Cannes, Nice, Barcelona, and Monte Carlo

October 23, 2008
Cannes and Nice, France

Due to horrible weather, the ship made a detour from its planned stop in Marseilles and headed for Cannes for a surprise visit to the locale of the world’s biggest film festival. In light of the change, I decided it would be best to do a tour that would take me by bus to Nice for a guided tour and some free time instead of just staying in one city for the day. Aside from my [not so] lovely experience at Charles de Gaulle airport en route to joining the ship, this was my first real experience in France and it was a bit more enjoyable than the airport.

The drive from Cannes to Nice was filed with beautiful scenery at times, and ugly highway scenery at others. It was during the latter that I was able to fit in a brief nap and before I knew it, I arrived in Nice and exited the bus right along the water.

Shortly after the bus dropped off my group, we boarded a “tram” as they called it, though it was basically a train-looking truck that towed three passenger cars. Our guide sat in the front and gave us a great tour of the old city of Nice before we began ascending a hill from which we were able to take in a panoramic view of the entire city from high up. Before we reached the top, I already thought that the French Riviera was a beautiful place. The view from the summit trumped everything from the ground, as the beautiful blue sea was on the left and the old city was immediately to its right; beyond the city, I was able to see the beginning mountains of the French Alps, though unlike those I flew over when I first came to Europe, these were not snow-capped.

After spending some time at the top of the hill, we boarded the tram again to head back to part of the old city where we had free time to shop or eat along the flower market. Though it is called the flower market, there are street vendors selling everything from African tribal art to candy, fish, fruit, and other assorted crafts. Despite all of this, all I ended up buying was some olives and some Thai food for lunch (since the sushi bar I passed was closed).

At around 12:25pm, we re-boarded the bus and headed back to Cannes, but instead of napping, I elected to eat the food I purchased and decided it might be wise to pay attention to what I might have missed en route. I did see a beautiful hill-top old town of which the name escapes me, but I enjoyed eating Thai food for the first time since mid-September despite the fact that it wasn’t even all that tasty.

Once we arrived back in Cannes, I elected to take a walk around the city rather than getting back onto the ship since I had a few hours before we were sailing. I passed the building where the film festival takes place, and also passed all the luxurious hotels where the celebrities and the wealthy stay throughout the summer when they come to Cannes. It is a beautiful port city and I am glad I got to spend a couple of hours here.

October 24-25, 2008
Barcelona, Spain

Friday marked my first visit to Spain as the ship stayed overnight in Barcelona. I got off the ship and ended up bumping into one of the guest entertainers who I met a couple weeks prior, and we ended up exploring the city together. We ended up grabbing a shuttle bus from the pier to a location closer to Las Ramblas (one of the main streets in Barcelona) and set out to find a place to eat. We found our way to the Plaza Reial, a decently-sized square filled with quite a few eateries and also a place called Jamboree which is a jazz club in the evenings and then turns into a proper nightclub/lounge after midnight. We sat down at one of the restaurants, ordered a pitcher of sangria, and figured out what it was that we wanted to have for lunch. It seemed like the “When in Rome…” philosophy was appropriate, so we decided that we had to order paella, and we accompanied it with a couple appetizers. I can now say that in addition to having pizza in Naples and souvlaki in Santorini, I have enjoyed paella and sangria in Barcelona. The list goes on…

From lunch, we ventured off in search of the Picasso museum but never made it all the way there. We came across a large public park with some large sculptures, lots of pigeons, and the occasional fountain, and we ended up walking around for a while before heading back towards the ship.

After I got off work on Friday night, a bunch of the crewmembers all headed off for various bars and clubs in the city and I decided to do the same. A few friends and I grabbed a taxi from the ship to Las Ramblas, and in the end, I found my way to a club called Fellini’s [by way of Burger King, where I stopped off for a whopper]. I did not stay for too long since by the time I made it out there, it was already after 1:30am, and I had to be up by 7:00. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the club (though alcohol was not cheap inside) and was glad I dragged myself back out after finishing work for the evening.

Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early (6:45am) for a tour that would take me around to see various buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi. Before we went to any of his buildings, we drove to the top of a hill for a panoramic view of the city at sunrise. From there, we headed through the historical part of the city of Barcelona and stopped at a couple of apartment buildings designed by Gaudi and I quickly discovered that I love his architecture. He avoids rectangles almost in their entirety, and one of his buildings contained windows that were all individually unique in shape. The structures also look extremely fluid throughout and are more than just buildings; they are art.

When our short drive from the hilltop ended, we arrived at La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous masterpiece that has been in construction for over 140 years and will not be finished anytime soon. The exterior of the building will finally be complete in 2009, and the entire structure was beautiful. We arrived on the side facing the nativity façade, which is the only portion of the building that was finished while Gaudi was still alive, and it was beautiful to see the sculpting, the towers, and everything else. La Sagrada Familia makes me speechless when I think about it, so words probably cannot do justice; consequently, I will not try to describe it. What I will say though is that it is a must-see for anyone who happens to be in Barcelona.

We left the church and headed for another masterpiece designed by Gaudi: the Park Güell. It was a park he designed for a count at the turn of the 20th century. It was nice to see more structures designed by Gaudi that were not meant to house people inside four walls, and the benches here (also designed by him) were the most comfortable ones I have ever sat on in a public park. To top off all the beauty I was seeing surrounding me, there was an amazing flamenco guitarist playing in part of the park and I was tempted to stay and listen to him instead of seeing the rest of the park. We left shortly thereafter and headed back to the ship, thereby concluding an exciting two days in an amazing city!

October 26, 2008
Monte Carlo, Monaco

We docked in Monte Carlo next to Lady Moura, the eleventh-largest privately owned yacht in the world, and it was just the first rich person’s toy I walked past while I explored the city. I got off with a few friends in search of the ultimate driving experience: taking a Ferrari for a brief spin around the Formula 1 Grand Prix street course in Monte Carlo. While searching for it, I got to walk all around the marina and ended up in front of the main Casino, where they filmed the James Bond movie Casino Royale. It was amazing to see the outside of this building, and we walked past some of the top-end hotels, including the Metropole where prices range from €600 - €10,000 per night.

Once we reached the area by the casino, we realized that we had to head all the way back to basically where the ship was docked to do the Ferrari drive, so I ended up heading back but stopped for a bit at the little street fair with carnival rides they had going on at the marina. I ran into some friends and we walked around for a little before I headed all the way back and finally did what I wanted to do.

I had to pay €85 to drive, but once I sat down in the red Ferrari 360 Spyder, I knew I had made the right decision. On one hand, I knew it was expensive and probably a rip off, but on the other hand, I figured that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only drive a Ferrari, but also to do it in Monte Carlo. I drove one lap around the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit (which took about fifteen minutes), and while this might not be the greatest thing I have seen or done thus far, it was easily the most exciting.