Villefranche-sur-Mer, France – Saturday, January 1

Last updated on January 3rd, 2022 at 02:55 am

Walking Tour of Monaco

Set out on a walking tour through the heart of the medieval quarter of Monaco, known as The Rock. The Mediterranean will make a spectacular backdrop as you stroll to the foot of The Rock, then head uphill with your guide. In Monaco’s main square, the Place du Palais, see the Prince’s Palace of Monaco, home to the House of Grimaldi since 1297. Then pass St. Nicholas Cathedral. A young church by European standards, it was consecrated in 1875. This is the burial site of the royal family, including American actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly. Also admire the majestic Oceanographic Museum, soaring above the sea on a cliffside. Returning to the Place du Palais, depending on the time of your tour, you may have the opportunity to watch the daily changing of the guard outside the palace walls before returning to your ship.

Happy New Year!! After two days in Pisa and Florence, both with 10 hour excursions, today was more relaxed. After getting up later than the last two days, we had a quick breakfast in the World Café and headed to the Star Theater. The ship will be anchored in the bay, so we will use tender boats to go ashore. We are in France today and unlike Italy, the French authorities allowed ship passengers to go ashore independently without being part of a Viking excursion. We were required to have documentation of a negative PCR test with us, which Viking provided as we are tested every morning.

Morning excursions leave from the Star Theater. Since more people go ashore at once, waiting in the Star Theater is more comfortable. Our bus number was called and we were on our way. The day was cloudy, the sea very calm. Today’s tour was a drive to Monte Carlo, Monaco, with a stop in the area of the palace. As we walked up a hill to the bus, is was apparent this tour was not as much about history as it was the rich and famous. Our guide had many stories of which famous person lived in which huge villa. The area is hilly right down to the sea with large limestone cliffs. Villas and multi-story apartments houses, covered the hills. We drove the coastal road to Monaco, the world’s second smallest country, with Vatican City being the smallest. We were treated to great views of the sea and the villas nestled up and down the hills. 

The Grimaldi family, who have ruled Monaco for eight centuries, were for Genoa, Italy. Wanting a kingdom of their own, they dressed as monks, pretending to sleep outside the palace. Considered harmless, they were invited inside, when the soldiers with them, also dressed as monks, drew their swords and won the issuing battle. We walked up the hill, past a pretty garden, with our guide pointing out the home of Princess Caroline and former home of Princess Stephanie, Princess Grace and Prince Rainer III’s children. Their son, Prince Albert II, is the reigning monarch. The sidewalk is wide, made of brick and very clean. It was evident the whole area was well maintained and very clean. We saw the outside of the church were Princess Grace was married and where she is buried, having heard in great detail about the car accident that killed her in September, 1982. We walked up to the palace, now yellow in color, it was pink when Princess Grace was alive. The right side of the palace, where Princess Grace kept her office is made of limestone, looked medieval, possibly being part of the earlier palace. Prince Albert II has his offices in the same place as his mother.  We watched the posted guard in formal dress uniform patrol the entrance. 

We learned that Monaco has virtually no crime, but has a jail. Monaco has a police force, soldiers and a royal guard that protects the Grimaldi family. Original Monegasques, of which there are approximately 9,000 are taken care of with an apartment in the country, regardless of wealth. All others pay dearly for the privilege to live on Monaco. With our free time, we walked down a couple narrow street, window and souvenir shopping. Back at the palace we walked back to where we were to meet the guide through the garden. The garden was peaceful with statues, gently gurgling fountains and pink, red and white cyclamen in beautiful flower beds.

After boarding the bus, we traveled back to Villefranche-Sur-Mer by way of the middle road halfway up the mountain. We drove through Monto Carlo to see the famous casino from afar and view the many luxurious large yachts in the harbor. We were treated to a lovely view of Nice, France from above. 

Since we were allowed to explore on our own, we briefly wandered the streets of Villefranche-Sur-Mer, window shopping. Since it was New Years Day, there wasn’t much open, however we enjoyed the gentle stroll, quiet quaint streets,  and the freedom to go where we wanted. We caught the tender back to the ship and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. We headed back to our stateroom to do laundry, probably for the final time onboard, and to catch up on pictures and blogging. We listened to the post talk on Marseille from our stateroom.

This evening we had dinner with Doris, David and Josh. It was a pleasant time sharing about our lives and travels.