After a lovely hotel breakfast, we headed for Nice Ville train station to fathom out the trains to Menton. The queue for the ticket machine was quite long, so we decided to buy them on the Trainline, as we had no issues when in Germany. However, when we tried to go through the gate, they wouldn’t open.. we asked one of the staff, and they said we needed to press the yellow SOS button. This seemed a bit extreme, but after telling the gentleman on the other end that our tickets didn’t scan, he just opened the barrier. No further questions asked! We got onto the platform, and it was absolutely rammed, as this is also the train to Monaco. Despite the boards and trainline app suggesting our train was going to be delayed, a train did pull onto platform 2 at the correct and original time. After a bit of confusion, and everyone in their various languages checking this was, in fact, the right train that was now on time, we all piled on. The train was clean and spacious, and everyone managed to get a seat.
The journey to Menton was full of stunning coastal views, and is the last stop before the train heads into Italy (I tried to persuade Mark to let me have an hour in Italy, but I lost that battle..) As we headed out of the station, we were greeted by lots of construction and clay tennis courts and not the cute lemon coloured building I had seen on TikTok. A quick check on Google Maps showed we had a 20-minute walk to the old town, which oozed charm and history. Lots of cobbled streets later, and we arrived at the iconic Basilique Saint-Michel Archange de Menton. Not only is this a beautiful baroque building, but there are stunning views down to the beach. It’s also the place for the obligatory photo of the lemon coloured geometric stairs – Les Rampes Saint-Michel. It’s absolutely fascinating watching everyone getting that perfectly posed photo for Instagram, as well as how totally oblivious some people are when others are getting the perfect shot.
We walked down to the newer part Menton, ready for a beverage in one of the many cafés that line the beach. As it was 5 pm somewhere, we opted for a glass of wine and a pint and enjoyed the relaxation and people watching. We had spotted a group of people on some rocks in the sea and decided that that would be a great place to view Menton in all its pastel glory. We soaked up the sun and enjoyed the views of the Pearl of France. Dreamy buildings, colourful shutters and terracotta roofs – is really is the most glorious little town.
On the walk back to the train station, we decided to buy some of the lemony goods that Menton is famous for, and came away with lemon beer, lemon biscuits and lemon meringue ice cream 😋 essentially, everything under the sun has lemon in it!
Our next stop for today was Monaco – the second smallest country in the world, and the land of James Bond, F1 and wealth! The dream would be to land here in a private helicopter or bikini clad at the front of a super yacht. Unfortunately, as our wages don’t quite stretch that far, we settled for the train instead. I was excited to see all the big, lavish boats.. but was actually left a little underwhelmed! Where were the huge luxury yachts you see in pictures 😭 Getting around was slightly difficult at times as well due to path closures, as they were taking all the F1 construction down.
We hadn’t got a what to see and do plan in Monaco, so we ended up missing the ‘The Rock’ and the views from up there. We did, however, go to the most iconic building – the Monte Carlo Casino. We came from around the back of the casino so we could really appreciate the lavish and ornate building, which was designed by Charles Garnier, the architect of the Paris Opéra. It was swarmed with tourists trying to capture the best photos and, of course, plenty of expensive cars. Mark wasn’t allowed in due to his bag of beer bottles, so we had to take it in turns to check out the grand decor. The marble columned entrance hall is beautiful, but a lot smaller than I had expected! If we had more time, we would have loved to sit in Café de Paris and watch the wealthy arrive in their cars and head in for a flutter, but it was getting late and were keen to get back to Nice. So we walked past all the wealthy shops instead back to the train station and piled on with the 100s of other people.
Back in Nice and we decided to have dinner in the bustling old town. We found an Italian down one of the side streets and settled down for the al fresco feast. The menu at the restaurant next door then caught my eye.. roasted quail stuffed asshole! What an absolute treat. We finished off the evening with drinks in a few bars and some super expensive macaron.
The Travelling Ginger 