The rain, which has dogged our tracks since southern Italy is with us again. Early this morning we woke up to find rain coming down in sheets. So terribly disappointing to have come so far, and waited so long only to see the French Riviera in a downpour.
Despite the terrible noise of the trains, I think I slept through it all – that’s how tired I was. You can lose so much sleep night after night then comes a time when the body will not take any more, and quits of its own accord.
Stroke of luck this morning. On going through my wallet, sorting out the French money, I found a 1000 lire note I didn’t know I had. I am getting low on funds so this is great. It gives me about 11/6d. (85¢) extra. I think I will buy a black and white film, seeing that I used the last colour film in Pisa. The rain has stopped so we may be lucky.
Later. Although the day was not brilliant by the Riviera’s standards it was decent enough. First stop Monte Carlo. We took it easy this morning – there was no rush. That brought us to Monaco at about their lunchtime. Not one shop open! I was unable to buy the film I wanted.
Most people probably know or have an idea of what Monte Carlo is like. Even so, I will try to give my own description.
It is situated in a bay completely surrounded by mountains. A perfect harbour is sheltered from all but the warm south winds. Most of the houses are painted cream or white with red tile roofs, in striking contrast to the green covered hills. The whole town is built on a slope which goes from the water’s edge to perhaps a thousand feet above the sea.
There is very little beach. What there is, is shingle. Here and there, the ultra-modern hotels and apartment blocks stand out in complete contrast to the rest of the town. As one would expect, Monte Carlo is very clean. It is easy to see that here is something completely different. Here live people who are used to seeing the highlife – even if they cannot afford any of it for themselves. Naturally, in every city there have to be the ordinary people to run it, unnoticed by the self-styled elite.
Down in the harbour, the rich people’s “yachts” are everywhere. About half of them look like small liners. Also from the harbour can be seen the most famous building in Monaco – the casino of Monte Carlo, denied to us of course. To stand in a town which has seen untold wealth won and lost, with less than £2 in the pocket as I did, seems to me to be height of impudence.
There seemed no point in staying in Monte Carlo until the lunch break was over. There were so many other interesting places to see. So we left and took the road to Nice.
The road rises well above sea level, offering magnificent views of the resorts below. Most of them are household names. The descent into Nice itself is also quite impressive. The view of the city would have been nice – pardon me – had it not been shrouded in mist. The sky was still cloudy to but in the middle distance could be seen the Promenade des Anglais, named I suppose, in honour of the many rich English who used to spend the winter in Nice during the last century and even in this one.
We drove along the impressive promenade which stretches for miles. It is a dual carriageway… Date palms grow profusely down the middle of the boulevard, separating the lines of traffic. Again, a very clean town, and I would not need much persuasion to stay here. There I go again. I would need a lifetime if I am going to stay at every resort that I would dearly like to – not to mention the money! The season is very obviously over and it is much colder than I expected. That does not mean northern England-type cold…
The lunch break is still on so we set off for Cannes. The road was a new Autoroute. As we neared the toll-gate there was no one to be seen, so gleefully we drove through. However, at the other end we were charged double for not having a ticket. C est la vie!
As we expected, Cannes was a typical medium sized resort with non-typical prices. It was so expensive. A look at the harbour gives a clue. There are even more “yachts” there than Monte Carlo! Allan did a bit of shopping for his kids then we were off again, beginning the last lap of the tour which will be a straight drive, stopping only for sleeping.
Turning inland, a comfortable twenty miles on the Autoroute brought us to Fréjus, scene of the terrible 1959 floods. We are camped just outside the city so we were not able to see first hand the effects of the floods. What we did see though, were the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, the famous viaduct and a bridge. What strikes me about these and other Roman remains is that they were built almost exclusively of brick, and not the stone I had always imagined. There are sidelines to history that you don’t learn in the classroom, and I have been lucky enough to see some of them. I shall never forget the first sight of some of these world wonders – even if I see them over and over again – which is not very likely.
We had deliberately cut today’s mileage down to an absolute minimum so as to see as much as possible. And so it happened that we were in the unusual position of looking for an official camp-site before dark.
We soon found one and now, after a meal we are going down to the camp office cum bar for a glass of beer, from which we have abstained for most of this tour.
Back again in the tent. Nothing special to report except to say that the French beer is infinitely better than the Greek! I’ll close now after one of the shortest day’s driving on the trip. Goodnight.
Speedo reading: 17674. 77 mls. (4130)