Adam’s Disney Cruise Blog: Day 2 – Villefranche

Day 2 – Villefranche

Having sailed through the night we awoke at 7am to get ready fir the day ahead. Switching on the stateroom television we could see that the ship had not quite arrived at it’s tendering point but was close. That gave the chance to eat breakfast at Topsides and watch us sail in from the restaurant’s balcony.

Villefranche is a small Coastal town set in the hills of the French Riviera. Nearby are cities such as Cannes and Nice and the principality of Monaco. This was our choice of destination.

At this port, we were to tender to the pier. This meant standing on a floating platform and stepping on to a bobbing boat! The journey, around 5 minutes, took us a mile to the shore and the tender pier.

After disembarking, we took a walk along the harbour front towards the train station. The station is perched on a wall above street level and is very easy to find. The walk, around 10 minutes, took us past many sea front cafes, bars and restaurants. Many were closed on the way to the station, after all, it was only 8.45am on a Sunday morning.

We arrived at Villefranche station just before 9am and had to collect our pre-purchased train tickets from the office. If you are considering this option, tickets to Monaco at the station were only €2.70 each way.

The local TER train arrived at 9.30 and after a short 14 minute train ride we had arrived at Monaco station.

We then had to navigate our way out if one of the four different exits to find the bus stop for a trip to Monaco Ville. After a few moments of confusion, we spoke to the tourist office who sent us the right way.

Bus were every 17-18 minutes and each route covered the whole city. We boarded line 2 to Monaco Ville and 4 stops later had arrived at our destination. The cost? €1 per person.

It was here we boarded the Monaco Tour road train (€8 each) and spent 40 minutes touring the city. We saw all the sites we wanted including the Grand Prix track, harbour, palace and casino.

After our tour we caught the bus back to the station for our return to Villefranche. Upon arrival at the station we discovered that our train wasn’t due for 50 minutes so wandered to the shop and picked up a Formula 1 model car (for Harry of course!)

We arrived back in Villefranche by 12.30 and were aboard by 1. It was time then to enjoy the adult only, Quiet Cove pool. En route, we picked up Chicken strips and fries from Pluto’s Dog House and coke from the free self serve area. The next few hours consisted of lunch, swimming and reading in the sun.

After a few hours, the Disney Geek in me began calling and I headed off to the Disney Trivia Quiz in the Promenade Lounge. 25 question of trivia from the Disney company with 32 points at stake. Good news, I won with 25 points and was awarded with my own winner’s (plastic) medal.

As it was now 5pm it meant time to get ready for the evening. Tonight’s show, “Twice Charmed” was an original twist on the Cinderella story. It wasn’t look forward to this as much as the others but it was a very pleasant surprise. As you expect from Disney, an excellent show.

With a brief stop at Studio Sea for Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer it was nearly time for dinner. This of the classic TV gameshow and added Disney questions and you the idea.

Dinner this evening was in Lumiere’s and was entitled the Prince and Princesses meal. Thus evening I began with the cheese souflee followed by the Beast’s sausage and potato casserole soup. The main course was Mushroom pasta with a butternut squash sauce and I finished with chilled chocolate souflee. Also on the menu tonight were chicken, beef and lamb dishes. Food was amazing!

Dinner ended around 10.20 and we headed down to RockinD bar to watch comedian Herbie Adams before heading to bed.

Tomorrow we head to our first Italian port, La Spezia. See you all then!