Nice
Not going to Monaco while staying in Nice would have been a big mistake. So, I took the train to Monte Carlo, the capital city of this tiny state, and spent a day visiting the main attractions there.
Next was the Oceanographic Museum founded by Price Albert I over 100 years ago. The two basement levels are an excellent aquarium. I have seen many of them all over the world but this collection is the most impressive. The Museum building is grand and worth visiting just for its architecture plus many interesting exhibits dedicated to polar and marine exploration.
Last but not the least was the magnificent Grand Casino. Anyone can enter it, just wear decent clothes, have a passport or id card, pay an entrance fee of 19 euros, and then do inside whatever you want: eat, drink and be merry, or gamble your money away, or watch others doing it. The ticket comes with a 10-euro credit that you can spend on a drink or at a slot machine.
I was there purely out of curiosity. The Casino is what Monte Carlo is known for. I wasted my 10-euro credit on a slot machine. I never win, that is why I do not gamble. I should have had a drink instead.
But what I saw inside exceeded my expectations. I visited plenty of palaces around the world but I never was impressed that much by the interior. Cathedral-high ceilings, paintings on the walls, drapes – everything looked exclusive and rich and, at the same time, they did not overdo it. The slot machines and roulette tables stand unobtrusively as if they were not the main reason for you to be there. It was not like any casinos that I saw in Vegas or Melbourne where it is noisy, too plushy and lots of blinking lights. The Grand Casino is the true nobility among them.
Very impressive! The Grand Casino is definitely worth a visit.