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After Lunch we drove back the corniche which was not such spectacular with rain. Our next sight was Tropaeum Alpium. Itīs located in La Turbie above Monaco. The trophy was built in 6 BC to celebrate the victory of Augustus.



There is a small museum about its history



You can climb the monument and enjoy the view:



While the view seems to be breath-taking on clear days it was really cloudy this day



Nice place and worth a visit, preferable on a clear day

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It was still time for the main attraction of Cap Ferrat, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. The villa was build between 1905 and 1912 by Baroness Ephrusi de Rothschild who was not the poorest woman on the world.
When we arrived it rained badly and I was glad to find a parking space near the entrance. When I left the car I saw this sign:


OK, I told my company an A6 is a small car in my eyes what brought me angry views by some passing people (guess they were German). After a visual inspection of the way (or better the car on the way) I decided to start the car again and take a place with such a sign:


Call me conservative but I like “my” car with bonnet. So I felt much better with the new one.
The villa is pink from outside and on the wall are some medieval elements. Strange!




The central hall is also strange with a blend of styles. Itīs also the art gallery.





The grande salon




The petit salon


Boudoir


Bed- and livingroom




Bathroom


Porcelain-room


Director’s room


Tapestry salon


Monkey’s cabinet



The garden:


The villa seen from the garden:


Pavillon

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If you like Chagall the National Museum Marc Chagall Biblical Message is an absolute must see. Chagall offered 17 paintings with biblical themes to the French state and for this reason the museum was created. Today it shows also other pieces of art, the conference room is built like a church.













Some “other” art



Conference room

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After Chagal we did the Archaeological site in Cimez. Itīs a small museum with some ruins.
The museum is small and should be done in a short time:




The main site is not as spectacular as Glanum but also nice for a quick visit.





You can already see Musée Matisse


The Amphitheatre or better whatīs still left from it

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Next to the site is Musée Matisse, a very important museum. At the entrance a ridiculous guy did a ridiculous security check and we were in.
I had high expectations for this museum and was disappointed. OK, they have a handfull of nice paintings, few furnishings and some sculptures but itīs not really spectacular. You donīt miss too much if you donīt see it.

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We stopped for a short visit at Monastery Cimez. The church houses rich paintings inside


The cemetery is traditional and some famous people like Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy and Roger Martin du Gard are buried here. As it was raining I didnīt spend too much time.

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A walk thru Nice! Nice may be awfully nice but during our visit it was mainly awfully wet. I guess it would have been a much more unjoyful experience with sun instead of rain.
Monument aux Morts


Ocean and the beginning of promenade des Anglais



House number 1 Place Charles Félix has surely seen better times


Campo Fiori


Église Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur de Nice




Cathedral with tower and Place Rosetti




3A Place du Palais de Justice


Tour de līHorloge


Palais de Justice


Opera


Place Massena

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Palais Lascaris is today a museum with a nice entrance hall and a very nice staircase





The museum has musical instruments on display and some historic rooms. Well worth a short visit, but nothing too special.






P.S. I hope they renovate this place soon!

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Included in our French Riviera Pass was a one hour boats tour with Trans Cote DīAzur starting at the harbour Nice. Normal price is 18,00 € per person. We had to reserve the tour in advance which was easy via email. We reserved the 11:00 tour and got a call in the morning that not enough people registered for it so itīs cancelled. We were offered to attend the later tour at 15:00 which took place.
Again it would have been a much nicer experience without the rain, but liveīs no walk in the park.
Our boat:


Letīs start!


After a short while water came thru the roof at one place, fortunately we did sit elsewhere


We went straight toward Cap Ferrat and could see the first villas


Construction romantic


View on Nice


Rade de Villefranche-sur-Mer


Cap Ferrat (unfortunately we didnīt go further)


Point Pilone


Cap Ferrat Luxury Terrace Sea Front


Villa Ephrussi de Rotschild


Public beach



Pointe Passable



Villefranche-sur-Mer






Citadelle Saint-Elme


Old quarantine tower


Fort du Mont Alban


Some more villas












Creative color

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Back to Nice and Promenade des Anglais!





Palais de la Mediterranée (Hyatt Regency)


Le Negresco


Le Royal


Opera


Promenade



Collin de Chateau



Back at the harbour

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In the evening it was again time for food-opera. This time we had dinner at Alain Ducasse Le Louis XV Monte Carlo, the first and only Michelin 3-star restaurant in Monaco.
The restaurant is located in the Hotel de Paris. After we made our way through the barriers (police was very helpful) we were greeted at the entrance and doorman took care of our car.
We were escorted to the restaurant and got a table at the window. The restaurant is – letīs say – golden and were recently renovated.



Itīs a matter of taste if you like the design, itīs at least not understated
We could choose between a la carte, Jardins de Provence menu and Gourmet menu. As the Jardins de Provence menu didnīt contain meat we opted for this one, it was 240,00 € per person. While the courses came by surprise were able to choose our dessert from the menu.


First they brought bread with vegetables and olives which looked great.


Taste was OK but not as gregarious as the visual appearance.

Some very nice vegetarian canapés with olive-paste



Now it was time for the first Monaco-aria. They braught hot stones with raw fish on it, poured water over it and took a cap over it. This way the fish cooked. You can say whatever you want but they really try hard to offer a show....


They didnīt offer a bread wagon, they had a bread and a butter/ oil station.....



The bread came beside the butter with a surprisingly good (generally not a fan of French oil) olive oil from Grasse


The bread was of good quality but not as good as the bread at Joel Robouchon



Interesting cutlery


First course with several vegetables

The dish was very tasty!

Second course, the obligatory green asparagus

Also very good

Next a bowl with morels and rice from the famous cook pot

This was the way such a dish must be! Outstanding!

Next I was a little bit confused, they serve gnocchi with asparagus, salad, peas and mushrooms

Well, asparagus again and somewhat wired in a 3-star restaurant but after I tried it I couldnīt find anything to complain about. Again a delicious dish.

Some ice to refresh....


Next came the cheese wagon.


As we hadnīt a menu we wasnīt sure if itīs included. As my company had already enough she declined and only I took a selection.


Already before again an aria started and a cook chopped salad at the butter station. Thatīs the result:

Later I learned that the cheese was part of the menu but to be fait it wouldnīt have been such a great idea to eat 2 cheese-plates.

Napkin


Time for dessert! First the warm mango and passion fruit soufflé with pink pepper sorbet.

Iīm not a fan of pink pepper sorbet but the soufflé was delicious

Soft chocolate cake with cocoa and nib

Also very good

Again a tea-wagon

This time it wasnīt included.......

Some more sweets


nuts


chocolates


and ice-cream.


In the end we got a “present”, a nice cake



During the whole evening service was top notch and without any failure.

We had a very good dinner which came at 514,00 € (no alcohol, only water). If I compared it to our dinner at Joel Robouchon it offered without question the better food and the better service. If you want the best performance quality-wise go for Alain Ducasse. If you consider value I would opt for Joel Robouchon as the difference in quality doesnīt justify the price-difference in my eyes. Which restaurant I would return? Hard to say, in best case both. Otherwise I guess Louis XV.

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The cathedral was like Madame de la Garde build in Neo-byzantine style between 1852 and 1896. Itīs prominent located:



At the place stood before Vieille Major the old cathedral which was damaged during revolution. Today only some (not accessible) remains can be seen


From inside the cathedral is opulent as you can expect

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St. Laurent is a church which was originally built in 1150 and was reshaped in the 17th century. During Second World War it was damaged by German blasts and was restored later.

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I had planned to do the Calanques-Tour today but due to rough see it was cancelled. So what to do? I suggested museums but my company loves Open Tour Busses. She thinks itīs such a great way to explore a city. I think different and find it too touristy. But OK, we got a flyer and I mentioned the route looks not very appealing. But no chance, a few minutes later I bought 2 tickets. The tour is 1 hour and 15 minutes and costs 19 €. Itīs hop on – hop off but we took the last tour of the day.
When we entered the bus she wanted to sit downstairs as it was relative cold and very windy. OK, I tried. First problem: You barely could see through the window as it was very dirty. Second problem: At the only more or less acceptable places the plugs for the headsets were damaged. Third problem: The driver was smoking and the whole basement smelled terrible.
So I went up and sat on the upper deck alone most time and had a lonely and cold time.
The condition of the bus was miserable. Dirty, worn – simply disgusting. Of course no seats with legroom:




The tour was as boring as I had thought and we did 95% before by our car. The comments were of lowest quality and at least 5 years old (they told about some construction sites which are completed for a long time). Also the plugs werenīt working either and sound quality was not even poor most time.
Here some impressions:














When we left the bus someone had to apologize many time as for the next days..... I hope at least it had some learning effect for the future. What a mess and mostly Iīm angry about myself that I knew it better and never the less went into the morons-trap.

At least at the end something funny: