The second spot on our European adventure was the South of France, specifically the French Riviera. We chose Nice as our home base for the trip and planned on taking a few day trips by train to some of the other cities along the coast. Nice was the perfect place to stay, as it had an airport and multiple train stations, and we got the cutest Airbnb with a balcony and AC!

In Nice we had fun lounging on the beach, playing in the waves, and exploring the old town. We hiked up to a park with a waterfall and amazing views of both the water and the town. I absolutely fell in love with a local dish called Socca, which is essentially savory fried dough made out of chickpea flour and served with lots of black pepper. It paired perfectly with a glass of rose, which is extremely popular (and delicious) in the South of France. I also ate amazing gelato, tried my first Aperol Spritz, and really enjoyed browsing the street markets in the old town. Although Nice was much more crowded than we imagined, and extremely hot, it was a gorgeous little city.

We didn’t actually end up doing as many day trips as I thought we would, which is honestly fine because now I have an excuse to return to the French Riviera! One of my favorite days of our entire Europe trip was when we did an all day boating trip out of Menton, a super cute town right on the border of France and Italy. There were 4 other people on board the boat with us, plus the captain/owner of the 12 meter sailing boat. Our captain was fantastic and served us drinks and lunch while we sailed along the coast. We went past Monaco and then turned south and sailed along the coast of Italy hoping to see dolphins. The day was extremely relaxing- it was the first day we didn’t spend walking all over and exploring, instead we got to sit or lay on the boat and just enjoy the scenery. In the afternoon we stopped at a small cove in Italy and swam and snorkeled, then we spent the rest of the afternoon dozing in the sun. I truly couldn’t imagine a more perfect day!

We also ventured to Monaco, as it seemed a shame to miss out on seeing another country! David loves nice cars, and Monte Carlo is known for luxury, so it was the perfect day trip for him! We went to a cool vintage car museum, walked around the town, and pretended that we owned one of the amazing yachts in the harbor. We didn’t go into the Casino, as we didn’t think we were dressed nicely enough, but we had a great time checking out the city and enjoying the luxurious surroundings!

Going to the French Riviera was the perfect middle destination of our trip. It provided us ample sunshine, water, and a chance to relax. It was great to have a “beach vacation” right in Europe!