While we didn’t set an alarm, we were all acutely aware that the earlier we left Zurich, the less traffic we’d have to fight… and the more time we’d have for adventures along the way to our next stop!
In the end, everyone woke up fairly early, and before long we had the car packed and were on the road.
The first challenge of the day: getting out of Zurich unscathed. Thankfully, the drive went relatively smoothly, though I snap a photo of us driving in the tram lane yet again. It’s so disconcerting (when you’re not a local)!
The weather was… not ideal. It was drizzly and foggy yet again. We couldn’t see much of the scenery at first, but one thing was very clear: there were a lot of tunnels. I had never really considered how many tunnels we’d drive through, but in a country that’s full of mountains, it makes sense!!
Even with the fog, you could tell the landscape was changing constantly: rolling hills, steep cliffs, and we’d catch little glimpses of villages tucked onto grassy knolls. It was gorgeous.
And then we hit the Gotthard Road Tunnel which is a whopping sixteen kilometers long! (Fun fact: the Gotthard Rail Tunnel is 57 km, making it the longest railway tunnel in the world. 57 km bored through solid rock is insane!)
When we entered the tunnel, everything was dismal and overcast.
But when we came out the other side…
Sunshine!! Blue skies!!! THE ALPS!!!
We all collectively (literally) said: “Wow.”
It was one of my favourite moments of the entire trip. We had kind of resigned ourselves to gloomy weather, despite the forecast promising sunshine further south. Coming out of the tunnel felt like we were entering a completely different world.
We couldn’t stop taking photos. Of course, the photos don’t even come close to doing the scenery justice. There’s something magical about seeing mountains like that in real life. The scale and grandeur is awe-inspiring. It especially warmed my heart to hear how enthusiastic the kids were about seeing these views.
Before long we were crossing the border into Italy. It was lunchtime, so we decided to look for authentic Italian food. I did a quick Google search and found a spot with great reviews—Ristorante Pizzeria L’Officina in Arenzano—which supposedly also came with a view.
Getting there was quite an adventure!
We got off the highway and immediately found ourselves navigating twisty, narrow roads. We were all wondering what would happen if another car came barreling toward us. (I have no idea, and we didn’t want to find out.) The drive was slightly terrifying, but exhilarating in a way, especially since I didn’t have to drive.
The restaurant had just opened for the day and we figured since it was in such an obscure spot, it would stay relatively quiet, but the parking lot was full by the time we left. It was clearly a beloved spot by both locals and tourists.
Belle declared it the best pizza of her life and John ranked his pasta among the best he’s ever had (a seafood gnocchi). The views were incredible. Also, food in Italy is noticeably cheaper, which our frugal spirits very much appreciated.
What goes up must come down. Eeks it was tight. But we made it!
Back on the road, I resumed my role as navigator which, for the most part, went well. Except for one small mistake where I sent us onto the wrong highway and added about 20 minutes drive time and a small toll fee. Oops. That was my only major navigation fail of the whole trip, so I’ll take it.
In Italy, the tunnels gave way to something else: bridges. So many bridges. And not just normal bridges, these were high, sweeping bridges. Definitely unlike anything I’ve driven on before.
We debated whether to go straight to Monaco or stop somewhere in France. In the end, Menton seemed too good to pass up. It’s known as the “Pearl of the French Riviera” and gets about 315 days of sunshine a year. Sign me up!
I did about 20 minutes of research on my phone before deciding to go ahead with this stop, so I didn’t have much of a plan. Look at me flying by the seat of my pants! (Yes, it DID stress me out, why do you ask?)
We found a parking garage and, ironically, my strongest memory of Menton is that parking garage.
It was amazing.
First, there was a display at the entrance showing how many spots were available (not unusual), but inside, every single parking space had a light above it—green for empty, red for occupied. You could instantly see where to go without the need to circle around or guess. GENIUS. Does this exist in other places?
But wait, it gets even better.
Menton is famous for lemon production (they even host a lemon festival every year), and they were piping a subtle, fresh lemon scent into the garage. It wasn’t artificial smelling or overpowering, just light and clean and citrusy. AND they were playing classical music over the speakers.
It was the bougiest parking garage I’ve ever experienced and I loved it.
Finding a bathroom was significantly less glamorous. After wandering around trying to find public facilities (which were marked on signs but ended up being closed), we went to McDonald’s, buying a drink just so we could get the bathroom code for a very sketchy bathroom.
Menton itself is absolutely stunning. Brightly-coloured buildings, seaside views, and a very relaxed Riviera vibe. I wish we’d had more time to wander, because what we saw made it clear it’s worth a longer visit.
After touring the marina (mostly in search of an elusive bathroom), we made our way to one of the most iconic spots in town, Les Rampes Saint-Michel. The bright yellow stairs are the most recognizable photo op in town and they’re even prettier in person.
Basilique Saint-Michel Archange de Menton is at the top of the stairs.
We wandered through the streets for a little while and stopped for gelato.
I opted for lemon (leaning into the local theme, plus this gelato shop was famous for their lemon and lavender flavours). It was gross!!!! Bitter and grainy and just, UGH. To me it didn’t even taste like lemon, it was just an overpowering sour flavour. The rest of the family chose different flavours and theirs were fine. Pro tip: skip the lemon gelato (at least from Tutti Fruitti).
Then it was time to head to Monaco.
This is the view from our rental. You can see the tops of the grandstands for the F1 race!
Parking was a bit of a nuisance (there was parking on the street but it was free at bizarre times, so we had to set alarms to pay for it—thankfully via an app so we didn’t have to physically go back to the parking space—periodically throughout the day), but we eventually sorted it out. That’s always the tradeoff with short stays… you spend time figuring out logistics just in time to leave again.
Our apartment was incredibly dated, but in retrospect I have zero regrets. We had originally planned to stay in Nice, which would have been lovely, but staying in Monaco gave us so much more time to explore.
After settling in, we headed out for a quick first look around.
I’ll admit I didn’t know that much about Monaco before visiting. I knew it was small. I knew it was a haven for super yachts. And, as a Formula 1 fan, I knew about the famous street circuit.
What I hadn’t really thought about were the stairs.
Monaco is built into a cliff, which means getting anywhere involves going up (or down) a LOT of stairs. When I saw our apartment was only 1 km from the center, I was thrilled. What I didn’t factor in was that it was 1 km downhill/uphill.
We climbed an absurd number of stairs in those 36 hours. They do have elevators and escalators and I read online that if you see someone climbing stairs they’re a tourist not a local. There’s even an app that shows you the location of the elevators, but for the most part I found them difficult to find and not intuitive so we walked the majority of the stairs we came across.
A few random tidbits:
- Monaco is the second-smallest country in the world (after Vatican City).
- It’s incredibly dense with about 40,000 people packed into just 2 square kilometers.
- Internet was patchy; there’s supposed to be free Wifi but that never worked properly for us and our data plans were very hit and miss. I’m not sure if it’s because of being walled in by mountains, but if you’re visiting Monaco, you’ve now been warned!
- Locals aren’t allowed to gamble in the Monte Carlo Casino! It’s actually illegal. I had no idea.
Speaking of the famous casino, that’s where we navigated to the first night. Monaco was the stop in Europe chosen by Indy, exclusively because of his love of fancy cars. Monte Carlo/Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo (which can set you back €2,000+/night) is THE PLACE to spot luxury cars, and it didn’t disappoint.
After car watching for a while, we were exhausted. It’s also a pretty dressy part of town, and we looked like tourists that had been in a car for 7 hours. Instead of a fancy dinner, we went in search of a grocery store, which was surprisingly hard to find open in the evening.
When we finally found one, we grabbed a few basics. While checking out, I did what I always do and casually looked at what the person ahead of me was buying. Perrier, strawberries, some sliced meat… nothing particular unusual. It came to just over €45. He paid by card.
John had noticed he was speaking Portuguese and, unbeknownst to me, was eyeing him closely.
And then the guy turned toward us as he grabbed his bags.
It was GABRIEL BORTOLETO. (He’s from Brazil, hence the Portuguese conversation.)
If you’re not into Formula 1, that name will mean nothing. But he’s an F1 driver. Just casually buying strawberries and sparkling water in front of us at the grocery store!!!!!!
We didn’t ask for a photo (it all happened too fast, and he probably wouldn’t have appreciated being ambushed mid-grocery run), but when we left, we saw him sitting outside the store in his car. (An Audi, which makes sense since he’s a driver for the new Audi team.)
As huge F1 fans, we had joked about how cool it would be to see a driver in Monaco and we did. We’re pretty sure we spotted another driver the next day, but that’s a story for later…
We made our way back to the apartment and threw together a questionable dinner of ramen and fruit.
Not exactly gourmet, but it did the job. And the view from our balcony was nice 🙂
Your turn.
- Have you ever wound up behind a celebrity in line?
- Have you ever gambled at a casino? (That’s a big no from me.)
- Has anyone else seen red/green lights in a parking garage?
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Love sharing your travels! Don and I were in Nice in the 80s, and we popped into a casino in Monaco. No admission sans a tie, so we didn’t go inside. I’ve got the travel bug so hope the jet fuel/war crisis gets resolved soon.
Yes, there is a dress code at the casino (especially after a certain time of day).
We didn’t end up making it to Nice, but I’ve heard great things and would love to spend more time in the south of France one day.
I’m a relatively new reader/lurker on your blog and am so enjoying all your European adventure posts! I went to Paris when I was 14 for a week, but not urgent European travels and I am feeling rather jealous!
I’m from Cape Town, South Africa and the three shopping centres closest to us all have those green/red lights above each parking bay. SO useful! One, which has four parking levels, also has a screen up on each floor saying how many bays are free on that floor and how many are free on the higher levels.
*other European travels not urgent. Typing too fast and autocorrecting more like automistaking! 🤦
Parking garages in my part of Canada could use some improvement! Some of them have the signs with information on the number of available slots, but the green/red lights are the real gamechanger.
And thanks for reading along 🙂
Ok, another of my obscure (Is it really Mands? Maybe *everyone* knows about this) facts.
If you pull up a map and plot St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall and Mont St Michel in Normandy and join the two then extend the line outwards you end up with a straight line (a ley line some would say) that extends from Ireland to Israel and is peppered with ancient and/or historically important churches that are dedicated to the Archangel Michael. Online research tags: St Michael’s Line and the Sword of St Michael. Menton/Monaco are really very close to that line. The oldest building in my village is a chapel from c 1270 which is dedicated to the archangel Michael. We are very slightly off the line.
This is fascinating!
It’s illegal for locals to gamble in Monaco! Huh.
What a cool road trip! The scenery is amazing. I love Italy so much, and the food is a big big part of it. Also the Italian-ness of it all!
I am going on my OWN road trip this week, are you jealous, I am going to Alberta *whomp whomp* I just hope it stops snowing or we’ll have to push it out again.
It makes… no sense to me. Especially since the residents are so wealthy.
The food is just incredible in Italy. I think I could retire very happily in that part of the world.
Safe travels to/from Alberta. I hope the time home with your parents goes smoothly.
AND SNOW. Ugh!!!!
Illegal for locals to gamble. That says something, right? Smart. They should do that in Nevada. I wonder how much they woud lose?
Those bridges! Those tunnels! Those narrow roads and switchbacks! I got a brief glimpse of that in our one day over the border into Italy, and it was beautiful and (for me) kind of terrifying. We didn’t go to Menton or Monaco, but Menton looks so much like Nice, in all the best ways. I’m so glad you ventured into France. All of the towns we visited had ancient areas, with churches at the top and the twisty turny cobblestone streets. Just beautiful.
The first time I saw the green/red lights in a parking garage was at the airport in Portland, Oregon. We have them in some of our downtown garages now. I think they are GREAT and they save so much time. There is also a big sign at the entrance that tells you how many spaces are available on each floor, and at the end of each row that tells you how many spaces are available there. It works really well, though it doesn’t account for things like disabled parking and spots that are otherwise designated for specific groups. Still, it really reduces the time one spends driving up and down looking for a spot. There is, however, no lemon scent, nor classical music.
When I was in Nice with my cousin, we parked in a garage under a shopping mall. When we came back, no matter how much we looked, we could not find our car! Was it stolen? Was it towed? Were we losing our minds? No to all. The garage was divided up into public parking and exclusive parking (for locals who bought a monthly pass maybe? I’m not sure). The elevator either did not tell us this, or (more likely) our French was horrible and we didn’t see it. So we were walking around in the exclusive parking area. Some kind people tried to explain to us, but it took us a while to understand, because we were SO SURE we had parked there and taken the same elevator down.
I think locals can go inside to eat/drink? But I had no idea they couldn’t gamble. It seems a bit counterintuitive.
Yes, the drive is beautiful and terrifying (and Italian drivers are pretty aggressive).
The lemon scent and music really tipped things over the edge 🙂
I hate trying to find parked cars in garages! There needs to be some sort of QR/Google Map situation so you get a specific pin and it guides you back.
Wow- so much happened in such a short time. I love the story of entering the tunnel on a foggy, gray day, and emerging on the other side into sunshine and beautiful views! I’ll bet it made the views even more spectacular.
All that driving- eek. Well, John was the one who wanted the road trip, so he obviously felt confident in his abilities to drive. I wouldn’t want to do it!
Soooo cool that you saw an F1 driver in Monaco. It would mean nothing to me, but Indy (and the rest of you) must have been thrilled. It looks like a beautiful place.
I’ve been to Las Vegas and spent a little time in one of the casinos there. It’s definitely not my thing!
The tunnel exit was INCREDIBLE. It was also the first time we’d seen the sun in several days, so it felt extra special.
How cool! Menton looks particularly stunning!
It was lovely. We could have spent a very pleasant day together cafe hopping and smelling all things lemon!!!
Your photos are stunning as always! I am so enjoying tagging along on your trip.
So, my friend’s mother found herself in line at the grocery store behind one of the Boston Bruins, the local NHL team, and blurted out, “You’re much better looking in person than you are on TV!”
I haven’t seen any parking garages with those red and green lights, but what a good idea! Just yesterday, though, I was at the gas station at Costco, where the pumps are three deep, and they have a sign that lights up red or green so you can tell if there’s an opening ahead when you’re behind something big. Seems like a good idea to me.
Ha! A backhanded compliment, I guess??
Gas stations are another thing that can feel overwhelming. I’ve never seen lights, but if any place would have that, it makes sense Costco would come up with the idea! Genius!
The views! Belle’s pizza! The stairs! The F1 driver at the grocery store! These are all such amazing things. This truly is an epic road trip!
I played a roll of quarters in a slot machine at a casino in Las Vegas, just to say I did. I didn’t win anything. I have never seen the green/red lights in a parking garage, but I live a sheltered life and have probably only ever been in two parking garages!
I’ve never played anything at any casino, but we did find poker chip on the ground to a specific casino here in Helsinki, so maybe we should try to go play it?
I love that church!
I have gambled once ( excluding scratch off lottery tickets) on the ferry to Nova Scotia! ( once the boat reached international waters, gambling was allowed? Long time ago.) I put a quarter in a slot machine, won 8 quarters, and retired with a profit. I’m a math teacher, so I know too much about expected value and probabilities, and not enough about strategy, to waste my money at a casino.
How ironic you gambled en route to Nova Scotia.
That’s a great return on investment. What did you do with your giant windfall?? Haha.
That is a very cool titbit that I didn’t know about! Thank you for mentioning it, Manda. I’m off to some research…
That was intended as an answer to Mands (not Manda…) above – sorry!
We have some parking garages around here that will let you know if it’s full or how many spots are available (sometimes you can even see it within the row), but not those red lights/green lights. That’s genius! So helpful!
I have gambled in a casino, just the slots, though. I never win because of course. But my mom has won, like, $2,000 playing slots before!
That pizza looks DELICIOUS.
WOW! $2,000. Remind me to invite her to Vegas when I finally make it there…
Australia has the coloured light system in the carpark but 99% of the time they’re broken and the green ones should be red haha. So everyone pretty much ignores them now.
The photos of this road trip look incredible, giving me major wanderlust.
Btw, Gabriel Bortoleto is meant to be super nice, so probably wouldn’t have minded in the slightest if you’d asked. Very cool you got to see him in the flesh.
Ha, yes, broken lights wouldn’t be too helpful!