Monaco, Italy, France...Oh My!!

Matt and I were lucky enough to travel to Monaco, Italy, and France recently and I have just posted 3 albums from our trip. Matt had to be in Monaco for work (nice, huh?) and we thought this was a perfect opportunity to extend the trip and travel a bit since taking a trip to Europe together was on our list of things to do.

I flew over about halfway through Matt's week in Monaco. Monaco is a small principality located along the French Riviera and just gorgeous. Although we were only together in Monaco for about a day and a half, we thoroughly enjoyed walking around, people watching, and checking out some of the biggest yachts I have ever seen in the harbor. We also saw the castle/palace where Princess Grace Kelly lived with Prince Rainier, it was absolutely gorgeous and the views are breath-taking.

From Monaco, we took the train to Monterosso, Italy, which is about a 4 hour train ride. Our first trip on the European train system was very interesting and not much fun. Note to anyone traveling via train in Europe: do not bring a lot of luggage. I know for some of us ladies, that might be difficult with lots of outfits and shoes, but I promise you, traveling with a smaller suitcase will be well worth leaving that 6th pair of shoes behind!!! Needless to say, we were very happy when we arrived in Monterosso. We stayed at this great little hotel, Il Maestrale, which only has 5 rooms and a beautiful veranda where we ate breakfast. The Cinque Terre is a group of 5 small towns along the Mediterranean Sea, in which Monterosso is the western most town. Our favorite part of our trip to Cinque Terre was the 7 mile hike we did from Riomaggiore to Monterosso. There are not enough words to describe how amazing this part of our trip was. Hiking along the cliff with the most beautiful scenery and stopping in each of the 5 towns along the way was a day that could not be topped. Italy, by far, was my favorite place we traveled. I love the quaintness of the towns and the laid back attitude of all the people. It is definitely a place I would love to visit again someday.

Our last stop on the trip was to Nice, France. After our time in Italy, we decided to head back to Nice, as that is where we were flying out of. We spent about a day and a half in Nice, just relaxing and walking around. Nice reminded me a lot of New York City, lots of people, restaurants, and shopping. Matt loved Vieux Nice - Old Nice - which was a section of town a few blocks in size. The alleyways went in all directions and sizes. It was a lot of fun to see little cafes and bars in these 10 foot wide alleys. Again, it is along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea so, the scenery is just gorgeous. Our hotel was located across the street from the Promenade and the beach, which made for a perfect running path in the morning.

All in all, we had a truly amazing time in Europe. While we did not do a lot of historical site seeing, we enjoyed 3 completely different places, that allowed for touristy activities, relaxation and a ton of fun.