France is a place that I slightly have a hate/love relationship with. I do really enjoy parts of France and the scenery can be some of the most spectacular in the entire world.

The French people on the other hand….

Let’s just say that old line about France — “France is such a wonderful country and would be more so without the French” — is pretty spot-on in my estimation of things.

That being said, this part of France, the area around Nice breaks that mold nicely.

a view of the colorful Nice harbor, slightly tilt-shifted

In the spirit of poking a bit of fun at the French, because they deserve it:

“I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me.” —General George S. Patton

“Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion.” —Norman Schwartzkopf

How many Frenchmen does it take to change a light bulb?

One. He holds the bulb and all of Europe revolves around him.

“We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it.” —Marge Simpson

Q: How many gears does a French tank have?
A: 4 reverse and 1 forward, in case the enemy attacks from the rear.

Q: How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?
A: Nobody knows, it’s never been tried.

Q. Why don’t they have fireworks at Euro Disney?
A. Because every time they shoot them off, the French try to surrender.

beach is a bit rocky, but you have to love the color of that water

OK, now that I’ve gotten that bit of humor out of my system — though I may have to come back to this topic in a future post, let me talk about the cool hostels that I stayed in while I was there, thanks to the generosity of HostelBookers.

They have been really great to work with this year and I look forward to doing a lot more with them in the future.

more slight harbor tilt-shifty-ness

The Villa Saint Exupery Gardens was my home for about a week when I was there this summer. Its slightly away from the center of town, but that doesn’t mean that it lacks any fun or excitement. In fact, there was so much going on nightly at their Chapel Bar there that I had to head to town on some nights… just to get a break from all the action!

Aside from the bar, where I did spend a good bit of time, the staff there are amazingly friendly and the kitchen is one of the very best I have seen in any hostel in the world. You can not only do your cooking there, the hostel also has a very good chef that can whip up one of 5-6 choices each night for a very affordable dinner. It was an option that I took advantage of multiple times.

The free wifi is fast and reliable, which as you know is one of my prime motivations to stay any place these days. The rooms were clean and had bathrooms in-suite. That area of the hostel was very quiet, even when the action was still rocking along in the Chapel Bar.

the Chapel Bar, a hub of activity nightly

The only issue with this hostel is its location. As I said, it is not in the center of town (I later stayed at their other location in the middle of town, Villa Saint Exupery Beach, and loved it), so you need to take both a tram and a free van from the hostel that comes and picks people up at the tram station. It wasn’t a problem at all, but you just need to be aware of that before you stay.

All in all, I had a great time at both of their locations. Everyone was knowledgeable and helpful. The breakfasts were good. And though I have had more than my fair share of problems with the French, in this particular part of France, down on the coast, I have had nothing but good times.

Perhaps its the sea water. Or the amazing light.

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this is Nice, France is a Pretty Nice Kinda Place from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel

I just simply don’t understand Monaco. It is one of the cities in the world, like Beirut or Hong Kong that just sort of mystifies me.

It is a city of immense wealth of course. It boasts the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita of any country in the world, at over $150k per person. It has an unemployment rate of basically zero. It is a tax haven of the rich and famous. It boasts one of the biggest Formula One races in the world. Its most famous citizen was actually an American superstar actress from Philadelphia.

And it is less than one square mile in size.

How the hell was this place even allowed to be a country??

the famous Monaco Casino from the harbor side

As in most places in Europe, the history is fairly complicated, but from what I gather, it was originally a colony of the city-state of Genoa back when the House of Grimaldi took over rulership in the 1200s. In an incredibly appropriate move, given what Monaco has turned into over time, the Grimaldi’s purchased Monaco in 1419.

Yep, they bought it.

Over the next few hundred years, it was occasionally conquered and passed back and forth to various countries, with the Grimaldi’s still maintaining rulership in some form or fashion, until they paid France 4.1 million francs for it in 1861.

Yep, they bought it twice.

In 1869, the Grimaldi’s eliminated income taxes and the tiny nation state basically survived on revenue from the casino. And so began the modern history of a tax dodging haven for the rich and famous.

To my eyes, Monaco’s has the look of a city that rose to prominence in the 1970s and is trying to age gracefully.

The problem is that the 70s really don’t age that gracefully.

Odd to see a Botero statue in front of the casino -- odder still that one part of Adam is rubbed to a shiny finish by tourists

I was only in Monaco for a very brief afternoon. It was early on during the Ultimate Train Challenge, right after I had gone to Bordeaux. I was taking advantage of the Eurail Pass that Eurail.com had given me to cruise around as much as I could manage.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived on the train from Nice was the sign I saw at the tourist office: “No bag storage.”

I obviously had my two backpacks on me and was planning to leave the big one in a locker somewhere, while I explored the city and took photos with the smaller backpack.

I walked up to him and said, “there are no lockers here?” He looked up from his papers with disdain and replied, “there are no lockers in Monaco.”

I’m thinking they aren’t huge fans of travelers like me.

So, I got back on the train, rode back to Nice, dropped off my backpack in a locker there, and came back. A little high brow disdain wasn’t going to stop me.

It is obviously a small enough city to walk around fairly easily, though it is hilly. There were a few other brief impressions I had while wandering around, the first being — Monaco is such a nanny state.

No, I don’t mean nanny state as in a government that coddles its citizens… I mean there are a ton of nanny’s walking around. I am assuming that the high per capita income translates into “one family, one nanny” pretty much universally, considering how many I saw pushing kids around in strollers.

Secondly, I have never seen so many relators’ office anywhere on Earth before. There were literally hundreds of them. I had assumed I would see loads of banks, which I did, but they were far, far outnumbered by the offices with photos of the properties they had for sale.

The idyllic part of town is on top of the low mountain that frames the west end of the main harbor. Up there lies the castle where the ruling family lives. Aside from the castle, there are a few hundred very pricy residences up there on the five or six small streets that crisscross the top of the mountain.

There you will find small, but amazing beautiful, gardens on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. There is also a perfectly quaint church only about 300 yards away from the castle in the center of the little mountain top village. It is easy to imagine Princess Grace and Prince Rainer III walking over from the castle for Sunday services.

Now it is overrun from tourists fresh off the Carnival Cruise line ship that docked that morning in the harbor for a quick stop, before moving on down the coast.

one of the buildings up on the mountain, near the castle

the view of the smaller west harbor from the castle area

The Palace/Castle up on the mountain

some random church in town

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this is The Absurdity of Monaco from Overland Travel Adventures from Go, See, Write - overland travel, RTW travel, adventure travel