Cruising the French Riviera

Our ship left the quaint coastal towns of Italy and headed to the swankiness of the French Riviera. First up, Cannes!

The film festival had ended just days before so sadly, star-watching was out (15 years prior I had been in the city during the festival, which was eye-candy overdose!) but this city is a star all on its own. Slip upon slip of mega-yachts, gorgeous beaches, pricy boutiques, and opulent hotels line the main strip La Croisette.

We found a huge farmers market and happily wandered the stalls of unique offerings; vegetables, fish, olive oils, patés, bakery goods, etc. I think the best view into a city's culinary style is to check out the food markets, plus it's just damn fun to see so many unfamiliar items. And tasty.

After a quick rosé break down by the waterfront, we continued down La Croisette making our way to the famed Hotel InterContinental Carlton and took seats outside on the patio for drinks and snacks. Posh.

We shopped around town as we made our way back to the ship via tender. A quick clean up, a cheerful in-room happy hour, and we were back on the tender.
Most cruises have at least one full day at sea, but since all our destinations were fairly close together we left each of our port of calls in the evening and awoke each morning to a new gem. Two exceptions were overnights in Cannes and Monaco. We took advantage of the anchor and headed back into Cannes for an absolutely delicious dinner at Le Relais des Semailles in the charming old town.

We chose to spend our second day in Cannes on the ship, the entire day spent lounging in the sun. They opened the marina again so Dayne tried some stand-up paddle boarding. Later that afternoon DeLille presented a tasting class pitting DeLille wines again some Old World ones. It was just a really relaxing day topped off with a special dinner by Chef Moore, this one better than the first as he mentioned he also got to go shopping at Cannes' farmers market.

On day six we awoke in Saint-Tropez. Lauren and I had morning massages in the ship's spa and then we all took the tender to shore. We spent the morning ogling the luxury speed boats, exploring cobble-stoned lanes, and watching the red and white outfitted contestants of an annual regatta as they discussed strategy, or maybe rosé.

Lunch of moules mariniere was had along the marina in a restaurant with a slide-open ceiling, followed by gelato and more yacht shopping. We headed back to the ship to soak up some rays and take in the view of Saint-Tropez.

Our next port was Monaco where we had two days during the infamous Grand Prix. I wrote about our experience here.

Our nine day cruise finished up in Nice. It's cheezy to comment on how nice this was, right? Oh well.

We walked a short way from where we disembarked to the Hotel Suisse. Our room had a balcony with a fantastic view of the beach and the town, I only wished we had more days to enjoy it but we were just there for an overnight.

Nice is another city I had been to years ago and I was really excited to be there again. We started by exploring the flea market in Cours Saleya, it just happened to be Monday, the only day of the week it runs. It is a big market, filled with an assortment of antique silver, linens, paintings, dishes, etc.

Then after a delicious boulangerie breakfast we walked to the Musee Marc Chagall. I absolutely love Chagall and found this to be one of the most beautiful collections of his work I have ever seen. When in Nice I'd say this is a do-not-miss!

We headed back to Cours Saleya, many of the market stalls now packing up, and chose Le Quai Restaurant for a very good lunch.

That evening we had our last dinner at Luc Salsedo. It was the perfect end to our trip, delicious food that was regional and seasonal, a comfortable but not stuffy dining room, and great service.

We were up the next morning before the city fully awoke and had one last glimpse of the Mediterranean before catching our flight home. 

Photos from the French Riviera are here.

Tiny Country, Big Toys

A year ago we were in Monaco during the Grand Prix. It's a city (country) of riches with it's lily gilded even more during this time. Yachts and oil barons, trophy wives and private helicopters.



We were there as the last port of call for the cruise we were on, no I haven't posted about that yet. I'm going for my personal best of posting 13 months past a trip. But we were on the Windstar Windsurf, cruising up the Italian coast and into the south of France, with DeLille Cellars on board, pouring wine from 10am till you went to bed. Not a bad way to get around I'll say.

The ship had anchored in Monaco's harbor overnight, allowing us to enjoy two days in this beautiful city (country). As per usual we had pulled into port while we slept, awaking to the stunning coastline littered with expensive power boats and bathed in warm Mediterranean sun.



Our friends Lauren & Paul met us that first morning and we all took the tender to the main land. It was incredibly choppy with so much boat traffic, the driver had to dodge motor craft left and right.

We spent the day walking around Monaco, marveling at the cars, boats, people, etc. We could hear the Grand Prix's time trials in progress, the cars zipping around and their engines screaming, but the city had built walls around the entire course making it impossible for non tickets holders to grab more than a passing glance.




We made our way up to the palace, perched at the very top of the rock hill. The self guided Palace museum tour gave us a look at the rooms, art and furnishings of the royals. It's really interesting and it's all gorgeous inside but they don't allow photos so you'll just have to believe me.



Continuing around the old town we found a nice little spot for lunch just near the Cathedral. Is there anything better than enjoying a meal, outside in a pretty courtyard, in France? Non.



The cathedral is gorgeous and looks out to the sea. It's best known as both the wedding location and final resting spot of Grace Kelly, aka Princess Grace.

Continuing from there we walked past the famed aquarium, the Oceanographic Museum, directed by Cousteau for many years. We didn't have enough time to go thru it this time but it's on my list for next!

We finally made it down near the casino, with the race going on many normal roads were detoured, only to find it closed until after the race. We hadn't packed our formal attire so we wouldn't be visiting it that evening, as many on-board were planning to do. We had to cross a bridge made of scaffolding that was right over the race track to get back to where the buses were and as the cars flew by underneath you could literally feel the power and the speed. And it was loud, the kind of loud that throws your equilibrium off!

The Windsurf anchored off Monaco

Back on board we had a wonderful BBQ on the pool deck, complete with grilled lobsters, a stunning sunset and a little dance routine performed by the staff.

While many of the passengers had bought tickets to the time trials and the race itself, we had decided not to and with the sea traffic being even more insane the next day we all decided to spend the day in the sun, lounging and gazing out at the city and the parade of wealth. Complimentary wine in hand of course.

It was just the perfect way to spend our last day at sea. And we even saw a Jetlev!

Happy Memorial Day!
Monaco photos here

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