39. Monaco - around and about

I have mixed feelings about tax-haven Monaco (population c.33 000) and Monte Carlo (population c.3 000) . Monte Carlo is one of the five administrative areas comprising Monaco. On the one hand it is a concentration of conspicuous consumption (greed?) and manifest privilege, and on the other it is a beautiful place well worth visiting. Unfortunately our whistle-stop tour meant we didn't have time to linger and discover some of the beautiful gardens for which it is renowned, or look in detail at beautiful belle epoque architecture and the like. One of the things I was looking forward to was swimming in the lovely public pool at the port (see next blog entry) which meant less time for other pursuits. Another "next time" !

For more journeys and views on a daily basis, I recommend you look at Jilly's gorgeous blog, Monte Carlo Daily Photo.

There are real people who live and work in Monaco, so it's not only about glitz and glamour. Those beautiful people don't get their champagne glasses filled and yachts swabbed down by dent of osmosis....real people have to provide those services.

Jilly told us that two years ago the French government lowered bus fares to 1 Euro per journey to encourage the workforce to use public transport in order to lower the number of cars trying to enter the city. It was enormously successsful, so much so that the workers were being crowded out by tourists who were able to take advantage of it.

Most governments of my experience would immediately react by putting restrictions on, and making life difficult again for some of the users; the French administration instead increased the number of bus services to try to cope.

Below: The "walking street" of Monte Carlo, rue Princess Caroline.
Below: The view of the harbour from the shade where we were having lunch
Below: A sculpture near the Monaco Yacht Club at Port Hercule. I'm guessing it's a statue of Hercules...the only inscription is on the plinth, saying "Vax Cartie" . Don't know what that means. There is some fabulous public art in this city, and worth having a look at on Jilly's blog.

Below: The "superyacht" Lady Moura, deemed to be the 11th largest private yacht in the world (2006). It is owned by Nasser Al-Rashid, a multi-millionaire Saudi Arabian businessman. The escutcheon (shield), which you can't see, and the name, which you can, are carved in 24 carat gold. Al-Rashid reportedly paid over $US 100 million for it. Below: More in our price range, the Bateau-Bus will take you across the port for the unstratospheric sum of 1 Euro!



Below: The casino. This is the Prince's door, the private entrance of the Prince of Monaco, sued when the Royal Family attends opera or ballet in the theatre. It is illegal for any citizen of Monaco to enter the casino!
Below: The facade of the main entry of the baroque-style casino. Its architect was Charles Garnier, who was also responsible for the Paris Opera building. Construction began in 1858, and the theatre was added in 1910.

Below: Only the ritziest cars are allowed to park outside the casino. Tourists then take shots of themselves pretending they own them.

Below: This stunning Sky Mirror and fountain in Place du Casino was a gift of to the principality from philanthropist Lily Safra. It is concave, made of highly polished stainless steel, the work or British artist Anish Kapoor. The original one is in Nottingham, and there is one in New York City's Rockefeller Centre.
Below: Why use the public pool when you can have one on your yacht? Bit hard to strecth out for a few laps though.