Day 54 - Menton, France

We left Monte Carlo for Menton this morning, which is about 15 mins away and very close to the border of France and Italy. We had planned to make a pit stop in the coastal town of Villefranche-Sur-Mer on the way, but after 20 minutes or so of looking for a parking space (unsuccessfully), we decided just to skip it and proceed to Menton.

When we gave the receptionist at the Menton hotel our names for check-in, she looked at us with a frown and mumbled a few phrases in French. She went to the back to get someone who spoke English, and we were thinking, “uh-oh”. Another woman came out, and informed us that our room had been flooded the previous night, and that the hotel was completely booked. The good part was that they went ahead and booked us in another hotel. It turned out to be a major upgrade. We went from a hotel a few blocks from the ocean to a room right on the main strip with a nice ocean view!

At night with our windows open, I commented to Kim that the sound of the waves crashing was louder in our room than it had been on the beach (must’ve been some weird acoustical effect, being that we were up on the 6th floor).

For lunch, Kim finally got to try boullaibase, a regional seafood specialty. Then we strolled around Menton and the main pedestrian street.


After exploring Menton, we got in some beach time. Like Nice, Menton has a smooth-rocky beach. Unlike Nice, Kim was brave enough to jump in the ocean this time.

For dinner, we choose to eat at one of the outdoor ocean-side cafes and drink some more Rosé.

Additional notes/thoughts:
- If we come back to the French Riviera, we would gladly stay in Menton again. The town is great and much less expensive and more casual than the other French Riviera cities, but is still just a short drive from any of the big name French/Italian Riviera cities.