Advice please for a busy weekend

[campbellking]

Am going to monaco for the day on Friday for the Euro super cup, and we get dropped off at the stadium at approx 0900. What should I go and see during the day? (Am not a drinker, so won't be in the bars!)
When I get home, am staying near Gatwick over night as am going to Paralympic dressage on Sat afternoon. What's the best place to drive to to get a train into Greenwich (bearing in mind it needs to be simple as I have no sense of direction)
The next , am going to Paralympic rowing at Eton Dorney. Where might be a suitable place to stay overnight,as am booked into park and ride facility at Upton Court Park east at 0700-0730 Sunday morning.
Thanks for your suggestions, will read them when I get home from work

[FredPuli43]

Monaco is shaped like a U, but a U which is high up in the air ! The attractions are neatly, if irritatingly, divided between the two sides. The palace (boring inside, worthwhile views from terraces, Ruritanian changing of the guard) and the old town (typical Mediterranean) are on one side, as are the 'Jardins exotiques' (a garden full of cacti etc; steep paths, when you've seen one cactus...) with its underground limestone caves full of stalactites and stalagmites (worthwhile),the cathedral (dull, only rated by locals!), and a good, interesting, aquarium (in the Oceanographic Museum buildings; avoid the rest of the museum as boring). The stadium, the Stade Louis, is on land reclaimed from the sea and is at the foot of the rock on this side of Monaco.

The rock on the other side of the U has the Casino square. The square has the Casino (carry your passport to enter the Casino) on the seaward side (fine views from the terraces behind it) and the Opera House next to it,and the Hotel de Paris (biggest display of flowers you'll ever see in one vase inside its foyer; look out for the marble turtles on the ceiling; biggest display of exotic, wildly expensive, cars you'll ever see, outside it ). An enormous pavement cafe is on the third side (popular with locals and visitors alike, not overpriced).

In the middle of the U is the harbour.The road from one side of the U to the other sweeps down like a roller coaster, along the harbour edge and up again. There are few big yachts (they're in Antibes , down the coast), but none of them are exactly small.

The area around the stadium will be shut to traffic for some hours before kick off and the streets nearby congested. If you are on the opposite side of the U, getting to it may be difficult, though no doubt cab drivers in the casino square know a way. That will probably involve dropping you up near the station or somewhere, up the hill. Everywhere in Monaco has outside lifts (ascenseurs) and escalators, to get you up and down the rocky terrain, so being up the hill is no problem; just follow the crowd.

To get around use buses. There is a ticket which buys lots of journeys, and buses are frequent. Cabs are numerous too but tend to be found in numbers only at Casino square with some near the Palace.

Le Petit Train, a tiny 'train' consisting of tiny open-sided carriages drawn by a mock locomotive, does a whole tour of Monaco all day and is an easy way to take it in.

[campbellking]

Thank-you for your comprehensive answer, will print off and take with me

[mushroom25]

it's difficult to advise where you should head to for a train to greenwich, since it's not known where the busiest spots are likely to be.

But Dartford is just off the M25, and there are trains from there every 30mn, journey 28mn to maze hill, which is the closest station to greenwich park. the station car park is quite pricey even on a saturday, but there are several others nearby.

[FredPuli43]

My pleasure,campbellking. I used to be a season ticket holder at Monaco, so I know the stadium well. There is absolutely nothing worthwhile near it but it's interesting in itself. Modern,small,equipped with escalators for spectators, it's the only stadium I know which is built over a multi-storey car park (well, it was built with a car park underneath for spectators) ! But I fear that, for this match, you won't have a young woman greeting you and another leading you to your seat, as happens in their regular league games.

Monaco's idea of a home gate was 8,000 even when they were in the French equivalent of the Premiership (hence the personal service afforded to those who do turn up).They aren't used to a big crowd. Don't be surprised therefore to see that for a European game they have unnecessary numbers of police, imported from France, who stand around looking bewildered at the strange shouting and singing of English fans. They look as mystified to be there as we Britons do at their being there . They are no trouble, just bored but collecting good money !