Day 97 - Monte Carlo, Monaco

 

 

Date:  April 15

 

Location:  Day 97 – Monte Carlo, Monaco,

 

Next Port:  Barcelona, Spain, April 16

 

Quick Summary:  We pulled into Monte Carlo’s beautiful small harbor during sunrise at 7:00 a.m. Our Seven Seas Voyager obtained the single cruise ship dock space within walking distance of all the attractions. We spent a lazy, spring Sunday walking up and down the hills of this small principality.

 

Report:  Our port-side balcony provided a ringside seat to our arrival in Monte Carlo this morning. We enjoyed seeing the fiery ball of the sun being reflected in the windows of the villas surrounding this small bay. The reflected light on the cream-colored sandstone buildings and hillsides reminded us of the sunrises we enjoy so much from our condo in Chicago (but there we don’t see millions and millions of dollars of yachts and mega-yachts swaying at dockside). What a sight!

 

We had a late (for us) breakfast in La Veranda and were surprised to see Alexis waiting on people. It seems he was working one last meal while waiting for his friends to arrive. So we said our second good-byes.

 

We joined up with Larry and Dodi for a walking tour of Monte Carlo. Right at the end of the cruise dock they met a couple of friends from their hometown of Ashland, Oregon who happened to be sailing on the Holland America’s Amsterdam. They had just gotten off a tender and our paths just happened to converge at the same time. Quite a coincidence. (The Amsterdam, which is on a 101 day World Cruise, and another HAL ship, the Veendam are also in port today. Both had to lay-out and use tenders to reach the dock.)

 

At the end of the dock we used stairs and an elevator to ascend the Rock of Monaco to the Monte Carlo Museum. From there it was just a short walk along the rim of the cliff to the Royal Palace – the home of Prince Albert. He was in residence, but didn’t come out to say hello! We watched the changing of guards at 11:55.

 

From this vantage point you can also look down into another boat harbor with millions and millions of dollars floating at anchor. We also saw the roof of the soccer stadium and the roof-top gardens and pools of many villas and condos.

 

Then we walked through the Cathedral where Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III were married on April 19, 1956 and where both are now buried.

 

(We were here on a Med cruise in 2004 and took an audio tour of the Palace – and would highly recommend it to anyone reading this journal who plans a trip here.)

 

Returning to the Museum, we caught a sightseeing train for a tour of Monte Carlo – from the Palace over to the hill with the Casino on it and back. We enjoyed the open air tram that was equipped with an audio headphone system describing the sights. After that we walked back down to the port and had sandwiches on the quay with Dodi and Larry, and their friends.

 

After that break, Karen and Larry walked along the docks up to the Casino, back down again and along the docks to pick out our mega-yacht. Our son-in-law will be happy to know we found one!

 

We returned to the ship at 4:00 and enjoyed sitting on our balcony facing the harbor.

 

(In the whole time we have been here today, we have only seen one boat move in or out of the harbor – and that was a modest sailboat. Can you imagine the cost of maintaining crews on all these mega-yachts?)

 

For our sail-away we had cocktails and canapés on the pool deck. Capt. Dag drew close to HAL’s Amsterdam and then the Veendam – and blasted them with music and thee long bursts from ourhorn and one short when they responded in kind,

 

We joined Judy and Kirk on the pool for drinks and then dinner in Compass Rose. We always have fun with them.

 

Our second visit to the Grimaldi’s fairly-tale principality of Monaco was just as special as the first. It really is a neat small corner of the world.

 

Karen and Larry

 

Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:

 

picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise

 

Photos of our visit to Monte Carlo have been added.