Sunday, July 15, 2012

July 15 Menton

July 15  Trip to Menton
We took the bus to Menton, conveniently located at our corner.  Even this 1 1/2 hour bus ride was still one euro.  We passed Villefranche-sur-Mer, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Monte Carlo and then Menton, a beautiful ride that hugs the coast.  A funny thing about the 1 euro buses.  It's 1 euro from Nice to Menton, but if you get on while the bus travels through Monaco you must pay another euro because it isn't France nor part of the French bus system!  Maybe it has to do with the history:  Menton and Roquebrune both declared themselves independent of Monaco's jurisdiction in 1860 and Grimaldi agreed to sell the town to France for 4 million francs. 
It's quieter in Menton, but still lots of people at every outdoor restaurant and the beach.  We visited the Musee Jean Cocteau, a strange but extremely talented artist, cinematographer, poet, etc. There is ancient part of the city, full of narrow, climbing streets, and 3 beautiful churches practically a block from each other.  In front of one of them was set up a stage and seating.  There is a tango festival in progress, and I suspect this is where the evening performances occur.
Everyone seemed to be bilingual, as it is extremely close to Italy.  We certainly eat a lot of Italian food on this trip.


Lovely market, could have bought every cheese I saw



Cute waiter with a wonderful head of curly hair


Each of these doorways leads to stairs like the ones below.
That's some climb to make it to your actual living space.




Yes, we climbed up these steps to see the churches

Stage on left and seating in front of the church 





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