The Best Laid-Plans: Monaco

Stoic in Nice

We arrived in Nice at 2 pm three days ago and began our search for a cafe with internet (or with "wee-fee" as the French call it). We needed internet because we were not sure where to pick up our rental car. We had gotten a sweet deal on a car rental -- 3 days for $60 Euros and we could pick it up in Nice and drop it off in Barcelona. We needed to arrive in Barcelona today (10/23) so that Wilson could see an amazing soccer game -- Champion's League game between Barce and Celtic.

On the way to Barcelona, we planned climb on to limestone cliffs overlooking the sea at Les Calanques, by Marseille, France, "couch-surf" for our first time, and drive through the Pyrenees. In the Pyrenees, I had hoped to see a little of Basque Country and to visit places where my mom had spent the summer of 1961 (I think that's the right year) building a road when she was 19.

In Nice, we found a charming little cafe called "Pancake" and settled in with our coffee drinks called "Noisette" and "Americano" and opened up our i-pad to check on that car rental reservation. Zut alors!

We discovered that a couple of weeks ago we had ignored what we thought was a routine confirmation email from the car rental company. That email was not to confirm our booking --it was to cancel our booking. So there we sat at "Pancake" with our bags of clothes and rock-climbing equipment (approx. 110 pounds in total) with no plans and nowhere to stay in one of the most expensive global regions, the French Riviera. Whoops.

The place that we had planned to stay for the night, a "couch-surfing" spot was a small town a two hour plus-drive away. We had recently joined the "couch-surfing" website, www.couchsurfing.org, where you create a profile and ask to sleep on people's couches or spare rooms. No money is exchanged -- it is a cultural exchange. No car to get there -- no couch surfing.

What now? A tug-of-war between us over the i-pad began in earnest as we both tried to research:

(a) Car Rental (only Mercedes cars and upwards available -- we don't have the funds to cruise the Riviera like that);

(b) alternative modes of transport to end up in Barcelona (bus? train? ferry? plane?);

(c) climbing (would we ever get to do it again?); and

(d) where were we going to sleep tonight? (Pancake did not appear to be an option).

We eventually figured out the answers to the interrelated questions of b and c. We decided to go to Monaco! Where else should you go when adventure backpacking on a budget?




In Monaco, we didn't end up in the suit and tie mandatory casinos but we did hike up super steep hills from this little densely populated country back to France to a small village called La Turbie. During our online tug-of-war, Wilson had found out that there was climbing right by La Turbie -- so close that we could walk to it. The problem was how to get to La Turbie and that is why we ended up in Monaco -- albeit briefly.

After Pancake, we decided to try to "luck" into accommodation in Nice that night so with Wilson carrying 75 pounds of stuff and me carrying 35 pounds, we headed in the direction of where we thought cheap (for Nice) accommodation would be. On our way, we took in the Nice Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MOMCA).



Then as dusk began to settle in, we finally came upon a little inexpensive hotel where we got a very small room (they said it was only for one person) after six flights of stairs. It was their last room and we were glad for it.




The next morning, we woke up and ran through Nice and up to an incredibly beautiful park. In the pic above, you can see the park, Colline du Chateau, overlooking Nice, miles of the Côte d'Azur and the harbour. We then wandered through the fruit and flower market before we took the bus to Monaco and hiked uphill for 2 hours from Monaco to La Turbie -- Again Wilson was carrying 75 pounds of stuff.

The Old Town of La Turbie

We had to make the hike down again today. Here is a picture from the climbing crag of Monaco. Even though our "best-laid plans" didn't include another country in our itinerary and a lot of hiking, it was still an excellent way to spend the last 3 days.We loved La Turbie and the climbing was great, excellent quality while perched on top of uber dense Monaco, with helicopters jetting about and all of the mega yachts mere matchboxes below.