Monte Carlo - the royal way of gambling

We visited Monte Carlo during Easter 2015.

Transportation

Monte Carlo, or rather Monaco does not have it own airport. So the closest airport for all practical purposes is Nice, France. It takes about 45 minutes by car or bus from Nice to Monte Carlo, and you can get express buses from the airport to Monte Carlo which cost 20Euros one way (and 30 Euros return).

You can also take a train from Nice train station to Monte Carlo - takes about 30 mins - and costs 8 Euros. Of course, the problem here is that then you would have to again take a taxi / bus from the station to your hotel. In this regard, the buses (from Nice Airport) seem more flexible as they drop you at the Casino - from where most hotels are within walking distance - or you can also request the driver to drop you in front of your hotel if it is on the way (might depend on the driver's mood though).

We also noticed quite a few hotels in Monte Carlo offering helicopter rides from Nice airport to Monte Carlo. We did not dig deeper to get the prices and all, but it might be an option if you want to start the sightseeing process as soon as you land -:).

Both Nice and Monte Carlo are on the Mediterranean sea coast - so there are many ferries as well connecting the two cities.

While Monaco is a separate country - from a Visa point of view - it can be considered as a part of France. So apply Schengen Visa policies to decide if you need a Visa to visit Monaco. That is, if you are arriving via Nice; your Schengen Visa will not be stamped again while entering Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is a city for the rich and famous - so you will see plenty of luxury yachts docked at the port. The fact that it is close to Nice and Cannes only adds to its attraction for the privileged lot.

Monte Carlo is also famous for its Casino. The whole area around he Casino together with Café de Paris and Hotel de Paris can be considered as the center of activity in Monte Carlo. (Incidentally, all three establishments seem to be owned by the same group: SBM Monaco). This is where the crowd gathers as soon as the sun sets in Monte Carlo - some to play and dine in luxury - others to marvel at the flashy cars parked in front of the Casino.

Size wise, the Casino is quite small - as compared to say the Casinos in Las Vegas. However, the old style opulent interior decorated with wall sized frescoes provide the additional "luxury" quotient.

For people interested in taking pics of the Casino interiors, try visiting it in the morning 10-12. There is a 10 Euros entrance fee - but it is waived if you are staying in certain hotels in Monte Carlo - so check that before paying. The 10 Euros entrance fee also applies if you are visiting in the evening when the Casino is open, but then you are not allowed to take a camera inside anyway due to obvious privacy reasons.

Accommodation

Given the rather small size of the city, one can still find accommodation of all types - ranging from the budget B&B to the ultra luxury hotels. As our goal in this trip was to splurge in "man-made luxury" - rather than running around in scenically beautiful, but "difficult to reach" parts of the world - we decided to stay in one of the ultra-luxury hotels in Monte Carlo: Hôtel Hermitage.

From the foyer designed by Gustavo Eiffel (below), to the magnificent port view from the Crystal Bar terrace, to the Bvlgari (Bulgari) toiletries in the washrooms  - the hotel is luxury personified. We were even given a personal tour of the hotel upon arrival which was unlike any hotel we had stayed before (including the Hiltons, Radissons, of the world).

Nice, France

We spent only a day in Nice, so we did not get a chance to explore the city in depth. The city is famous for its azure (Mediterranean) coastline. The coastline is rather stunning and it is easy to spend the whole day just walking along the coast - which stretches into many kilometers.

This is clearly also the main touristic part of the city. If you are looking for a street name to tell the taxi driver, try 'Promenade des Anglais'.

Speaking of taxi drivers, beware of them!! One would expect that given this one of the most expensive localities in France, the taxi drivers would at least go by meter price. However, that is clearly not the case - may be because of the economic downturn or the influx of immigrants - but if you see a taxi driver trying to be overly friendly (talking too much), keep your eyes on the meter or at least verify that he is going by fixed or meter price (if you haven't already).





If you keep walking along the coast (more or less after the statue below), you will start seeing streets full of shops, malls, and restaurants - ideal for evening walks.

For quick sightseeing tours, there are both the Hop-on / Hop-off buses and the "Petit" (small) touristic train / tram (below) - both having stops along the 'Promenade des Anglais'.

The train is recommended esp. if you are interested in capturing panoramas of the city and coastline - as it gives a 10 min stop at a viewpoint on top of the hills from where you can get a magnificent view of the city and coastline below.

A few more pics to finish with ...

Snowy weekend in Les Diablerets (Glacier 3000), Switzerland

We visited Les Diablerets, a charming ski resort close to Gstaad, in February 2015.

 

Les Diablerets

Winter in Switzerland is ski-time - with almost everyone heading to a ski resort during weekends or whatever holidays they can manage. There is no shortage of ski resorts in Switzerland, both small and big (less or more expensive in that order). Gstaad clearly counts as one of the bigger and more well known ski resorts in Switzerland.

However, if you are more interested in the snow and scenery, and not so much in shopping and nightlife; it might be better to stay in Les Diablerets. It is connected by a 45 min bus ride to Gstaad, but is actually closer to the main skiing region / peaks - Glacier 3000. There are also many small peaks to ski or toboggan in Les Diablerets - so it ideal for (ski) beginners as well.

Les Diablerets is well connected by buses / trains. The Swiss Railways website SBB is very user friendly - just search by the station name 'Les Diablerets' (train station pic below). Just to give an idea, Les Diablerets is part of a state called Vaud - which lies in the French speaking part of Switzerland - so it would e.g. be easier to reach from Geneva than Zurich.  


 

The city itself is very small, with only a few hotels and restaurants. We stayed in the Eurotel Victoria hotel - which we can definitely recommend - esp. because of the all encompassing natural beauty surrounding it (see pic below).




The city center - as can be seen below - is basically a few restaurants, souvenir and grocery shops. 
 (If you have difficulty finding something suitable to eat - due to the limited choice in restaurants - traveling to Gstaad might be an option as well.)

Glacier 3000

The 3000 in Glacier 3000 refers to the fact that the skiing region consists of many peaks, e.g. the Scex Rouge, at approx. 3000m. Even if you do not ski (like us), the trip to the top is still very much worth it. And, the best thing about Switzerland is that the infrastructure exists to take you up there - without much of an adventure, so to say.

You basically need to take a cable car from Col du Pillon - to reach Scex Rouge. (Pics of the cable car and the station below).

Col du Pillon is like a 10 min (free) bus ride from Les Diablerets - via an equally scenic road (see pic below).

Once you reach Scex Rouge, it is like you are in winter wonderland - with snow, and more snow, wherever you look.

The last pic e.g. shows the Alpine (roller) coaster - which Ranbir Kapoor and Minissha Lamba were sliding on in the song 'Ahista Ahista' from the movie 'Bachna Ae Haseeno'. Unfortunately, it is closed during winter; but you can easily imagine to adrenaline rush of sliding down a roller coaster at this height.

Tissot sky walk

The one thing which you absolutely should not miss here is the Tissot sky walk. The sky walk - unveiled in 2014 - is an architectural marvel connecting two peaks. So enjoys the pics below, while planning your trip to experience it first hand !! :)  


   

Kerala, India - god's own country

We visited Kerala in Dec 2014.

 

Kerala

Kerala is often referred to as "god's own country". While the promotional tagline can be argued, there is no doubt that Kerala is a great touristic destination. The good thing about Kerala is that you get to see both hills and (back)waters in proximity of each other.

There are many places to visit in Kerala, and a complete tour would probably include:
Cochin, Munnar, Thekkady, Alleppey and Kumarakom.  However, covering all these places will require at least a 7 day trip. So it really depends on your budget, trip duration, and to a lesser extent whether you prefer hills or (back)waters. As we also did not have a lot of time in hand, we chose Munnar and Alleppey to get a taste of both hills and (back)waters.  

Trip planning

To make the most of your time, it is best to book a car for the whole tour. The car stays with you all the time and the driver usually sleeps in the car. Most hotels seem aware of this arrangement and they allow the driver to use their washrooms. So you basically do not have to pay any additional hotel charges for the driver.

We booked a package with MakeMyTrip - 'Short break in Kerala' (link). The tour primarily covered Munnar (2 nights) and Alleppey (1 night in a houseboat). We booked the flights to Cochin ourselves. We landed in Cochin late in the evening, where we were met by the local travel agency representative, and he introduced us to our driver (who was with us throughout the trip). The driver was friendly, and accommodating in that he also showed us places, and made stops at places - which were not in the MakeMyTrip itinerary. So although it says on the website that car follows a fixed itinerary, they are usually flexible.   

Munnar

The drive from Cochin to Munnar is very scenic - refer to the pic below.

Often the drivers will stop at different spice gardens along the way. Two things that you can find in abundance in touristic places in Kerala are: Spice shops and Spas. And, as you can already guess, most of them are tourist traps - selling inferior spices at inflated prices. So it is always good to exercise caution while buying from such shops. 

There are also a couple of impressive waterfalls on the way, where you can take a break and (if you want) get wet under the waterfall. 

 

The first thing that strikes you on reaching Munnar - is the all encompassing greenery around you - refer to the pic below. (For us bengalis, it has a certain resemblance to Darjeeling.) The greenery is of course due to extensive tea plantations in the region. 

 

Munnar is famously touristic. It is one of those places where you start getting a touristy smell from afar. The city itself is very small, with almost everyone either working at a tea plantation, or in the hospitality industry. We also noticed quite a few foreigners, mostly speaking French; so it does seem quite popular - at least in the French speaking regions of the world.

While there are many hotels available here - suiting all budgets - it does seem to get very crowded during public holidays esp. during the Christmas / New Year period. Not only do the hotel rates go up exponentially during this period, beware of the "banquet scams" where it is mandatory to pay a banquet charge  - which can easily go up to INR 5000-7500 per person - if you are staying in the hotel on 25th or 31st Dec. So be sure to read the fine print before booking.

Places to visit here include the Tea Museum - where you can get a live demonstration of the tea extraction process - from leaves to packets. If you are interested, you can also try / buy some "authentic" green tea from the museum souvenir shop. (View in front of the tea museum below.)

Other places to visit include the Eravikulam National Park. Unfortunately, the place failed to live up to its hype for us. May be our spirits were dampened by the couple of hours we had to stand in queue to get tickets. Yes, the place can get very crowded, especially if (like us) you decide to visit it on a public holiday. The tickets are not cheap and cost around INR 100 per person. Once inside, you are packed into a rickety mini-bus which takes you up the hill. The uphill climb is quite scenic though (pic below).

 

The bus drops you at an elevated position, where there is a cafe and washroom.  From here, you can roam around, or hike upwards - before getting in a queue (again) to catch the return bus. The view at the top is also impressive. Of course, at that height, you wouldn't be able to see much on a cloudy day; so try to choose a sunny day if you are flexible.

While the park advertises many rare animals, the most hyped are clearly the Nilgiri Tahrs - see pic below. Unfortunately,  none of us is much of an animal enthusiast; and we were disappointed after all the hype (and as mentioned before, we were probably already biased by the long queues).

Finally, there are also a couple of dams worth visiting around Munnar.  Unfortunately, we do not remember the names of the dams - but ask one of the locals or your driver - he should be able to take you there.

Alleppey

The really really famous part of Kerala - and which you have to absolutely experience - are the backwaters. The backwaters, as we were told, originate from the Arabian sea. The link has now been intentionally severed by a a dam, so that the water can be used for irrigation.

It is a bit difficult to describe it in words. But as compared to say Venice, the channel is really wide. As your boat cruises along, you can see palm trees on both sides, and the occasional hut from time to time.  So the cruise is very calm and relaxing! The water also seemed very still, at least we did not get / notice any waves during our cruise.

While many cities proclaim themselves to be part of the backwaters, the best city to experience the backwaters is Alleppey. From here, you can get all types of boats (ferries) which allow you to cruise for different durations  - at various levels of comfort.

      

There are also houseboats where you can stay overnight. The luxury ones, e.g. the one pictured below, offer all benefits of a hotel - with AC rooms, washroom, and a dining / drawing room with cable TV / music system.

The way it usually works is that you board the houseboat around afternoon. A boatman (also captain) and cook accompany you throughout the journey.

After boarding, the houseboat cruises for a while - and then you are offered lunch. Post lunch, it continues cruising till 5.30 pm. It then docks adjoining a village house. The boat takes electricity (for the ACs) and cable connection from the host - so the ACs only run during the night.

While cruising, the boat also stops at small villages where (if you want) you can buy freshly caught fish. The cook can then prepare the fish for your dinner. Dinner is offered even otherwise, but then it depends on the cook's choice.

It does get a bit quiet and lonely once it gets dark. Basically, there is not much you can do once the boat stops cruising, and it becomes dark and silent everywhere.  Also, you are technically alone on the boat for the night - with the cook / boatman - who are both practically "strangers". So it is definitely more enjoyable if you are in a group. Although many people warned us regarding mosquitoes at night, the boatman covered the open part of the boat by a net at night; and we did not face any mosquito problems as such.   

The boat again starts cruising around 8am next morning - at which point you are also offered breakfast. You are back in Alleppey in about an hour -  refreshed and eager to continue your journey.

On board the Glacier Express from Zermatt

We took a ride on board the Glacier Express in Oct 2014.

 

Glacier Express

Glacier Express is one of the 2 luxury panoramic trains in Switzerland, the other being Bernina Express. One can take the train either from Zermatt to St. Moritz (both very famous, and expensive, ski resorts in Switzerland), or in the reverse direction. It is possible to board and disembark the train at one of the intermediate stops as well - the price varies accordingly.

The train doesn't run throughout the year - mostly never in November - so be sure to take that into account while planning your trip. The summer and winter timetables are available here: (timetables). One of the primary factors affecting when to undertake the journey? - is clearly the scenery you can expect to see on route. Snow is the deciding factor here. If you are interested in seeing the snow capped Alps peaks, winter is obviously the preferred time.The disadvantages are that there might be disruptions because of the snow, and it is also more crowded during that time - so try to book in advance.

We took the train towards end of Oct, and we could already see some snow (below).

However, this clearly varies from year-to-year, and the best time to see guaranteed snow is Jan onwards.

As far as pure unadulterated "panorama" is concerned, the route is indeed very scenic. It is true that if you spend some time exploring the Swiss railways site (SBB), you can get similar views by traveling on normal (cheaper) Swiss trains. The good thing about the Glacier Express coaches is that they are mostly transparent - with large windows on the sides and part of the ceiling - which allow a better view of the surroundings than normal trains would.

The downside (and this is a big downer) is that the large windows also cause "reflections" to appear in any pictures you try to take through the windows. So while the trains are good for your own viewing pleasure, the large windows render any "serious" photography almost impossible - and this is a pity because the outside view is indeed very picturesque. You can also see the odd glacier while you are about it.

A few more pictures from the trip.

Zermatt

We actually booked a package tour available on the Swiss Railway website (SBB), which allows you to combine a ride on the Glacier Express with a hotel stay at Zermatt and / or St. Moritz, and return train tickets from any Swiss city to Zermatt and St. Moritz.

So we also spent a day in Zermatt, the night before boarding the Glacier Express. Like most Swiss ski resorts, Zermatt is a charming village with plenty of peaks around. It is particularly famous for its stunning views of the Matterhorn peak - the 2nd highest peak in the Alps range, and the highest in Switzerland.

Zermatt is relatively "big" ski resort, which implies that there are plenty of places to shop and eat once the sun goes down.

Unfortunately, there are no Indian restaurants in Zermatt, but there are some Thai / Chinese ones around. For vegetarians, you can try the eternal Swiss delicacy - "Fondue" - which primarily consists of a mixture of different types of cheese served (hot) in a pot. It is accompanied with bread crumbs, and the idea is that you dip the bread in the cheese and eat.

If you end up in a Pizzeria, the safest bet (again, for vegetarians) is to go with the Pizza Margherita. Pizza Margherita is available in almost all pizzerias in Europe, and is a safe choice when you cannot find anything else to eat.