Monaco and Medieval Eze

Eze is a little town high above the French Riviera. It's another one of those quaint little towns so common in Europe. Completely surrounded by stone ramparts with predominantly stone houses within its walls it has a great medieval ambience, and is immaculately kept.

Eze can be comfortably be covered in a couple of hours. Its winding streets offer peeks of the Riviera far below, and the beautiful detail in the buildings is just enchanting. For example, there are heavy wooden doors with cast iron braces, beautiful street lamps, potted flowers and pretty vines, even the street signs are made of, what looks like, stone tablets. Anyway it was well worth the trip into the hills to amble around this town.

Monaco is of course one of those famous countries that we all know of. I really enjoyed it. Some people had said they felt uncomfortable there because it's full of wealth and not much about the country is "average Joe Blow", but I found it unexpectedly friendly and a really engaging place to spend a day. The casino is a no go unless you wish to pay 10 Euro to enter, otherwise all you can see is the foyer and the facade of the builiding which is very ornate and a lot smaller than I had expected.

I much preferred the other side of the country (so small, it's weird thinking of it as a country). Monace Ville is where the palace is located, which is not much chop from the outside but the surrounding streets perched up there on a picturesque hill are great. You can check out the lovely cathedral where Rainier and Grace tied the knot and where they now have their tombs, you can walk through lush mediterranean gardens and basically take some great photos of the sweeping views over Monaco, particularly the harbour. It's quite stunning. Anyway Monaco was thoroughly enjoyable. It was also fun people and yacht watching, there are some seriously loaded people in this place!