Saturday – 5/11/19 – Well I had another fun filled day visiting a royal palace, a casino and another hill top village. I started the day taking the bus to Monaco. The views from the buses are amazing since they hug right along the coast with views out to the sea the whole way. But first a little history!
The minuscule municipality of Monaco borders only France and the Mediterranean. In 1860, Monaco lost two thirds of its territory when the region of Menton, right next to it, voted to join France. To compensate, France suggested that Monaco build a fancy casino and promised to connect it to the world with a road and a train line. This started a high class tourist boom that has yet to let up. Although “independent”, Monaco is run as part of France.
The glamorous romance and marriage of the American actress Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier added to Monaco’s fairy-tale mystique. Princess Grace first came to Monaco to star in the Alfred Hitchcock movie “To Catch a Thief” in which she was filmed racing along the scenic route my bus took today. She married the Prince in 1956 and adopted the country, but tragically, the much-loved princess died in 1982 after suffering a stroke while driving on one of those same scenic roads. She was just 52. The death of Prince Rainier in 2005 ended his 56 year long reign and now his son, Prince Albert rules Monaco. And while the population is stated as 36,000, only 6,000 are truly from here; the rest claim it since there on no taxes!
Since 1929, cars have raced around the port and in front of the casino in one of the world’s most famous auto races, the Grand Prix de Monaco. They actually had the electric Formula 1 racing cars running today and my first pic shows the grandstands set up. The big race is not until the end of May.
I then got to the palace just in time for the “changing of the guard” and included a few pics. Check out the close up on the guards badge and gun! Lol. I also included a video at the end of part of the guard changing ceremony. Cool stuff.
The next pic of a statue of a monk grasping a sword is Francois Grimaldi, a renegade Italian (sound familiar? Lol) dressed as a monk, who captured Monaco in 1297 and began the dynasty that still rules the principality. Prince Albert is his great-great-great…. grandson, which gives Monaco’s royal family the distinction of being the longest-lasting dynasty in Europe!
After the full palace picture is one of the Cathedral of Monaco. It’s where centuries of Garibaldi’s are buried and where Princess Grace and Prince Rainier were married. (There was actually a wedding there today so the bride is forever part of my blog! Lol).
I then cruised over to Monte Carlo to see the fancy-schmancy casino and included several pics. Monte Carlo, which means “Charles Hill” in Spanish, is named after the Prince who presided over Monaco’s 19th century makeover. Charles Garnier designed the place (with an Opera House inside) in 1878. I only went into the Atrium and took some pics. They charge you 10 Euro just to go in and gamble (then of course you have to add in all your losses!).
The last pic I included from Monte Carlo was this bizarre multi colored roof of a place right behind the casino looking out over the sea. Interesting!
The rest of the pics are from this quaint little village called Eze-Le-Village that was about 20 minutes from Monaco and straight uphill. It sits high above the sea with these great views looking out over the Mediterranean. Other than the narrow little lanes (I know, like every other small French village I’ve been to!) this place also had this interesting garden at the top of the village that was mostly all cactus as you can see from the pics. Pretty wild. But for this village, I’ll just let the pictures do the talking. And I snuck in the last pic of a cool little sports car!
Well that’s all for Nice and the French Riviera. I really enjoyed it here. Now on to my next stop tomorrow to the region in France called Provence and specifically to the town of Arles. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 