Next Stop: Nice


Naturally I was tired when I arrived the following morning in Nice. I had looked up the address of a hostel for Nice back when I was in Spain, but hadn’t actually booked anything yet. Luckily there were still vacancies, so I paid for a night and dropped my stuff off. The weather was great – sunny and warm, but not too hot – so I decided to check out the beach. I was expecting sand, of course, but instead found that the beach was full of smooth, 1-3 inch in diameter rocks. There were still lots of people lying out though. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but I still joined them anyway. It was going to take more than that to keep me away from the beach!

I was expecting sand, not stones!

After a few hours beachside I grabbed lunch, showered, and headed out for some sightseeing. There is a great park near the city center that is elevated several hundred feet which overlooks the waterfront and harbor. To reach it you have to climb up a bunch of stairs, but it is definitely worth it. Even though it is near the busiest part of the city, when I went up the park was nice and quiet. That day I also walked through a lively market near the beach and several major plazas in the old city centre. By the evening I was worn out! I stayed in and got a much needed good night sleep, and the next morning I was ready for my next stop – Monaco.

Stairs leading to the Colline Chateau de Nice
View over Nice from the top
modern street trams crisscross central Nice,
but I just used my legs to get around!

The trip from Nice to Monaco lasted only 30 minutes or so, and there was no sign that I had ever entered into a new country (no passport check, border crossing, etc). During the course of the day I walked pretty much around the entire nation! Sounds impressive, but not when you consider that Monaco is less than one square mile. I still found a lot to see, from the old Cathedral and Palace to the famous Monte Carlo casino. There was also a beach – and yes I stopped by for awhile to get some sun!

Monaco's harbor; the mountains in the
background are part of France
Monaco is even smaller than Andorra!
The Monte Carlo Casino - not a huge place,
but the cars outside were impressive enough!

By early evening I had to go back to Nice and pick up my luggage at the hostel. Most hostels are nice enough to store baggage for you even if you have already checked out, which is way easier than trying to find another place to store it. I was planning on departing from the Nice train station, but I hadn’t yet decided where to. With my pass I could just hop on any train that wasn’t completely booked. My goal was to make it to Germany, but I would have to stop in a city closer to the border first. 

I thought Lyon might be a good start in the right direction, but couldn’t find any open spots. Although slightly out of the way, Paris was also a possibility. Initially I wasn’t sure what to do and got overwhelmed. But it all worked out – I found a sleeper to Strasbourg, which basically within walking distance to the German border.

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