French riviera part 2: Feeling rich at Monaco

Our 5-euro Thelo train to Monaco was at 8 AM after we had a nice breakfast at our hostel. So fellow student-budget travelers, if you want to economize, do stay at Nice to visit Monaco during the day and return at night because there is nothing cheap at Monaco, especially cheap accommodation. It was an amazing view of the ocean and sunrise (yes the sun rose at 8 AM at that day) along the railway. I could still remember the sensation of the train journey if I close my eyes now. That is why I enjoy writing, it made me remember the tiny detail of the moment in the past. 

Getting out from Monaco station, there was this beautiful chapel with hilly area of orange, red, pastel-colored buildings as its background. We were like: Are we doing religious tour this week? From Barcelona to Nice, we visited so many churches and chapels. The interior was fancy and it had red carpet, nicely furnished and preserved. There was one old man praying, bet he is a rich guy! It was Sainte-Dévote Chapel dedicated to Saint Devota of Monaco.

Then, we looked for the F1 trac kbut could not find anything special but a statue of the first Grand Prix. Well, I am not a big fan of any kind of sport but again, my travel mate is!

So we climbed up to look for Palais Princier de Monaco. This whole Monaco idea actually came out from my mom which adores Princess Grace Kelly. I felt sad that I could not bring her here. She must love this place. Monaco is a sovereign city-state country which is the second smallest country after Vatican! This is the beautiful hiking steps to the palace:

Unfortunately, the palace is closed during those months. It serves as the residence of Sovereign Prince of Monaco. What makes this palace unique is its location at the top of the hill and inside the fortification wall. 

I am in love with this country. It is like living inside a Monopoli game life. All the small streets, the flags, the shops and the colors of the buildings are so unreal and we can see the real bourgeoisie (Oh my God it is so difficult to spell this word!) with this special type of skinny dogs are lurking everywhere. We could not find any single fast food or cheap grocery store here. Luckily, we found a nice burger place near the shopping district. It was only 7 euros per burger and it was so juicy and tasty just like the one I saw in national geographic people channel. I believe this is how the real Krabby Patty would taste like. 

Then we went inside the Monaco St. Nicholas cathedral. From what I understood is that lots of important people was buried here or what because there were this kind of pavements behind the main podium with their names and paintings. What makes it feel majestic was again like the tiny chapel: the red carpet heading to its altar. It was made by white marble and facing the sea. Just beside this cathedral is a beautiful Palais de Justice.

They have advanced gardening skill an taste, don't you think ?

Finally, the most important part came after we went down from the hill and walk along the port full of yachts: hiking to Monte Carlo area. I was kind of nervous to walk to Monte Carlo quarter. I knew this place from Isabella Swan prom night theme now that I am embarrassed by this fact. See, all books will serve you something no matter how you feel stupid reading it back then. But I mean, the book wasn’t that bad, the movie was. The road to Monte Carlo was a bit hiked and I felt my feet were missing due to my fatigue. It was not that hiked by the way, it was just me being tired after days of walking, so don’t worry. Along the way we found a bi-functional theatre and cinema facing the sea shore in honor to Princess Grace Kelly. They have super high standard of leisure in this place. There were also a lot of premium brands shops along the way which just lay there like a grocery store. Insane! Turns out that the opera is still a part of the casino. I did not realize this fact until I go inside the casino. It was also designed by Charles Garnier the one behind Palais Garnier, Paris. Here is the opera facing the sea:

So the grand and majestic Casino de Monte Carlo, it is. We wanted to play but seeing the type of cars and visitors coming in suddenly my low self-esteem became lower and lower. Even though my best friend, Mariana who had been here before has convinced me to play inside, I was not sure if she was right now. I mean, no jokes that the real billionaires play here every night and just casually shop in the luxury boutiques without even care about how much the price tag says. I feel like seeing Gossip Girl in real life in a multiple scale of richness. So, we ended not being dare enough to ask the ticket price to go to the gambling area (I kind of regret this now) but we only went inside and saw the lobby. I think they are kind enough to let poor people go in and take photos at the lobby.

Just after the casino area you will walk through all the fancy boutiques with igloo kind of architecture. We walked into a random mall and observed these rich human beings. I also surveyed engagement and wedding ring price range: just so I know. From this boutique area we could have a nice view of the casino itself and even fancier and more magical with the Christmas fake snow decoration. 

We were lucky that we had another Christmas market just next to the port: the biggest Christmas market I visited so far. The decoration was intense and they had more stalls and more variation of street food. We bought some rice from a grocery store that seemed like the only one there and ate in the port to wait for our train back to Nice.

At the end of the day, I could not feel my legs anymore because I was super exhausted physically and mentally seeing all the glamorous life here right in front of my eyes, not only in my screen. No words can explain this experience and how I thank myself for taking the decision to see Monaco’s life in this young age. And by the way, this is a top honey moon trip list if you have the budget. Perhaps with your own yacht. Good luck preparing for it, people. 

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