Day 29 Sat 13th July Monaco - Rothschild villa & gardens

A sleep in for everyone this morning.  How fantastic.  Our first real day for a couple of weeks when we haven’t had to get up at a certain time.  The morning was free as we are staying here for 4 nights We had a very late breakfast and caught up on some washing and relaxing.

At 12.30 we went for our last optional tour to see the Villa & Gardens Effrussi de Rothschild. We were getting used to the terrain of the cap D’Azur as we drove along roads winding high above the sea.  Breathtaking views all the way. We saw the huge city of Nice below and decided that we didn’t need to visit another big city in our free time.

The Villa is a stunning two story house with views out every aspect that you would only dream about. The property is set atop a promontory overlooking the Mediterranean sea.  There are 9 gardens complete with fountains which dance in time to classical music.  It was so peaceful and relaxing wandering about the house and the immaculately manicured gardens.

Back to Monaco and off to our farewell dinner where we had lots of laughs and said farewell to our friends from the past 10 days.  It was very said to say goodbye to Gigi, our charming American/French tour director and Mario, our very capable bus driver who had some tricky situations to deal with.  We would HIGHLY recommend Insight Tours (particularly Insight gold) to anyone thinking of travelling to Europe.  The standard was exceptional and the legroom in all their coaches (not just Gold) is huge, which makes the travelling so much more comfortable.

Gigi’s husband John also does private tours, especially around France specialising in war history. If he's anything like Gigi he would be fantastic.

We returned to our hotel and people, car and boat watched.  

a very old chair to get carried in (don't know what they are called)

close up of the detail of the pillar

a very unusual hydrangea

this was set up for a wedding of an Australian couple (I think they might have
had  a few dollars!!)

with Gigi

Mario, bus driver, on left

The lovely American family.  Susanna, the grandma, was 80. She coped very well with the
 help of a wheelchair

The 'girls' with Gigi.
Sumari (Sth Africa, on honeymoon) Lorraine, Denise, Ann from Mitcham,
Cathy from Sydney & Gigi