1 July

Sunday 1 July 0700  Mediterranean Sea   We have travelled 6892.2 Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 11 Nm to our next Port of Cannes.  Heading 50.6 Temperature on desk is 24.8 degrees. Speeding 5.8 knots.  Wind speed 8.8 knots across the deck.

Port of Cannes                      France  Currency – Euro

Cannes is the crown jewel of the French Riviera and as we entered Cannes we passed the fortress where the famous prisoner the Man in the Iron Mask was kept.  Once again a lovely city with old lovely buildings BUT this is not what I want to see while stopping in Cannes.

Monaco and Monte Carlo.  Monco is less than a square mile in size and a sovereign state since 1308.  The first gambling casino was  built in 1856 and between 1870’s and 1930’s Monte Carlo was the roulette mecca of Europe.  We toured around the city and looked at the expensive properties and watched as expensive cars drove past the bus.  We visited the Palace which dates back to the 13^th century and were in time to see the changing of the guards.

The Formula One race track runs around the city and we stopped at the starting point and the bus took off and we then followed the track around the city. 

We were given free time to look around the Palace and to buy some lunch, I bought a great salami roll and the bread was 100 times nicer than the rolls in Vietnam.

After our free time we travelled to the Monte Carlo Casino which is a lavish structure in the centre of Monte Carlo and of course I went in and spent some money.  It was a fantastic place but very small, not even half the size of Darwin’s.  I certainly could imagine seeing James Bond standing in front of the roulette wheel.  You should have seen the cars parked out in front of the Casino; nothing under $100,000, even saw a soft top Bentley driven by a chauffeur. 

We had to travel from the ship by the sip’s small life rafts as there were too many cruise ships in port and of course we had to return the same way.  It was interesting getting on board as they pull out a platform on side of the ship and the small tender lines up with it, much easier than I thought.