1 Day 3 Countries

This time instead of going to just one country as a small vacation getaway, we decided to go to three. But given that it was a five-day trip, sacrificing one day to see three countries at once was not that big of a sacrifice.

To clear this up a bit, after the exams which kept me from writing the last weeks, my mother took me to Nice in France. A small city in France in the beautiful French Rivera. Some sun was all I needed after the rainy months leading up to this trip.

A week after my exams were done, I met my mom at the airport and we flew off to the south to enjoy some sun. Very much to our dismay, despite the higher temperature by comparison to Germany and the 100% forecast of sun, the French Rivera is still very chilly in the month of February.

Nevertheless, what can I say the sun just made the cold weather very bearable and the weather in the south of France was 100% better than the weather situation currently going on in Germany. Wet and cold is never my thing and never will be.

Anyway, after we arrived at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport in the afternoon, we took the local bus along the promenade, got off at one stop and walked to the hotel. After checking in, I was just beat so we took a little break.

Lately, travelling has taken a toll on me and I for one cannot explain why that is. I love to travel but
travelling just makes me tired and when I am tired I just can´t do anything fully which is just a wasted trip in my opinion. I just hope it gets better from here on out.

After that much-needed break, we went to town. Since it was France, the first thing we wanted to buy was pastries since French pastries are the best and everything looks so delicious even though you might not like it from the taste. Since the taste can be quite unique.

At the bakery, it was almost hard to pick what to have but eventually, we managed to get out without spending an excessive amount on bread and pastries. Frankly, it was late so most of the goods were sold out but despite most of the goods being sold out, there was still quite a big selection.

With our pastries in hand, we make our way down Main Street to find a place for dinner. What we found interesting was that there were no French Restaurants, but most Restaurants in Nice are Italian. It makes sense distance-wise but it was still France, so we were a bit confused.

When confusion didn’t cloud our heads anymore, we picked the one with the highest rating and just ordered a paella which is Spanish. To their credit, they did serve French cuisine such as escargot and creps, but paella, pizza and pasta are still on the menu so it was probably a mixed cuisine restaurant.

The one thing I truly loved about the paella was that there was seafood. I hate to reiterate it but I love seafood with all my heart so if we are going to a coastal city, I am going to have seafood. The paella itself was fine.

Since my mother and I shared the paella which was smaller than the paella we got for the same price in Spain, we ordered deserts. My mother got crepe and I got Crème Brûlée since I am a sucker for a good Crème Brûlée.

The Crème Brûlée was the best I have had so far since at home I can´t recreate the flambeed sugar on top of the crème as well as the restaurant with their flame thrower. After being stuffed with dinner, we went back to the hotel to rest.

The next morning, we ate a delicious croissant for breakfast and made our way to the train station. From there we took the next train headed to Ventimiglia and got off at Villefranche-sur-Mer for the yearly floral naval parade. It was like a carnival at sea.

We arrived to a hoard of people, wanting to get to the port. Due to security concerns, there was a bag check which took quite some time. Eventually, we did manage to get to the location since there was no entry fee.

Since my mother and I are both illiterate in French, we just waited with the people. We didn’t know what would happen next or anything, we just knew a time and place so we waited where the locals waited. Then a ship decorated with flowers steered out of the port and in front of the audience and everyone cheered.

Then for a long time, nothing really happened. Suddenly there was a carnival parade with music and people dressing up behind us. Due to the crowds, we didn’t manage to see anything. All we could hear was the music and all we could see was the feathers which was quite a shame.

For another while there was nothing and the people waited patiently and my mother and I were just very confused. Then the announcer started talking and all the ships from the port just sailed in front of us and started throwing flowers as if they were carnival candies.

Since we thought that they were only going around once, we thought we wouldn’t get any flowers since we were in the third row but in the end, they went for an encore, so we got a beautiful bunch of flowers since the people on the ships started throwing the flowers they used as decoration on the ship.

At the end of the fest, the ships looked like regular ships and everyone went home happy with a bouquet. My mom and I thought we could be smart and beat the crowds by staying a bit longer so we got something to snack on.

However, we couldn’t have been more wrong. The stairs leading up to the train station were jam-packed and unmoving. The bus stop is just as full and don’t get me started on the buses who couldn’t stop to take more passengers.

We eventually did beat the crowd by walking to the bus stop prior. The bus was already packed and that is how we got back from Villefranche-sur-Mer the flower parade. After that exhausting day in the crowds, we got dinner. Of course, I got seafood risotto.

One thing you need to know when travelling with my mother is that there is no rest day. So the next day, Cannes, which is just a short train ride away from Nice. The town is known for the international film festival and probably only that.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed being in Cannes more than in Nice if I can be honest for some reason I can´t explain. Since it is most known for the film festival, you can find references to celebrities everywhere including construction sites.

When we arrived in Cannes, the first thing we did was visit the tourist centre since it was close to the location where the film festival is held but it was also the place that houses plenty of celebrity handprints and really cute souvenirs.

But you can only see how many celebrities you heard of for this long, so the next stop was the petit train for a little city tour. The tour consists of a historic part and a Croisette part. The Croisette tour took us through the superlative part of Cannes including where stars like to shop and where they stay.

The historic tour took us to see a completely different side of Cannes. We got to see markets, medieval parts of the town and castles. All in all, I love a good round tour despite the train being very shaky and you cannot take any pictures while you are there since you are constantly on the move.

After the fascinating tour through Cannes, we took the next ship headed to the nearest island, the island of Saint Margaret. It is a nature reserve great for exploring. But if you are also interested in history, in the royal fort, the man with the iron mask was imprisoned. His identity still remains a mystery.

We were a bit late and didn’t have time to explore the island as much as we might have wanted since the last ship left at 5 pm. So, unwilling we made our way off the island and back to the mainland right in time for dinner.

For dinner, we just picked a random pub. But since that was really uninteresting, we took the train back to Nice and prepared ourselves for the carnival to come since in the evening was the lights parade but since it was cold, we needed jackets.

I honestly am really excited to see the Nice Carnival since I always wanted to watch it in person. And I can confidently say that the Nice Carnival did not disappoint. I love this year’s theme was “King of Pop Culture” because you got to spot your favourite characters on floats which was amazing.

The next morning, we took the train from Nice to Ventimiglia, Italy. We didn’t have anything planned there, we just wanted to say that we have been to three countries in one day. But in Ventimiglia, we did get proof of our short stay and we walked along the beach.

From Marco Polo Beach in Ventimiglia, you could truly spot Monaco in the distance. After buying a few souvenirs, we got on the train again and the next stop was Menton, France. Since this time of year, Menton celebrated something special.

This time of year, Menton celebrates the citrus festival where they make statues out of lemon, lime and oranges. The theme is the Olympics (probably because of the upcoming Paris Olympics) from what I have gathered, and it was just citrus everywhere with citrus souvenirs for you to take home.

There happens to be a citrus parade as well with citrus floats but those were on nights when we are no longer in France, so it is a shame that we have missed out on that. But getting the opportunity to see the light parade carnival the night before did make up for it.

Just around the corner from the citrus statues was a cute café where we enjoyed a delicious crepe and bathed in the warming sun. After fuelling up some snacks, we headed down the main street to do some shopping even though I didn’t buy anything besides a postcard.

My mother on the other hand wanted to find the famous citrus jam store, so we looked for the store. When we found it, it turned out that it had a small jam factory in the back. It was nice to see that there are things still being handmade or prepared.

After stocking up on all the jam and citrus souvenirs, we headed to the train station again because we still had one country to visit and not a lot of time. So in the afternoon, we made our way to Monaco.

I can´t truly say that I find Monaco special since it was in my opinion not. If you are not a fan of the grand prix or casinos then Monte Carlo is just another city in the world. I mean getting to see the yachts, sports cars and casino is nice but if I am being honest I am not such a big fan of those three.

However, if you are then you will be in for a treat since Monaco has plenty of sports cars roaming around and for grand prix fans a track which they could follow. All I am trying to say is that even though it is nothing for me personally, it doesn’t mean it might not be for you.

We did also see the Palast in Monaco but since the sun was setting and we needed to get back to the hotel, it was also the last thing we saw in Monaco. I can say however that the Monaco skyline at night is beautiful.

Surprisingly the entrance to the Monaco train station was really hard to find since it was still under construction but when we found the entrance, we took the next train back to Nice. And since I was exhausted I went to sleep.

The next day was a rainy day in Nice so I decided to stay in for the day and catch up on my series while my mother roamed out and about. In the evening, we had seafood spaghetti for Dinner which was a nice send-off since the next day we headed to the airport to head home.

All in all, I can say that I enjoyed my time away from Germany quite a bit. The French Rivera is beautiful and since I love the ocean I dream of moving there in the future maybe. And getting three countries knocked out in one day is just such a fun achievement.