Ah, Nice. The second stop of the cruise was to be “VilleFranche,” also labeled, “Nice.” Little did I know…where we would land. Well, actually we didn’t. The ports along the French Riviera were either too small or too expensive to dock at so the cruise parked out in the water and tugboated us in. I’m sure Royal Carribean has no idea how this docking annoys the passengers. For one, we had no idea what time we’d be allowed off. The day before the docking, we were informed we’d have to get tickets (free) for the tugboats. We would be assigned a time for getting off. Those getting tickets first got off first.

I won’t go into boring detail, but getting the tickets was a disorganized mess–and the first passengers off didn’t happen until just after 8 in the morning. For those of us planning our own day, this was rather later than I needed/hoped to be off. The other confusion was that “VilleFranche” is actually about 40 minutes from Nice by bus. It’s also about 30 to 40 minutes to Monaco. This was not at all clear until after we were onboard the cruise ship because when looking at the cruise itinerary, it was always listed as Villefranche (Nice.) Silly me, I assumed this meant that they were the same, very close or a shared port of some sort.

I had planned to take the Train de Pignas to Entrevaux for the day. (The train goes further, but it runs two hours apart and there is no other way back to Nice the further you go. Entrevaux was actually pushing things. If something happened to the train–we missed it or it stopped running–we would have had to take a taxi to Puget-Theniers and catch a bus to Nice.) At any rate, with the late dis-embarking and a bus ride into Nice, there was no way to make the correct train.

Even with plan B, the cruise could have made our life easier by telling us the name of the bus stop at Villefranche (this helps on the way back), providing an accurate and detailed map of how to get to the bus stop (it’s a good ways up a winding hillside through a few different streets.) Everything was doable, but the lack of information was noticeable and extremely annoying. I had some idea of the bus information because I had assumed we would need to take a bus to the train station. Of course, we didn’t dock at the bus station I thought we would, but that was not a major deal.

We took the bus into Nice and took another bus (bus 400) out to St. Paul de Vence. This was plan B–more touristy than Entrevaux (which, by the way, would be a great trip if the train ran more often so as to accommodate us tourists!!!) but a lot cheaper and better than many of the other things to do!

We made it to the main train station without a problem. It didn’t take long to figure out the bus to St. Paul. Each trip cost only one euro per person (each way). You can pay the driver as you get on the bus. The ride to St. Paul de Vence wandered through Nice, along the coast a bit and up into the mountains. We had to ask the bus driver to tell us when we were at the correct stop in de Vence–hint: Look for the old castle/citadel as the bus is climbing through the mountains. The bus stop isn’t right at the fortress, but you’ll get an idea when you’re close and you can ask for the de Vence (citadel) stop. It’s a little confusing because it isn’t end of the line, and I couldn’t figure out if there was another town called “St. Paul” after “St. Paul de Vence.” I wasn’t even sure what to look for in de Vence, but the bus driver was great. He told us when to get off and then it was merely a matter of wandering around until we figured out where the castle was located (fairly close to the bus stop–just up the hill a ways).

The Citadel is very much a tourist attraction, but we were lucky; there weren’t many people that day. Prices for the art, clothes, perfumes, spices and food are high, but the old citadel is a wonderful example of an old French town hanging on the side of a mountain. I understand that Eze, another what-used-to-be small town, is similar. We didn’t go there and it is closer to the docking area so there were likely more tourists. Either one probably provides a touristy sample of the towns that are further back in the Alps. (We were able to drive to such towns on a previous visit. Getting a car in Nice is not worth dealing with the horrendous and dangerous traffic, but if you have time, taking a bus or train around is very nice. The car was great once we were outside of Nice, but again, not really worth the stress of the incredible traffic. We aren’t likely to do it again. Ever.)

So here are some pictures from the lovely citadel:

Nice is a huge city; difficult to get around unless you are very good with the bus system. You can waste a lot of time trying to get to the beach (which is a rock beach, not a sand beach) or the old town area. Old town area has a market most mornings and is very nice–but touristy. And expensive. The tour from the cruise will take you to Eze, Monaco or St. Paul de Vence, but they are priced at 100 or more per person. We did both St. Paul de Vence and Monaco for about 4 euros per person. (Warning: To get into the Monte Carlo Casino, there is a ten Euro charge. You must have your passport. There are dress codes for most of the high-end casinos. The casinos are beautiful buildings both inside and out. They are along beautiful (crowded) coastline.)

The ultimate tour would be to hire a driver to go back into the Alps, but drivers I contacted started at around 300-400 euros per vehicle. If I were going again, I’d try for the train I mentioned above, or even try taking a bus back into some of those smaller alpine towns.