Monaco

Well………another great day in Monte Carlo and surrounding areas!
Beautiful weather (again) and much to see. The Grand Prix ran here just last weekend – so they are still taking down bleachers and fencing from that big event!


We started the morning off going to the small village of La Turbie. It’s up in the mountains – overlooking Monaco. Not many tours go here. It’s extremely small and still untouched. There is no shopping to speak of…. Besides a flower shop and a grocery store. The coolest focal point were the Roman ruins of a tower called the trophy of Augustus – built to celebrate the Roman victory over the mountain tribes of the area. The tower was built in 6 b.c. – UNREAL!!! Beautiful….but not much to do. We stayed 30 minutes.


Then, on to Eze. I’ve read about Eze in my travel magazines and it’s pretty neat to see in person. Again, very small…with a walled castle on a hill that has been turned in to a 5 star resort by Relais and Chateau. Gorgeous views overlooking the Mediterranean…from very high up in the mountains! Eze is known for it’s Michelin five diamond restaurants. Wealthy folks who want to get out of the city drive here for the views. It’s only 10 minutes from both Monaco and Nice!


Next, we went to Nice. We only had a short time to explore each of these places because we wanted to get back to Monaco to explore there. The azure sea in Nice was fabulous! While in Nice….our guide pointed out the homes of Sir Elton John and Tina Turner to us.

Then, back to Monaco to explore for the rest of the day. Stu and I have always thought that Monte Carlo was the town and Monaco was the country. Not so! Monaco is the small principality atop a hill that surrounds the harbor. Monte Carlo is on the other side of town…where the famous casino and Hotel de Paris are. As an aside, there are 30,000 people living here. Only 6000 of them citizens. The population is made up of 35% Montegasks (sp?), 40% French, 18% Italian and 7% British. Initially the Phoenicians were here. Then, the Greek’s. in 1297 A.D. – Francesco Grimaldi arrived – and it’s been “THE GRIMALDI SHOW” ever since! The first recorded mention of Monaco was in 43 b.c. when Caesar brought his fleet here. Modern Monaco, as we know it, began in 1860. Everyone who lives here LOVES the Grimaldi’s because since 1869 – no one has had to pay income tax. All locals became exempt!


Stu and I explored the castle and Monaco – a small village atop a hill overlooking the harbor. We did go in to the royal palace. There is a portion of it that is available for viewing. It was, like all royal palaces, very glitzy….as in lot’s of gold gilt. Stood in the room where Prince Ranier and Grace Kelly were married. Fun!


Then, Stu wanted to see the auto museum of Prince Ranier. Actually, we THOUGHT it was a museum – and really it was just his private collection of about 130 cars from throughout the decades that were really cool. But how many Ferrari’s does one need?
We then explored (walked all over) Monaco on our way to the famous casino and Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo! This place is very hilly and we were out walking for 9 hours today so we are beat tonight!


Finally made it to the Hotel de Paris and decided to splurge and have lunch there. When we arrived, there was a Bugatti (car) was parked out front and many people were gathered around taking pictures. The Hotel de Paris was FABULOUSLY glamorous! These folks had just come off a real party week last week with the Grand Prix in town and I don’t think they had quite recovered! We were given a lovely bay window seat and we lingered over our lunch.


Then, we went next door to the casino. Let’s just say we did not bring any “extra” money home! As an aside, the casino was built in 1866 and has been drawing big crowds ever since! The lowest bet you can place at a black jack table is 25 euro – which is about $32.00.


Did we talk about the yachts yet? OMG! Probably the biggest collection of large yachts we’ll ever see. Some were truly small “cruise ships”………and there was row upon row of them! Many so large, they could not come in to the harbor and had to be anchored out a ways in the sea and passengers tendered to shore. WOW!!!

Okay – another great day on the Mediterranean Sea! Now….on to Livorno,Italy tonight – during the night. Stu and I will take a side trip in to Florence, Italy from 8 – 6 pm tomorrow and we are excited about that! Tired for tonight so going to sign off. Great day!