We're writing this on January 28, 2012 and it's the first day that we've seen rain since we arrived on January 2. The weather has been just wonderful this year, sunny and 55 to 60 degrees. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity to get some hiking done, so we took the bus over to Monaco and headed up the famous Via Alpina path, which begins at the Palais Princier in Monaco. To save at least some uphill climb, we joined the path from the Moyenne Corniche. There are three roads between Nice and Monaco: the lower road (Basse Corniche), which is the "local bus" road; the middle road (Moyenne), which is the road mostly traveled; and the one that's way the heck up there, the high road (Grand). We opted to take the path up the Cap d'Ail side of the Tete de Chien. It's pretty much straight uphill, but using a lot of switchbacks and with wonderful scenic views of the area. It also passes the Barre Loubiere, where brave (or crazy) people are rock-climbing.
It takes about two hours to climb up to the top, but it's worth it for the view. We stopped for a picnic lunch (sandwiches...no, we didn't carry a bottle of wine up there), then returned to Monaco via the town of La Turbie and the Chemin Romaine path. This last path is good going if you're going down...one does not want to climb up. It's really straight uphill!
Gordon took some video:
And Pati took some pictures:
