Travel Tip: Prior to our Mediterranean cruise, I
purchased two guide books: Rick Steves’ Pocket Guide to Barcelona and
Mediterranean Cruise Ports. Both proved
to be worth their weight in gold. I love
the insights that Rick provides and have been a long-time follower of his
travels and helpful travel hints. The
Mediterranean Cruise Ports travel guide book worked wonderfully. Sadly, a
couple of Ports were not included in his book that we would be going to – but a
google search and some travel boards (Trip Advisor!) helped fill in missing
details.
Having been on a number of cruises in the Caribbean prior to this cruise, I decided to forgo the ship organized excursions and plan our own. This requires some commitment, time and lots of internet searching. Hopefully my blog will help narrow those down for you!
Excursion to Villefrance Sur Mer
Villefrance is a tiny port requiring the only tender. We knew we wanted to see both France and Monaco but we only had 8 hours to fit everything in.
Travel Tip: Book early. I had started looking for services more than 2 months prior to our trip and especially for France, I received a lot of replies that they were already occupied. We ended up using a fellow, Jean-François SÉNÉCHAL, of France Prestige Tours (www.provencesightseeing.fr). He spoke excellent English and was very nice. He had a van with air conditioning. (Cost for private tour : 400 € + lunch)
I knew we would want to visit the Chagall Museum and the market. We also wanted to visit Monaco. After a few email exchanges, we set up our itinerary. The morning would be the old town and market and the museum.
The Chagall museum was small but lovely. Easy to knock off in an hour or so. It was extremely quiet and not at all crowded when we were there.
From the museum we headed into the old town (Vieux Nice). How lovely to walk around the narrow streets and peak into the shops. In the market I purchased some spices, jams, lavender and other trinkets to bring home as souvenirs. We ate in the Market ordering traditional French lunch and of course wine! Here is our guide and my youngest font la pause de midi.
I promised my kids a gelato a day and we delivered. Not to be missed is Le Pinocchio in the Market. YUM.
The other must do in France is of course – Le Macaron. My daughter is obsessed! How pretty a shop and how pretty a dessert.
After our lunch and gelato, we head back into the van and head to Monaco. On the way we pass by Roquebrune medieval village. The trip along the coast was lovely and having a private car meant that we could make many stops along the way for pictures.
We spent the afternoon in Monaco – walking around the harbour and looking at the massive yachts docked. We of course went to the Prince's Palace and the Cathedral of Monaco. We walked around the Palace Square and took pictures.
.
A highlight was the Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium - the Jacques Cousteau aquarium - has beautiful species of fish in the lower level and an exhibit hall in the upper level with ship models and whale skeletons. An hour or so is plenty at the Oceanographic Museum.
Our first day of excursions was a success - I am so thankful that we hired a private guide who could take us around. He was charming and knowledgeable and a great way to get to know the locality.
