Mediterranean Iconic Shores Ocean Cruise

Day 29: Thursday, November 27, 2025 - Monaco City, Monaco

The day's statistics:
-  Weather: upper 50s
-  Steps: Linda: 9,607; Steve: 11,236

We awoke in another country this morning, the first different country in a week.

Based on the time, while we were at the World Café for breakfast and the ship arrived into port, I took these, though I have to admit that I am not exact certain from where on the ship I took these, nor how (looking at the second one because it appears as if I'm not even on the ship).

After breakfast we returned to the cabin and prepped for today's excursion called "Walking Tour of Monaco". At the time, we were actually in France - more specifically, anchored in Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France - and had to take a bus to the tiny country of Monaco - the second smallest sovereign state in the world, only behind Vatican City.
In order to get to the bus, we had to tender to shore first.




Our group gathered outside the small port building, and after everyone was accounted for, we made our way to the bus.
This required walking through the terminal building, along the waterfront a little, through an old gateway, and up a small incline to the bus.

We boarded and headed to Monaco City.
Our guide was Bridget, and our driver was Dino.
This area has a lot of wealth. Bono of U2, and Elton John of... himself... have homes here too.


















This should be a Porsche GT3 Cabriolet, listing for about $225,000.

This unassuming traffic circle is supposed to be the spot where we cross from France into Monaco.

The bus was getting closer to the parking garage.


This is probably a Bentley Continental, listing for about $250,000.

The parking garage was on the waterfront.


The parking garage was built into the stone and hillside. We took an elevator and then two escalators up to a higher level to begin the foot tour portion of our excursion.

At the top of the second escalator was an exit to the outside. This area was sort of a plaza and it was right outside the Musée Océanographique de Monaco. There was also a bit of a look-out spot, as well as a yellow submarine.




The group was led past the museum and toward a park. Near the entrance to the park was a pink house that was the home of Princess Carolyn.

In the park, there were a number of monuments and statues, including one of Pricess Grace.







About half-way through the park, the group arrived at an overlook area, that also included a statue of Prince Albert.
In the view to the left / northeast is the back of the Museum of Oceanography - and below that is an off-white structure that was the outside of part of the structure where the parking garage was.




Our hike continued through the other end of the park and up a slight incline.







The park path ended - in this spot, at least - at another overlook, this one at one of the small harbors. With some really expensive yachts.

The loops in the middle of the picture are supposed to be at the division of the two countries - Monaco and France.

A quick turn, and a few more steps and we were at a crosswalk in the shadow of the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate - the site of the Aprul 19, 1956, wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly - which was across the street from the courthouse.
I guess they could have gotten married in either building...


We went inside.
















Behind the altar were a number of apses.










Also behind the altar were some tombs, including those of Prince Andrew and Princess Grace.




The group exited the church and turned to the right, proceeding north toward the palace up the road between the church and the courthouse. It was only a four or five block walk to the Place du palais.







In the plaza was this statue. It is the François Grimaldi Statue and is dedicated to the knight that dressed like a Franciscan friar to gain entrance into the Monaco fortress, then overthrow the occupants and beging the Grimaldi dynasty, in 1297.

We walked a path that was, essentially, behind the statue above.



At the end of the path was a small plaza - called Terrasse du Palais - that was also an overlook of the famous Monte Carlo.
And if you have ever played or watched the video game Gran Turismo or [probably] any other main stream car racing game, you probably saw a portion of the track in Monte Carlo as seen from the view up here.



We were told this green roofed building should be the Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monte Carlo's most famous - and first - casino that started the countries economic boom.

We grabbed a selfie from here too.

The history tour was over, and we were given until 11:30 to meet at the yellow submarine back at the Oceanography Museum.
So we had about forty-five minutes to visit what we wanted before the meeting time. We chose to visit a souvenir store to get our postcard and shot glass before our casual stroll back to the sub (a couple of these are "duplicate").







After collecting our souvenirs and having a casual stroll the few blocks back to the museum, we were early. So we say on a bench near the museum and waited for our gathering time.


After the group was present, we headed back down the escalators and elevator to the parking garage. What is nifty about these escalators (and we've seen this elsewhere) is that they side not to go down is "red".

The group boarded the bus and we headed out on the bus for our return trip to the ship.



Monaco is famous for an annual Formula One race. There are [at least] a couple satues in its honor, and we actually drove across the start / finish line.



Continuing on first, through the rest of the city before following the shoreline.








Up on top of the hill to the left - not visible from the bus - was supposedly Elton John's house that overlooked Mont Boron to the right.

There wasn't much more before we were back at the terminal and taking the tender back to the anchored ship.

After embarking and dropping our excursion items, we had lunch at the World Café.

The major of the afternoon was spent in the Explorer's Lounge relaxing and playing cards.

Tonight's dinner was our last in Manfredi's. It was another tasty meal.
Manfredi's menu doesn't change, so there was no need to take another picture of it (this is from day 8.

We sat in the second section of the dining room.

Linda had Lasagne al Forno alla Bolognese, and Carmel something something.


I had Pasta e Fagioli, Parmigiana di Pollo, and Mille-Feuille.



After dinner, we took our wine to the atrium for a couple songs.

A bit before 8:00 we headed back to the Explorer's Lounge for more trivia.
Tonight we teamed up with Kathy and Keith from Toronto.
We didn't do very well - even Lewis admitted it was a hard contest - only scoring 5 of 15, with the winner only having 11 correct answers.

Tonight's musical entertainment in the Star Theater was a little different.
Rather than the resident musicians (whose job it is is to sing and dance) or a guest musician, tonight we were enteretained by our Cruise Director Michael. He essentially told the story of his life, while singing some of his favorite music. There were a couple times when the audience stood for one reason or another, including during a song that a large number of couples danced.




Of course I recorded a couple songs of the forty-five or so minute show too.

Michael is very talented, indeed.

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