Monte Carlo

Tired, tired, tired!. Even although I’d slept until 10am, it hadn’t been enough. My muscles were aching and I started to weep whenever I undertook mild activity, such as talking to people at breakfast. This is a sign of exhaustion. Luckily we had 2 days in Monte Carlo, so I did not need to push myself.

The ship was moored out at sea (as there only seems to be one cruise ship berth and a Princess line ship was there), so getting to Monte Carlo was via tender. That seemed a step too far in my fragile condition. I had a quiet morning, looking at views of Monaco in the distance. It’s very rocky and both days there was low cloud cover.

At lunchtime. I was still tired and weepy so I spent the afternoon on my balcony reading and watching the tenders going back and forth.

We were able to moor in Monte Carlo harbour at 8pm, but that was too late for me. By then I’d had room service dinner and was ready for bed at 8.30. I decided it was better to have a good day the next day.

I was woken at 8 by one of the regular announcements, and decided to get moving. I felt much better than I had the day before. I was ready to leave the ship by 10am.

My original plan had been to take local buses around for the day, as they seemed to go to more places than the Hoho bus (and were much cheaper). However, seeing how tired I’d been, I thought it might be better to take the less adventurous option and go on the Hoho bus. Big mistake! (I discovered later that the Information Office does not recommend the Hoho bus and does not even carry its brochures. I wish I’d stopped there on my way through the port.) The Hoho circuit around Monaco takes about an hour. Unfortunately the plug-in part for my headphones didn’t work. It would not change channels. I used the one in the seat next to me, but the bus filled up at the next stop, so I lost that. Someone behind found one for me that was not being used, which was useful. I did not dare get off the bus as ours was full and there were queues at every stop.

I completed the circuit and got off back at the ship for a quick visit to the toilet, with the intention of getting on the next bus. There was a long queue and the only reason I could get on was that there one one seat free, and everyone else was in pairs. However, once again the plug didn’t work – for our whole section of the bus. We’d plug in and adjust the channel for English, but get Spanish. We’d pull the plug slightly and get another language, then a few words of English, then back to Spanish. We all moved seats as soon as we could.

My plan was to visit the Exotic Garden. I stayed on the Hoho bus for half an hour to get to that stop, and then was told that I had to catch a local bus to actually get there, but the Hoho bus ticket would be accepted. The local Line 2 bus took me back around the port area where I’d been, before dropping me at the entrance to the gardens! The Exotic Garden was very interesting – full of a multitude of cacti.

 It was set on one of the cliffs, so lots of steps and lovely lookout points over the city.

Our ship, the Riviera (Oceania line) is the one in the centre of the photo above. Behind it is a ship in the position where we had been the previous day - at anchor in the bay.

I knew there was a limestone cave, and heard that there were hourly tours and the next one departed in 30 minutes. I rather rushed my time in the gardens to get to the cave in time. I was not quite so happy when I discovered it was 300 steps down, and then another 300 steps up. I started out with the group (and a French guide) but gave up after about 7 minutes. It was bad enough when the steps were concrete, but we reached a point where they were metal with gaps between the bars. It reminded me of a few nightmares I’ve had. I turned back. It was no doubt very naughty of me, as I’m sure we were meant to stay with the guide, but I’m glad I did it. I was puffing and panting enough when I got back to the top. How would I have managed if I’d gone any further down? Of course, when I reached the entrance I found a barrier across it – but there was just space for me to crawl under it, and no officials were looking at that moment.

 I puffed and panted my way back to the top of the gardens, to the exit, just in time for the Line 2 bus again.

The driver was very helpful and told me where to get off for the Casino. I knew I had to visit the Casino for my mother and sister! Apart from that, I’d read that it was a wonderful building and I’d been interested to hear of its importance to Monaco. Originally the country made its money from the sale of lemons, but then the main lemon-growing towns seceded and became independent protectorates of Sardinia. The country was broke. The Prince’s son eventually came up with the idea of a casino, in order to attract the wealthy of the day. It worked.

There were crowds of people outside the Casino, as it was closed for another 10 minutes. On the dot of 2pm we streamed in, with many being turned back at the door as they were wearing shorts. I was sent to the cloakroom to leave my camera, as these were completely banned. The rooms inside were sumptuously decorated. It was well worth a visit.

From there I caught a Line 6 bus back to the ship. At the port there were long lines of people waiting to get on tenders to get back to the other ship that was moored out at sea. They had 4,000 people on board (our ship has about 1,000), so they had a long wait ahead of them.

Afternoon tea was as splendid as ever, and afterwards the magician gave a private show in the lounge. It started with 2 people but grew to about 15. No matter how closely I watched, I could not see how he was doing those tricks!