Monaco and La Turbie 12-2-25

As I mentioned yesterday our intention was to go over to Monaco and then up to LaTurbie. We left quite early from the apartment to allow for any problems. We had a quick tram ride up to the station where we encountered the beginnings of a large manifestation (protest march) being organized. On the way up there were perhaps 10 police vans lining the route of the tram line. That was a preview that something was going on but only on reaching the station did we finally know what. Since we were leaving Nice it caused us no problem whatsoever.  I also mentioned that we worked through a plan that would allow us, once in Monaco, to link up with the bus to take us up the hill. Ha! Ha! Ha! Than plan went to hell quickly when we were delayed for several minutes in Cap d’Ail the stop before Monaco. What would have been a 15 minute

window allowing us to go from the station to the bus stop vanished. Not knowing the Monaco station we got on the first excalator we came to and then another. At the bottom we followed a long corridor out to the street.  We looked everywhere for any sign of a bus stop, without success. Finally, Deb asked a man washing a car where we could find our bus stop and he pointed several levels up the hill and said it’s up there. So we backtracked and ended walking a number of blocks to find the bus stop. It was right outside the train station and we had taken a side exit instead of the main one.  We had a 30 minute wait for the next bus so we debated seeing the casino before going to La Turbie. But I vetoed the  idea due to our unfamiliarity with Monaco. We could have ended up missing the next bus too which would have really complicated our plans. So we waited and caught the bus. 

La Turbie is a small town several hundred feet above Monaco and has the ruins of a Roman edifice called the Trophy of Augustus.  It was constructed to commemorate Caesar Augustus’ final victory over the many barbarian tribes living in the Alps. It took him from 15 b.c. to 8 b.c. to subdue them  and the monument was constructed in 7 b.c. Louis XIV destroyed it durning his reign, and it was only partially reconstructed in 1929 to be what is seen today. The ride up to La Turbie and back down was spectacular, maybe the highlight of the entire day. We made it up to the town with essentially a 30 minute window before the monument closed for an hour. The monument dominates the town and is a very short uphill walk. So we walked up the hill and spent several minutes looking before deciding that we needed to get lunch. Hs! Ha! Ha! #2 The restaurants we wanted to try were all closed.  In fact the only thing we could find open at that point was the bakery. There was a line out the door but when it was our turn there were only 3

sandwiches left. So we bought 2 sandwiches, a couple little pastries, and water. Anyone coming after us was reduced to picking from sheets of baked savories or bread. We took our makeshift lunch down to some tables for one of the closed restaurants and had lunch in the sun.  After eating we waited for a while until the return bus came to cart us back down the hill. 

Once back in Monaco we got off the bus and walked down to the casino. Monaco is like an ant’s nest. It’s all high rise buildings, unceasing activity and traffic. When you’re on the streets there’s barely any sunshine to be seen and no street goes straight for more than a few blocks before veering uphill or down hill. We did managed to navigate our way down to the casino through a lovely park that is situated in front of it. When we got there the place in front of the casino was filled with animated Christmas globes.  To be sure there were Ferraris, Porsches, Rolls Royces, Bentleys,

Lamborghinis, and other exotic cars parked out front. But it wasn’t the same as having them there with an unobstructed view. It’s a very expensive anthill and second only to Macao for population density. We went in to the front hall of the casino but since neither of us really gamble paying to enter wasn’t in the cards. Still it’s quite elegant and was decorated for Christmas as well. We spent a few minutes looking around and then made our way back to the train station for the ride back to Nice.