expensive cars as they slowed down for the hairpin bend directly in front of the hotel, which was part of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. There were some flash looking cars in the hotel carpark also.

We had dinner in the rooftop restaurant of the hotel, the Horizon. Such beautiful food (the truffle pizza was to die for) and such a beautiful backdrop and environment, it had us both feeling like rock stars.Read more